compost 101 - Page 2

[nym]

I went and moved the compost barrel today. It was sitting in a wet, muddy mess. I moved it onto an old untreated pallet, with some chicken wire on top. Then I dumped everything back in (it has now been well turned!), added some straw, sticks and twigs and a little dirt. I hope it does better!

[Ame]

We are putting grass clippings layered with saw dust. I went to get some red wiggler worms to help speed of the progress - but the local bait and tackle said theya re hard to come by. He only had night crawlers...would that work ? If not what is a cheap organic way to speed up the composting process with grass clippings & saw dust ?

<by the way this a great thread - thanks for all the info>

[Chanley]

night crawlers will not work, they eat different things in teh soil and will die in compost situations.

Do not put too much sawdust in your pile. It will tie up nitrogen. With LOTS of grass clippings that is good as grass is HOT but sawdust will slow it down.

Just something to think about.

Now I will totally contradict myself by saying....

Do not overthink your compost, remember, it is not made of plastic so IT WILL ROT! It just may take longer. THis all sounds complicated but it really isn't.

edited to make more sense.

[ja mama]

Did I miss the answer to the question if it's okay to just bury your kitchen scraps right in your garden if you don't have space for a compost pile (or time)?

[Xenogenesis]

I know folks who have done this (buried stuff directly).

Wouldn't that attract varmints though?

[Chanley]

The way to do this properly is to dig a big trench. and over time fill it with your compostables and cover the section you have just filled. You let that trench sit for a season, covered and then plant on it again. Then you dig your trench in another part of the garden. You keep rotating the trench year after year. This is how you compost like that. clear as mud?

It should not attract varmints IF you keep all of the animal fats and such OUT and try to keep your stuff buried. Same as a compost pile really only it will not get as hot.

[sabrosina]

Great thread. I'm a composting wannabee and this thread and the ideas here might just be the nudge I needed.

We live on nearly an acre with plenty of trees surrounding us, and other than the grass we've just planted on a small part of it (which was overrun by weeds until recently) we've left it natural at the perimiter. I do yank the monster sized weedy looking vegetation and do mow and trim/cut back the perennial (how DO you spell that word?!?) plants and have been throwing the clippings on a pile.. thinking that I'd get around to composting it all and using it for fertilizer.

So I have loads of kitchen scraps (I'm a chef and we primarily eat vegetables and fruit) that I've been throwing in this huge pile (10'x10'x3'deep now) behind our shed. It doesn't seem to have attracted any bugs and does seem to be decomposing though its not contained on the perimiter.

Question is this: Can I just let it 'go' like this and wait for it to compost? (Which is what it seems to be doing..) I really have no idea how long it could/should take if composting at a good rate. Maybe containing it is just to accelerate the process? And finally.. Where would I find the wooden pallets? Using them bound with a bungie cord is a great idea and we certainly have plenty of space for one or even two.

Oh.. and supposing I layer properly and turn and keep wet.. how long should it take and how will I know if what I've composted is 'ready' to be used in the flower/veg beds?

Thanks in advance..

[Mama Lori]

Thanks Chanley for the great article

Chanley, thanks. You've helped me get started on composting.

Now two questions.

Does it matter WHERE in the yard you make your pile? Sun? Shade? Does it matter?

And, where oh where do you get shipping pallets?

thanks!
Lori

[CaliMommie]

Can I use pine needles in my compost pile?

AmiBeth

[Mama Lori]

AmiBeth, from what I've read in this book I picked up at the library "Composting [Nourishing the Soil]" by Liz Ball, yes you can put pine needels in. She says they make good carbon (brown) additions to he pile, but keep in mind that they take a little longer to decompose than other leaves because of their thick outer waxy coating of cutin. They'll decompose faster if you shred them first (if you have a shredder).

[loannetworker]

new zealand method

Hey, a lady I met in New Zealand had several neat stacks of compost aging around her (large) garden. They looked like large baskets made of wooden rails. She had her dad put up 4 fence posts in a square pattern about 3 feet apart. Then she layered 2x2 rails inside the posts, overlapping like a log house....up against the posts at the corners. She just added the sticks up the sides as the pile got deeper. She tossed in grass clippings, wood chips (had a chipper of course) and all her dead plants and veggies. As the pile got higher it didn't need tossing because of the spaces between the sticks allowed enough air. It never smelled and I never saw a fly. Very neat!

[root*children]

does anyone compost where bears are afoot? I am living in just this place. For now I just put stuff in the garden and bury it pretty deep and it composts rather quickly ( and my 3yo LOVES playing in it! - he'll get out his bulldozer and makes mounds of cornstalks and such:LOL )Anyhow, it is widely known around here not to leave ANY garbage outside to attract bears. I do know folks who have the huge composting barrels outside, but they don't like them, and anyhow I don't like how they look. So I want to just have a regular pile... anyone have exp. w/ this situation?
Also, there are pallets galore in the "free" section of our classified ads. If you don't have that section in your paper, try putting up a little note at the grocery bulliten board or the feed&seed asking for FREE Wooden Pallets.

[root*children]

oh ALso~ I did call the county extension office about suggestions, but he just didn't even know and suggested worm composting, too. hmmm...

[Mama Lori]

dready mama, thanks for the tip on wooden pallets. The search begins!

I just found the perfect spot in our yard. I'm just going to have to dig out a couple of plants that I don't like anyways, to get them out of the way. And dig out a bunch of tanbark. Actually, can I add the tan bark to my pile?

[adventuregirl]

Julie, I am in heavy bear area too. I keep my compost pretty well covered with yard waste (grass, leaves, weeds, etc) after dumping in kitchen scraps. I also have dh pee on it to help keep the bears away. We have had bears knock over the bin in the past, but the more we keep on top of covering it up, the less visits we have. Tis the season for them to be waking up, best of luck!

[nym]

Okay, so my composter is having problems. Right now it is in one of the black barrel type of composter, and I want to change it to a slat type one that we are building. But, it doesn't seem to be working very well. It is composting very slowly and there are tons of flys. We do add grass clippings and straw, but it doesn't seem to be working. As well, with this type of composter, we are having a hard time turning it.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[PAflower]

I have a question for anyone...

Last year when I turned my compost once a week (which I didn't do in the winter) I would find these off white grub looking things in there.
What are they and are they normal?
I wanted to take my compost to the garden and rototill it in but not if those things are bad.

Please help!

[Chanley]

the black barrel composter, is it a trash can??

There should be NO flies.

What kind of drainage do you have in it??

I am thinking it is TOO wet.



Now, the grubs....

You MUST keep your kitchen compost covered with things like grass clippings, yard waste type stuff. I highly reccomend bagging leaves in the fall and leaving the bags around the compost pile, after you dump your scraps into it, cover them with leaves.

our lawn mower is broken, so I have been dumping my pail then hacking down large leafy weeds to cover it. This will keep the bugs from laying eggs on it.



If you have grubs, i would leave it for another year. They are probably some sort of beetle. SO you may want to find some bag a bugs if htey are japanese beetles.

[nym]

No it is the size of a large garbage can, but it has a lid, and a square opening in the bottom that you can remove compost from, and it has holes all over it. I don't think it is too wet, I raised it up on a pallet, so it is out of the mud. And it is very dry and hot here already 18+ celcius. But, it might be. I just don't know what to do to it. I hate turning it because it is nasty with all the flies. Should I add way more straw? We have lots of grass clippings too. I added a lot of those, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

[adventuregirl]

You could try covering it with some dirt, might get the flys out of there.