Thinking about getting into composting

[tomc]

The subject line sounds messy

Even if you don't quite get greens and browns balanced, its still gonna rot.

[rainbowgardener]

Looks good. Even when the garden is frozen and not producing anything, if you cook from whole foods (fruits and veggies), you will have plenty of kitchen scraps, which are all greens. I fill up a 2 gallon bucket every week with kitchen scraps, that all go in the compost pile.

[redneck647]

Thanks everyone.
Its still a small pile but it has become home to multiple bugs and is already starting to shrink.

[redneck647]

I know I made some mistakes learning but did manage to get some compost. I've now added a second bin and found this under my pile.

I know it still has a little bit of stuff in it but since I'm not planting a real crop until spring could this be mixed into my garden now as is? Or does it still need moor time to finish out of the garden?

[imafan26]

If it smells earthy; is not steaming or have white stuff in it (actinomycetes); and it has broken down enough that you cannot really identify what it came from, I.e. branches, twigs, coffee grounds, peels, etc. then it is good to go. Some people will sift the compost and throw back into the pile anything that still looks like it could use more composting.

[toxcrusadr]

Looks like compost to me!

[redneck647]

Thanks.
I know its not much but I got 3 5 gallon buckets of compost from the pile and have a little left over yet that I'll save to up plant stuff next year before it goes into the garden.
I also have the second bin starting to fill up for next year. I Know soon it'll be to cold to do anything but it should give me a jump start in the spring.

[toxcrusadr]

Save some fall leaves or whatever you can find for browns and keep it next to the bin. All winter you can layer your kitchen scraps with browns. The freezing and thawing will help break up fibers and cells, and when it's warm enough it will compost a little. Even 40F is warm enough for slow microbial activity.

[redneck647]

Thanks. I'm going to try but winter is usaly below 30 here. And the compost bin will probably have deep snow drifts between it and the house so it might stop until spring.
Luckaly the leaves are just starting to fall so once they do I'm going to cover the garden with them for the winter and and then pile as many more as I can into the bin I took this years finished compost from. Hopefully that wikk give me a good stock pile.

[toxcrusadr]

We have some big snows here too so I use a lazy method for winter. I keep a 5-gal bucket with a lid outside the back door. In bad weather I just open the door, dump the kitchen bucket into it, and go back to my coffee and woodstove. When the weather is a bit nicer I haul the bucket out to the compost pile.

[friedokrie]

Don't overthink composting. As long as your pile isn't too much of any one thing, you'll likely develop a nice pile over time. I wouldn't do a pile that was comprised of only leaves, or only grass clippings, or only anything. While leaves make up the majority of the bulk of most of my compost, there are many, many other "ingredients" that are thrown in there constantly. Cow manure, all kinds of vegetable/fruit trimmings and peelings, weeds, some grass clippings , straw, other garden refuse, and pretty much anything else I can find.
As for a bin, you don't even have to have one. I usually don't. I just pile the stuff up. While a bin can be made of wire, pallets, cinder blocks, or whatever else you have, a compost pile doesn't just get up and walk around and scatter itself. It will only go where you put it. So a bin isn't necessary, but most people use them.
Composting has so many benefits for your soil and ultimately your plants, as has already been extensively stated. I say go for it! Couldn't be an easier hobby to get involved in, and, it's good for you and your garden.

[rainbowgardener]

well yes and no re: "a compost pile doesn't just get up and walk around and scatter itself. It will only go where you put it. "

If you have raccoons, dogs, rats, mice, other critters in your yard, a compost pile certainly can get dug through, all the best kitchen scraps eaten out of it, and other stuff scattered. Where I used to live there were lots of raccoons. If I didn't have a sturdy bin with a top, I would come out in the morning and it would look like the raccoons didn't just eat from the compost pile, they had a party and threw stuff all over the yard.

But even without that, compost piles work best if they have a working center, with compostables all around it. That means to stay piled up higher than nature wants it. Without some kind of bin, due to the actions of wind, rain, and gravity, your compostables will tend to be a low spread out pile.

Not to say that you can't make compost without a bin, obviously some do, as long as there aren't too many critters. But I do think it works better, easier, more efficiently with one. And compost bins are very easy to buy or make from whatever scrap materials are on hand.

[redneck647]

Sorry the pile of leaves is just to keep them on hand to be added as I toss in greens.
I've actually been surprised by how little the wild life has gotten into my pile but just the other day I found a tomato drug out of it into the yard.