My Fall/Winter Compost Pile!!

[TexRx]

Hello! I've decided to post my compost pile here so....here goes! My first thread!

Fall and winter is when I work on my outdoor compost pile. The growing season is almost over now and it's time to focus on making compost!
So, I started my outdoor pile today! It didn't take very long and I've got pics below of each step

So, what you see is:
-I started the base of my pile with some yard waste, some bagged compost and some unfinished compost from my last pile
-Then I added a 50 lb bag of beets and molasses from the feed store
-After that, about 50 lbs of coffee grounds from Starbucks
-Next I added some green sand, lava sand and gypsum. You can see it's green red and white
-Next is a 50 lb bag of alfalfa pellets from the feed store
-Followed by 4 pumpkins that are cut into pieces
-and then a full bag of compost starter
While I was layering this pile, I would occasionally add some base material and stir the pile some
-then I covered it all up

And Finally, I flattened the top of the pile and put the hose on low so it gets wet

This pile will sit for a month. We get rain here in N. Texas this time of yr so the pile will get wet....... and then I will turn it and add more materials. At that time I will update this thread with more pics!

Here's all the pics!

Thanks for looking!!!

[toxcrusadr]

Tex, those are some great compostables. It seems heavy on the green, you might need some leaves or some other kind of browns to balance it.

[TexRx]

^^^^ I don't have any leaves to collect yet. Fall is just now starting here. I won't have a lot of leaves for a few weeks. So, I don't have any to add right now

And I know it looks that way but I've got 8 bags of compost as my browns and once it gets turned, it will compost well

[rainbowgardener]

I never quite understand buying things to put in your compost pile.

Mine does fine on yard waste, kitchen scraps, fall leaves

I think the compost starter is mostly micro-organisms that are available in your soil. Toss a handful of garden dirt in now and then and you will get the same effect.

If you want to add stuff like green sand and gypsum to your garden, I think you are better off adding it directly to the garden, instead of putting it in the compost pile...

Your bagged compost and old compost is (hopefully) pretty balanced C:N. So it doesn't really count as a brown (which has nothing to do with color, manure is a "green"). If you don't have fall leaves, maybe shredded paper? Last year in the summer when I ran out of the previous year's fall leaves, I bought a bale of straw (not hay which is a green) to use as a brown and fed that into the pile a little at a time. Didn't break down as fast as the fall leaves, but it got there.

[TexRx]

So far, no one here thinks outside the box

My method works

[TexRx]

I'm going to prove to the good people here that my method works. Once this pile is done and you see just what kind of results I'm capable of producing, you'll see what I'm doing works

It's not a conventional pile, of course but I will show you results to wow over!

We've gotton some rain already and I'm going to turn the pile in another week.....that's when my next update will be. Until then I'll be lurking around the board

[bogydave]

Go Tex
I like it. It'll make compost.

If it's organic, it will make compost.

[rainbowgardener]

So far, no one here thinks outside the box

My method works

Of course it works, and will produce very nice compost; no one questioned that. My method also works, with a lot less effort and zero dollars and nothing mined or imported. And you would still get more bang for your gypsum/greensand buck putting it directly on your garden.

[vermontkingdom]

There are many ways to skin a cat, but overall, I agree with rainbow. I too have wonderful compost but mine essentially comes from free materials. I combine leaves from many neighbors, horse manure, grass clippings from two sources (known to be pesticide free), kitchen refuse, garden weeds and greenery, lots of human urine, wood ash from our wood stove, and pulverized bones after they have been cooked in the wood stove. The water I use on the piles comes from our rain barrels. Several years ago I bought bags of rock phosphate, bone meal, dried blood, greensand, and alfalfa pellets to use in my compost but, to date, I've had no need to use them. Part of the fun for me now is to be able to tell my wife that everything going into the garden is almost free. (The horse manure is transported by car from a nearby town so obviously the gas expense prevents the compost from being totally free.)

BTW-She doesn't know about the urine ingredient so let's just keep that little secret between us devout composters!

[TexRx]

Using urine in your compost pile is gross!!!
I mean do you wake up and take a leak outside on your pile every morning or do you have a bucket to collect it?

[rainbowgardener]

But if you really think about it, using pure drinking water to flush valuable nitrogen into the sewers where it goes into the water ways, where it contributes to the death of rivers by eutrophication (look it up! ) is also "gross."

speaking of thinking outside the box....

[toxcrusadr]

Tex, there are many ways of recycling urine into the compost, so the answer to your question is "yes", any and all of those methods work. I would guess the majority of people who do it at all are the 'occasional deposit directly on the pile' types. But there are bucket people.

If you've ever bought a bag or truckload of composted manure, you got not only poo but urine too. Yet the compost is just fine. Nature's way of recycling.

This thread will answer many more questions should you wish to expand your knowledge:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=31668

[stylemichelle21]

Not to be nitpicky in any way, but I'm kind of interested in the Starbuck's coffee choice. In my neck of the woods, that's pretty expensive stuff. Is there any benefit to using their brand versus, lets say, a cheap grocery store alternative?

[TexRx]

But if you really think about it, using pure drinking water to flush valuable nitrogen into the sewers where it goes into the water ways, where it contributes to the death of rivers by eutrophication (look it up! ) is also "gross."

speaking of thinking outside the box....

Ok! I'll give you credit for thinking outside the box. A composting toilet sounds better than putting on a pile directly

I would like to post here, guys...so even though I'm off to a bumpy start.... keep in mind that there are a variety of ways to compost things. If you just wait and see my results....the results will be full of goodies including natural minerals from the lava sand, green sand and gypsum. And it will be realatively hot compost with NPK nutrients. This batch I'm making will go on my lawn. My native gardens like the native soil and don't want much compost....

peace for now

[TexRx]

Not to be nitpicky in any way, but I'm kind of interested in the Starbuck's coffee choice. In my neck of the woods, that's pretty expensive stuff. Is there any benefit to using their brand versus, lets say, a cheap grocery store alternative?

I don't think different brands would vary much from each other. Organic may have higher levels of nutrients and nitrogen...other than that, I think used grounds are all ralatively the same

I can tell you that Starbuck's has a 'Grounds for Gardeners' program and you just have to ask if the store you visit participates. My store gives me up to 20lbs every week Usually 3 to 6 lbs per day