New compost pile

[CVorganicman]

I'm starting a new pile using equal parts by weight; seaweed, hay, horse manure, coffee grounds and dirt from the yard. Then I'm going to add some eggshells because someone told me that they are good sources of potassium. I'm wondering if anything else should be added. The c/n is about 33/1. I'm trying this new mix because it's all super cheep materials that I have a stockpile of. Any advice or suggestions on what else I can or should add would be greatly appreciated.

[treehopper]

this is compost-not rocket science...just feed it what you won't eat and your dog wouldn't eat-nature will take care of the rest.

[cynthia_h]

It looks to me like the new compost pile is "green" heavy, as in greens/browns. If it starts to smell bad or attract flies/insects, add browns in the form of shredded paper, newspaper, cardboard or, if you have it, fallen leaves from last fall or more hay/straw.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[rot]

..
Sounds green to me too. We'll see. I expect you'll want to follow Cynthia's advice on this one sooner or later.

Equal part dirt? Some folks put a little dirt to seed local soil fauna and flora but I never have. Some gets in there anyways and everything necessary is already present and you're just coaxing it to grow.

Observe and adapt
..

[rainbowgardener]

Just to second the motions, I agree with all of the comments above. I do put a little dirt in my pile, but it is like a handful or two in the whole pile. There's no point in putting a lot of dirt in, it doesn't add anything and might slow everything down.

See the greens/ browns sticky at the top of this section...

Personally I don't believe in buying/ importing things for my compost pile. So it is mainly kitchen scraps (along with the filters from the coffee making, used paper towels, etc), yard wastes, fall leaves that I collect and save to feed in to it. Since I have a lot of all those categories, it works fine and makes nice compost.