Do you have to put your compost pile together all at once?
I read somewhere that you need to. I was planning to do it over time..I mean I always have plenty of grass clipping and manure, but I'd want to any left over veggies, coffee grounds, etc etc, as they're produced in the house. Will this not work?
I throw stuff into my compost bin as it becomes available. When I turn the bin (which isn't too often b/c of personal health), I take out what's ready for use and return what's still "working" to the bin.
It's just a big cycle: working ==> ready ==> remove ==> add stuff ==> working... etc.
If at any time the "working" part seems to slow down or stop, check to see whether more browns (carbon-rich stuff), greens (nitrogen-rich stuff), air (turning), or water are needed.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
It's just a big cycle: working ==> ready ==> remove ==> add stuff ==> working... etc.
If at any time the "working" part seems to slow down or stop, check to see whether more browns (carbon-rich stuff), greens (nitrogen-rich stuff), air (turning), or water are needed.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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rainbowgardener
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Yup, I'm on the add as you go plan too. It does help to have at least a small pile of stuff to start with when you are first starting, to get everything going.
I just have a wire grid bin and just keep throwing stuff in there as it becomes available, but being sure that whenever I add greens ESPECIALLY kitchen scraps, I add browns to cover them. (See the greens/ browns sticky at the top of this Forum, if you aren't familiar with what is what.) If you don't want your compost pile to be obnoxious or attract critters, you need to cover the kitchen scraps with a good layer of other stuff. Can be the pulled weeds, grass clippings, etc, but then you need to balance that with browns.
My compost pile works much better than it used to, since I started being more careful about keeping a good amount of browns and always adding brown with green. In the fall, I collect bags of leaves, which I use as my main brown all through the winter. Once they are used up, I bought one bale of straw, which I've been using as my main brown all summer.
Only other thing you need to know is when it is dry enough to water your garden, water your compost pile too. If it dries out, it stops working. Not a terrible disaster, it just sits there and then starts working again once it gets rained on or moistened again, but still...
I don't even turn mine very much. I punch a few air holes down through the pile now and then with a long stick (composting is an aerobic process). More or less quarterly, but not in winter, I turn the pile over. That is, I take all the uncomposted stuff off the top of the pile, down to the layer where the earthworms are, and use it to be the bottom of a new pile. Then I stir the rest around a little and anything that isn't totally finished, rapidly becomes finished and available to be used.
I just have a wire grid bin and just keep throwing stuff in there as it becomes available, but being sure that whenever I add greens ESPECIALLY kitchen scraps, I add browns to cover them. (See the greens/ browns sticky at the top of this Forum, if you aren't familiar with what is what.) If you don't want your compost pile to be obnoxious or attract critters, you need to cover the kitchen scraps with a good layer of other stuff. Can be the pulled weeds, grass clippings, etc, but then you need to balance that with browns.
My compost pile works much better than it used to, since I started being more careful about keeping a good amount of browns and always adding brown with green. In the fall, I collect bags of leaves, which I use as my main brown all through the winter. Once they are used up, I bought one bale of straw, which I've been using as my main brown all summer.
Only other thing you need to know is when it is dry enough to water your garden, water your compost pile too. If it dries out, it stops working. Not a terrible disaster, it just sits there and then starts working again once it gets rained on or moistened again, but still...
I don't even turn mine very much. I punch a few air holes down through the pile now and then with a long stick (composting is an aerobic process). More or less quarterly, but not in winter, I turn the pile over. That is, I take all the uncomposted stuff off the top of the pile, down to the layer where the earthworms are, and use it to be the bottom of a new pile. Then I stir the rest around a little and anything that isn't totally finished, rapidly becomes finished and available to be used.
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vermontkingdom
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Personally, I prefer two compost bins. I continually add to one pile, as things become available, until it is full. At that point I begin to fill the second container and let the first one mature out. As the second pile nears capacity, the first one is usually at a point where it can be used thereby freeing up the first bin again. I've had a couple of instances where the intake was faster than the decomposition process so I plan to build a third bin this fall. I undoubtedly create and use more compost than necessary but I just hate to waste organic material.
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engineeredgarden
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There's all kinds of ways to assemble a compost pile, and each and every one of them will eventually produce the results you're looking for. Personally, I like to build my piles all at once (6 pallet bins), because the sheer volume of ingredients in each one really helps keep the core temperature heated up for a longer period of time. Therefore, less turning is needed, and my back feels a whole lot better. 
If I had a 2 bin system like you, one pile would be aggressively tended to, and the other would be kept full of leaves throughout winter. That way, you're first pile would produce compost for next spring, and the other would receive grass clippings as they became available next year.
