Gozz
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Compost need to be made on a certain ground, grass or dirt?

Does compost need to be made on a certain ground?
I mean does compost need to be made on top of grass or can it be made on top of dry dirt?

Is either better or worse?

I'm going to be making my first compost pile probably this weekend so I just want to know certain things.

I have coffee grounds and a bunch of greens I'm going to throw in, but unfortunately I don't have a lot of browns.
I'm going to have to do some hunting.

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gixxerific
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It doesn't matter, if you build a compost pile on grass, the grass will die due to lack of sun and thus become part of the compost. Which now that I think about it I guess grass would be better but only a one time shot for that.

But really just put it anywhere. You can use paper for browns as well, do you have a paper shredder at your house or maybe where you work? Or do like some people and get other peoples leaves when they put them out for recycling. :lol:

Hope that helps.

Gozz
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That's the thing.
I don't want the grass to die, so I'll be making it on dirt.

I think I can get paper from work but I thought paper with ink on it was bad for the compost and ultimately for the plants.
I might be able to find cardboard.

Another question I have is that I have chickens and I heard that it's one of the best manures, the thing is that the chickens are on dirt instead of some type of bedding. So when the poop gets picked up a lot of dirt comes with it. If I were to put it into the compost it would be mostly dry dirt, is this alright to throw in or should I just leave it out?

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gixxerific
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Most if not all inks now are soy based, so they are okay. If you are worried check the ink manufacture and see if you can find out what the ink is made of.

As far as the chicken droppings they are very good amendments. If you could scrape it up and try to get as little dirt as possible that would be fine. A little dirt won't hurt. You just don't want a ton of dirt in there because it will suffocate the pile. If that is not feasible just throw throw the droppings straight into the garden but not right at the base of plants cause it could burn the plants with the high nitrogen content.

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applestar
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If you're set up so that you can move your chickens, then you *could* build your compost piles where the chickens currently reside. When these piles of compost are done, if it's otherwise a good location for a garden, you could build a raised bed (take away some of the compost for use elsewhere).

Then, move the chickens from the 2nd location and start new compost piles there, and so on. You'd have some an awesome garden beds in a season or two.

... Hmm ...
Thinking this idea over -- I think I have it backwards. The way I read it before, they had the compost piles first, then they made a chicken run around them, the chickens picked over the bugs, etc. in the compost pile and added their "goodness", they removed the chickens to the next compost pile location, and then turned the the now super-hot compost piles several times to finish them.

Either way, you're gonna have super compost! :wink:

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stella1751
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Every year, I change the location on mine, like Applestar suggests. I reason that a compost pile enriches the soil beneath it. Plus, because my back yard is weeds where it isn't garden :oops: , the pile kills the weed growth. Once I move it to turn it, generally in July, no weeds sprout up in the old area for the rest of the growing season. I think the heat must sterilize the weed seeds that were dormant.

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gixxerific
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stella1751 wrote: I reason that a compost pile enriches the soil beneath it.
Another good point, I always have had my compost somewhere in an unused portion of my garden. First of all that is where most of the compost is coming from and then going. Plus like Stella said you can't pick it all up so where it was cooking is going to be some most awesome soil. Especially in the fall after the garden is mostly done. I pile it up (grass, leaves, manure etc.) than work it in in the spring. To me that is the best way.

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rainbowgardener
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Yup, on dirt is fine and picking up some dirt with the chicken poop is fine... I always throw a couple handfuls of soil and/or finished compost into my working compost pile now and then, to add soil bacteria/fungi etc to the pile.

Gozz
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Well, I can't put it in the coop but I'll see if I can pick the 'goodies' out rather than just dump dirt in the compost pile.
It's my first pile, I don't want to wait a month to find out I did it wrong! :lol:

My backyard has 2.5 or 3 acres but about 1 or 1.5 of it has grass, I don't want to kill of the grass, so I'm just going to do it on the dirt.

Any other advice for a newbie?

Thank you guys that replied :D

rot
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On the dirt the worms crawl up inside and do a lot of work for you in the bin. During the rainy season, you'll get that soon, cover the bins from the rain so you don't get too much water. The worms will then move in big time to escape the water saturated ground. Worm city by the time you're done.

Tree roots will invade if your pile is too close to some trees. Maybe that's not a major disaster but it is a pain in the neck. To avoid the tree roots and burrowing critters but still get the worms, you can lay down some pavers and build on top of that. Excess water drains, worms come up through the crevices and, invaders from the ground that you don't want are kept out.

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Gozz
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Thanks Rot.

I spent all day today digging a hole making a sort of cage to put my compost in and eventually filling it with stuff.
It literally took me about 4 hours to make my first pile and it was only about 1.5' wide and 3' long, I probably filled it 2' or 3' high.

I'll be mixing it once a week.
How often should I sprinkle water though?

rot
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Out here in So Cal it's dry most of the time. The problem is, a new pile will only hold too so much water. When new, I try to water just a little each day - less than half a watering can, maybe a couple of quarts.

I learned this composting on a concrete deck. I would over water and watch the brown wash run out the bottom. I don't like letting that good stuff escape and it is a waste of water. Because it is dry out, I need to do that regularly. I try to do that each morning but I'm not a morning person and so I'm not as regular as I should be.

As the pile builds up and ages it will slowly start retaining more and more water which means over time you can use more water at a time with less frequency. If your bin starts generating heat it will dry up faster too.

You will see as you turn some dry patches and some less so. The turning will help remedy that as you mix the parts together. Mix the outside stuff into the center and the interior stuff to the outside as you go along. As you turn you will start seeing what works and what needs help and then you know what to add as you fill the bin up over time.

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rot
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Afterthoughts:

I don't put mine in a hole. I construct bins above or on the ground. I like all the air I can get.

For bins I turn, I use one of those plastic mats with holes rolled up in a cylinder. I pick up the bin and sit it down next to where it was and shovel the now binless compost back in.

I'd love to hear how the hole logistics goes with yours. I haven't tried it but I've heard of other folks who've gone that route. Maybe it works better in dry so cal. I betcha get a lot of worms.

There are many ways to go about it and what works best is what works for you. Don't work it, make it work for you.

to sense

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Gozz
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Well thanks rot. I'll see how my pile starts going.

I should say though that I dug a hole to put the stakes in the ground, not to put the compost in the ground. After I made the hole big enough I put this fence in it with chicken wire wrapped around it and put that in the hole and then put all the dirt back in then started filling the compost on dirt flat surface.

Sorry to get your hopes up :P

rot
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That's OK.

They used to call me a young a-hole. Now they don't call me young anymore.

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