Newbie to composting

[SunshineAcres]

I have horses and access to manure and old hay. Also get grass clippings from mowing the lawn. Have a compost container on my kitchen counter where I add coffee grounds, old and leftover vegetables, egg shells, leftover meal plate scrapings (no meat obviously), etc.
I know what to put in there after reading the how-to posts about browns and greens.
I just got a new compost container for outside. I had some manure, old hay chaff and grass clippings and put it in there, about 1/2 full. Then I added two plastic coffee cans full of kitchen compost. The first ingredients I put in were very dry so I added some water. Was that okay? I wasn't sure how it would break down being as dry as it was. I gave it a few turns to mix it all together. I have the compost bit next to my garden.
I have a few questions.
1. How often should I turn it?
2. What time frame can I expect it to be ready to use?



Another thing, I already had my vegetable garden in when the rains came and flooded it out. It rained for weeks here (Iowa). I started new seeds and they're just about ready to plant outside. I went out to assess the garden bed and it was full of ground covering weeds. I covered it with a layer of newspaper and grass clippings. I plan to bring in new garden dirt to go over this pile this coming week.
1. When can I plant my new plants?
2. Do I have to wait until the newspaper breaks down or can I put the dirt over what is currently there and plant?

[RamonaGS]

Hey there, I only started to compost a few months back myself, but I can answer the first question for sure, and for that one, you should turn it at least once a week, I turn mine every couple of days.
On the second question, I think it's supposed to take at least a couple months, but I have been told a few times to wait until I can't identify any of the stuff I put into decompose. There are several people here who take temperature readings of their compost to measure when they can use it. Mine just decomposes without much heat, so I just am going to wait for the shmutz to look like potting mix, lol If you want to, you can throw some dirt from the ground in your compost to kickstart the bacteria break down.
Newspaper should be fine to plant on top of, especially if you throw dirt over it.
And I had to spray some water in my compost too because it was too dry. I was told to do that because compost needs moisture and air to break down properly.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree, put topsoil/ compost down on top of your newspaper etc, at least 3" of it, and then plant in to it directly. Be sure you wet the newspaper down before you put the dirt on top, to help it decompose.

Be sure your compost tumbler has plenty of holes for air and drainage; most people find they need to drill some extra holes in them. You will need to have another place somewhere to put compostables. Once you load the tumbler up, you don't want to keep adding stuff, because it all mixes together, so you would never have finished compost. So pile stuff up somewhere else to be ready to load the tumbler up with when this batch is done.

Very hard to estimate how long it will take to finish, because it depends so much on what you put in there, ambient temperatures, moisture, turning, etc. Two months is as good a guess as any, but it could be more and will be more in the winter. You are looking for it to turn in to a nice uniform brown crumbly stuff with just a pleasant earthy smell and nothing left identifiable except maybe a few eggshell pieces, if you put eggshells in it.

[SunshineAcres]

Okay, so can I just keep my pile of stuff/junk (literally, I have horse manure lol) in a pile on the ground next to the compost bin or does it have to be in some sort of container protected from the elements?

[rainbowgardener]

Does not need to be protected from the elements. I do think it helps to be contained a bit, like with wire grids, chicken wire, wooden pallets, or whatever is easy and handy. A 3'x3'x3' cube of stuff composts much better than the same amount of stuff spread out to 6x3 x1.5 - heat builds up better, etc.

[toxcrusadr]

I don't know that a tumbler that size is going to be enough space if you have horses (plural), lawn clippings AND kitchen scraps. You might want to make a bin or pile somewhere for the large volume stuff, and when you have kitchen waste, put it in the tumbler to keep critters out and add some of the other stuff to keep it balanced.

Note, kitchen scraps, fresh manure and grass clippings are all GREENS high in nitrogen. If you don't have some BROWNS to go with them, you'll have problems. Me, I usually leave the clippings on the lawn to help the soil there. I save fall leaves in a large wire fence bin to use as browns during spring and summer. Shredded paper or straw works too.

Hope the rest of the summer is better weather for you...and me too down here in MO!

[SunshineAcres]

I would love to have some leaves to compost but it's so dang windy out here that all the leaves blow away. I have plenty of pine shavings. Do those count as a 'brown'?
I also have newspaper and cardboard paper rolls that I cut up into small pieces to add to it. I like the idea of placing the volume items on a space on the ground. I can definitely do that.

Hubby was behind in mowing the grass so he raked up some of the grass clippings. The bulk was left on the grass. We have a really big yard. That's why I ended up with a bunch of grass clippings.

So I wonder, if I put a layer of pine shavings on top of the grass clippings, will that constitute a layer of 'brown' before I lay the soil?

[PaulF]

While horse manure compost is very good, there are some warnings. Any manures not fully composted and aged should not be used in a vegetable garden. There are pathogens in the manure that must be brought up to temperature (about 145 degrees) to kill them. There is also the danger of weed seeds in the manure if it is not fully composted and green manure (uncomposted) is very hot or high in nitrogen and can burn plants.

I have always been taught that horse manure is best aged for a year before incorporating into soils of a vegetable garden for safety sake. Lucky you to have access to a great source of compostable material.

[RamonaGS]

If you live near a lumber mill, or hardware store where they cut wood, or maybe even a school where the kids have wood shop, you can sometimes get sawdust if you ask them. Maybe even offer to help sweep to collect it. Sawdust is a brown.

[toxcrusadr]

As long as harvest is at least 3 months out from when the horse donated the manure, you shouldn't have problems with pathogens, regardless of the temperature. It's better to compost it for a few months mixed with other ingredients, but those are the limits for direct use.

Pine shavings are a great brown. If you're making a lasagna bed I would recommend mixing the shavings and grass clippings rather than layering. They will compost better together, the same way a bowl of spaghetti tastes better when you mix the sauce into the noodles.

[ElizabethB]

I love using pine straw as a mulch - the best weed blocker. I don't use pine - straw or shavings in my compost because it breaks down so slowly. Much slower than other browns. In a pinch I use shredded newspaper in moderation. Very thin layers to avoid matting. Lots of leaves from my live oak in March. G puts the catcher on the mower and mows the leaves. The lovely mulched leaves go into bags for browns all season. Every other time he mows I have him catch 3 or 4 loads of grass clipping for greens. Of course I use kitchen scraps but with just the 2 of us that is limited. Love composting.

[imafan26]

If you need more browns. Contact local tree trimmers, they will gladly drop off a load when they are working in the area.

It helps to stockpile browns. It is hard to stockpile greens because they do end up a slimy mess. Easy browns to get would be paper, newsprint without color and omit the glossy pages. stems of plants, cornstalks, twigs and branches, chipped, cardboard, wood shavings, or straw.

Since you have so much material, a barrel composter won't hold very much, it might be better to make a compost pile. You could also lasagna your garden bed as well.

[goingreenhouse]

there are other types of composters that may work for you also. Do not tie yourself down to on style, use several different types with the amount of compostable material you have.