Thinking about getting into composting

[rainbowgardener]

Well, everywhere I use my compost, I get volunteer tomato plants popping up, from the tomatoes that go in the compost. It's not the worst thing in the world. The little tomato seedlings are very easy to pull and every once in awhile I leave one to grow into a tomato plant.

Occasionally I get volunteer squashes from the compost, rarely anything else, though I am not all that careful about keeping weed seeds out of the pile. Even with cool to warm composting (not hot), the seeds mostly do break down.

[ElizabethB]

Once you start composting you will be hooked!

My 2 cents: I have 2 4' x 4' x 4' adjacent boxes made from scrap lumber and chicken wire. Some of the uprights and cross member boards are scabbed. Doesn't matter. The front of each box has only an 18" footer. The benefit is ease of turning from one box to another rather than trying to turn a mass of material in one box. The low front footer makes access for turning and removing easy.

My neighbor wanted compost bins. She scavenged big box stores, local markets, produce markets, on and on until she found free pallets. G helped her screw them together and cut one to create a low front.

If you do have issues with critters add a pallet to the top. Hinge the front and the top. To make adding daily kitchen scraps easier cut a hatch in the top and hinge it. Use snap latches to deter critters - especially raccoons. Simple slip latches won't work.

When I first attempted composting I used a loose pile. It was OK but it was a mess and an eye sore. Not good in a subdivision.

Do read the post at the beginning of the composting forum. Lots of good information on the proper balance of browns and greens.

Even with diligent attention and work you will be lucky to get your compost hot enough to kill off weed seeds. No need to worry about a compost fire.

DITTO previous posters. The only compost fires I have ever heard of are from poorly managed municipal composting facilities.

We have a municipal composting facility that has been in service for at least 40 years. They process HUGE amounts of compost and have never had a fire.

Good luck

[redneck647]

Thanks Rainbow. I'll probably keep doing as I am now then. I already have to stay on top of the weeds anyway or they take over.

Elizabeth thanks for the info. Right now I just have one box made out of 4 pallets. They're wire together and the one side I fixed up a latch out to the wire that I can undo and swing that side open. For now my plan is to try to mix it up with the pitchfork once a week or so. If I really want to I could just move the pallets and then toss the pile back into them.
Eventually I went to add at least a second compartment so can let this pile work down and add the new stuff to the next but I;m not close to filling this one yet.
And yes I'm no longer worried about it catching fire.
I have read the sticky post and a handful of other sites and info on composting. Its all been very helpful but sometimes I run into conflicting ideas and like to ask for opinions.

So far I'm getting more weeds coming up in the garden that I'm adding as greens to the pile.

[toxcrusadr]

Usually the conflicting info is in the details. The main points of composting - its benefits, mixing browns and greens, moisture, air - everyone agrees on. Sounds like you're on your way!

[redneck647]

Here is the result so far.

I know at this stage it has a lot more browns in it then greens but I'm getting more greens now.
My hope to fill it up and by next spring I might have something useable.

[tomc]

The subject line sounds messy

Even if you don't quite get greens and browns balanced, its still gonna rot.

[rainbowgardener]

Looks good. Even when the garden is frozen and not producing anything, if you cook from whole foods (fruits and veggies), you will have plenty of kitchen scraps, which are all greens. I fill up a 2 gallon bucket every week with kitchen scraps, that all go in the compost pile.

[redneck647]

Thanks everyone.
Its still a small pile but it has become home to multiple bugs and is already starting to shrink.

[redneck647]

I know I made some mistakes learning but did manage to get some compost. I've now added a second bin and found this under my pile.

I know it still has a little bit of stuff in it but since I'm not planting a real crop until spring could this be mixed into my garden now as is? Or does it still need moor time to finish out of the garden?

[imafan26]

If it smells earthy; is not steaming or have white stuff in it (actinomycetes); and it has broken down enough that you cannot really identify what it came from, I.e. branches, twigs, coffee grounds, peels, etc. then it is good to go. Some people will sift the compost and throw back into the pile anything that still looks like it could use more composting.

[toxcrusadr]

Looks like compost to me!

[redneck647]

Thanks.
I know its not much but I got 3 5 gallon buckets of compost from the pile and have a little left over yet that I'll save to up plant stuff next year before it goes into the garden.
I also have the second bin starting to fill up for next year. I Know soon it'll be to cold to do anything but it should give me a jump start in the spring.

[toxcrusadr]

Save some fall leaves or whatever you can find for browns and keep it next to the bin. All winter you can layer your kitchen scraps with browns. The freezing and thawing will help break up fibers and cells, and when it's warm enough it will compost a little. Even 40F is warm enough for slow microbial activity.

[redneck647]

Thanks. I'm going to try but winter is usaly below 30 here. And the compost bin will probably have deep snow drifts between it and the house so it might stop until spring.
Luckaly the leaves are just starting to fall so once they do I'm going to cover the garden with them for the winter and and then pile as many more as I can into the bin I took this years finished compost from. Hopefully that wikk give me a good stock pile.

[toxcrusadr]

We have some big snows here too so I use a lazy method for winter. I keep a 5-gal bucket with a lid outside the back door. In bad weather I just open the door, dump the kitchen bucket into it, and go back to my coffee and woodstove. When the weather is a bit nicer I haul the bucket out to the compost pile.

[friedokrie]

Don't overthink composting. As long as your pile isn't too much of any one thing, you'll likely develop a nice pile over time. I wouldn't do a pile that was comprised of only leaves, or only grass clippings, or only anything. While leaves make up the majority of the bulk of most of my compost, there are many, many other "ingredients" that are thrown in there constantly. Cow manure, all kinds of vegetable/fruit trimmings and peelings, weeds, some grass clippings , straw, other garden refuse, and pretty much anything else I can find.
As for a bin, you don't even have to have one. I usually don't. I just pile the stuff up. While a bin can be made of wire, pallets, cinder blocks, or whatever else you have, a compost pile doesn't just get up and walk around and scatter itself. It will only go where you put it. So a bin isn't necessary, but most people use them.
Composting has so many benefits for your soil and ultimately your plants, as has already been extensively stated. I say go for it! Couldn't be an easier hobby to get involved in, and, it's good for you and your garden.

[rainbowgardener]

well yes and no re: "a compost pile doesn't just get up and walk around and scatter itself. It will only go where you put it. "

If you have raccoons, dogs, rats, mice, other critters in your yard, a compost pile certainly can get dug through, all the best kitchen scraps eaten out of it, and other stuff scattered. Where I used to live there were lots of raccoons. If I didn't have a sturdy bin with a top, I would come out in the morning and it would look like the raccoons didn't just eat from the compost pile, they had a party and threw stuff all over the yard.

But even without that, compost piles work best if they have a working center, with compostables all around it. That means to stay piled up higher than nature wants it. Without some kind of bin, due to the actions of wind, rain, and gravity, your compostables will tend to be a low spread out pile.

Not to say that you can't make compost without a bin, obviously some do, as long as there aren't too many critters. But I do think it works better, easier, more efficiently with one. And compost bins are very easy to buy or make from whatever scrap materials are on hand.

[redneck647]

Sorry the pile of leaves is just to keep them on hand to be added as I toss in greens.
I've actually been surprised by how little the wild life has gotten into my pile but just the other day I found a tomato drug out of it into the yard.