EG
If I had a 2 bin system like you, one pile would be aggressively tended to, and the other would be kept full of leaves throughout winter. That way, you're first pile would produce compost for next spring, and the other would receive grass clippings as they became available next year.
EG
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rot
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Whaddaya want? Do you want oodles of compost or do you want to digest oodles of organics that would otherwise clog up the various waste streams we otherwise exploit?
How you answer that question should guide you on how to proceed.
If you're actively pursuing ingredients to compost so you can make the most compost as fast as you can then you want to assemble things all at once to get the temperatures up and then you want to turn it regularly and keep it moist to maintain the highest temperatures you can keep. That will get you a long way towards producing more compost as fast as it can be produced.
If you you're looking at digesting and are in no particular rush to produce compost then look at setting up your bin, then start up a batch that doesn't have to fill the bin even half way and keep adding to it. The longer you keep adding, the longer you are away from finished compost. As you add, the older stuff will reduce in volume. The reduction in volume leaves you more space to keep adding. Engineer it it so your adding equals the reduction in volume and theoretically you can do so indefinitely with out turning or emptying the bin.
I've fed one bin for almost two years topping it a half a dozen times at least. I've also reduced 17 cu ft of raw organic material into about 8 cu ft of top dressing compost in about two months once. Feeding one bin for almost two years took time and occupied space for all that time. The two month turn around took a lot of energy with monitoring the moisture and temperatures while turning it once the the bin started backing down from peak temperatures.
Your trade offs are space and time vs energy. If you don't have a lot of space, you may find yourself working your compost more in order to make compost faster to make space for more organics to be digested. If you don't have a lot of energy to put into the system you might find you're devoting a little more space so there is time to digest at a slower pace.
What works best is what works for you. Don't work to make the bioremediation process called compost meet composting requirements, work to make it work in your situation to your requirements.
to sense
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Whaddaya want? Do you want oodles of compost or do you want to digest oodles of organics that would otherwise clog up the various waste streams we otherwise exploit?
How you answer that question should guide you on how to proceed.
If you're actively pursuing ingredients to compost so you can make the most compost as fast as you can then you want to assemble things all at once to get the temperatures up and then you want to turn it regularly and keep it moist to maintain the highest temperatures you can keep. That will get you a long way towards producing more compost as fast as it can be produced.
If you you're looking at digesting and are in no particular rush to produce compost then look at setting up your bin, then start up a batch that doesn't have to fill the bin even half way and keep adding to it. The longer you keep adding, the longer you are away from finished compost. As you add, the older stuff will reduce in volume. The reduction in volume leaves you more space to keep adding. Engineer it it so your adding equals the reduction in volume and theoretically you can do so indefinitely with out turning or emptying the bin.
I've fed one bin for almost two years topping it a half a dozen times at least. I've also reduced 17 cu ft of raw organic material into about 8 cu ft of top dressing compost in about two months once. Feeding one bin for almost two years took time and occupied space for all that time. The two month turn around took a lot of energy with monitoring the moisture and temperatures while turning it once the the bin started backing down from peak temperatures.
Your trade offs are space and time vs energy. If you don't have a lot of space, you may find yourself working your compost more in order to make compost faster to make space for more organics to be digested. If you don't have a lot of energy to put into the system you might find you're devoting a little more space so there is time to digest at a slower pace.
What works best is what works for you. Don't work to make the bioremediation process called compost meet composting requirements, work to make it work in your situation to your requirements.
to sense
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I have two wood-slat bins side by side that are 3x3x3. I am building a third as soon as I finish this coffee, he he he.
I add and turn the first bin until I need more room and then I begin adding to the second. During this time, I screen to get compost I need. The rest goes on top of the second pile and opens up the first bin for new material.
I am building the third bin because I need a place to keep the composted material that accumulates before I need. This will then allow me to turn the other 2 on each other as I continue to add material.
It will also give me some additional room throughout the winter to add waste.
I add and turn the first bin until I need more room and then I begin adding to the second. During this time, I screen to get compost I need. The rest goes on top of the second pile and opens up the first bin for new material.
I am building the third bin because I need a place to keep the composted material that accumulates before I need. This will then allow me to turn the other 2 on each other as I continue to add material.
It will also give me some additional room throughout the winter to add waste.
No you don't have to put your compost pile together all at once, but I do put my compost pile together all at once which is called a hot compost pile(or so I have been told) which is don by stock piling all my ingredient as apposed to applying the ingredient to the compost as you get the ingredients