Starting a Compost

Can anyone give me some advice on starting a compost pile? I'm new at this so it seems as though I'm asking some pretty stupid questions, but here goes.... What type of things do I put in it and the things that I don't want to put in it.....how to take care of it......what direction it should face.....when and how I should use it.....or anything else I haven't thought to ask. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks,

Sheri

Sheri, here is an article about composting that may be of help to you.

http://www.texasstar.org/index.php?pg=composting

Josephine.

Sheri welcome to the "compost pile". We have discussed many things such as you are asking in this thread so read first and then ask what you want. Glad you are here. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/583906/ This is a whole summary

Thanks for your advice....I have started reading some of the threads on here and probably will get some good ideas. I like the pic of yours there Soferdig. I have some landscape timbers that I thought about making mine with. I'm new on DG.....so pardon my ignorance. I'll try the Hyperlink too and see what I can find out...thanks Josephine.

Sheri

It is gonna take years for that mower to compost.

Sheri, you might want to reconsider the landscape timber idea. Those are probably treated and depending on what you are planning on using the compost for, you might not want to expose it to potentially harmful chemicals.

Good catch Willis....hadn't thought of that. Do you have any suggestions? It won't be a big one. What about blocks....will that suffice for now?

Sheri

Cement blocks is what I use and they work great, you can even reconfigure your bin to suit your needs, without mortar or nails.

Thanks Frostweed......Cement blocks it is then. I have several already on hand. Does it need to be contained on all four sides? From the pics I've seen no....but didn't know which is best.

Sheri

Mine has four sides because I don't turn it, I use what I call the cold compost method.
Josephine.

Yeah, I've been reading up on the hot and cold method. The cold sounds like a better way to go for me. I probably have enough to have 4 sides as well. Thanks for the advice.

Sheri

You are welcome, I am glad that you found it useful.
Josephine.

I have gone from one loose pile compost to three hots,and three cold,I am leaning toward cold with every thing.I have this humas madness,that people kinda laugh at, but all those,from various times, ask me if i want...etc, and I always say I'll come pick it up. The last great opertunity I just got mon., was an 18 stall horse barn,that I told them I'll be glad to help you clean it,and pulled my trailor out,and be darned if they aren't going to load it for me.Can you just imagine my surprise!!they are tickled too since the last time they called for a roll off dumpster,and paid $300..What a world we live in!!!Pic of one of my cold piles,at the same location I started from..Mike

This message was edited Jul 11, 2006 7:35 PM

OOps!!sorry about that.Mike

Mike I was going to say that I had neer seen anyone compost vertically. but I thought it was very original and very space efficient.
Those look very nice Mike, you are lucky to be able to find all the horse manure.
Josephine.

josephine,Thank you,and I might just start out verticle,it would be in keeping with my irons in the fire syndrum.Composting is my "get away". MIke

Excellent passtime Mike, wish that many people did the same.

I have been collecting a few things to compost my clay dirt with and i was wondering if what i have is good and what else would i might need to add? I have dried coffee grains, dried grass clippings and bags of topsoil, which has some peat moss and sand in it. Any suggestions?

thanks

I think it is a good start.

I hope this is a good place to jump in with another composting question (I'm a newbie here, and relatively new to composting): How do you know when compost is 'finished'?

I have a batch that was cooking away happily for a while, nice and warm in its rotating bin, which I turn every week, or when I remember ;). Now the entire contents have gone cold. The compost looks more like mulch to me; crumbly and brown but still with some larger matted chunks of decomposed matter. It smells earthy. I don't know whether to use it, or add some compost accelerator and try to re-start it.

Advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Mine got cold that way (and I'll probably never use the bin again) and I poured in a beer. The next day it was cooking again. It still hasn't gotten anywhere near "black gold," though. I got the barrel type composter, that spins on the "tea catcher" and I feel very ripped off.

Brigidlily, it sounds like we may have the same or similar type of bin. My ignorance of composting when I got it made me think I must be doing something wrong (which still hasn't been ruled out, of course!). There are so many spinning/tumbling/rotating types of bins on the market, it's confusing. From reading around this site, it seems the old fashioned homemade compost bin may be the best. But I'm not giving up on the expensive soil-amendment mixer yet.

Frostweed, thanks for your help and quick response.

Goldenberry, I spent WAY too much on it to just give up, actually. I just feel that, since I did it the way they said, with a 50/50 brown/green ration, it should not have turned into cold green dog droppings. I'm trying again, but I am convinced the old way is the right way. A friend brought four old pallets over for me, and I've dumped my first bad batch in there with all the normal compost stuff. If the current bad batch doesn't improve, it will go in there, too. Then I'll try again. But in the meantime, finding another use for the thing is never far from my mind.

Anyone have an alternate use for the compost bin that zip zap gives you perfect compost in two weeks? (NOT.) I stuck my hand in yesterday to check for heat (there was some but not much) and found another green "dog dropping." gggrrrrrrrrr

But the worm bins are great! It, too, takes longer than one would hope, but I have a few pounds of worm poop that I'm very excited about. Trying to get them to move up into the next chamber. If they don't get it done soon I'll sift through it and move them myself.

I'm glad I resisted the offer my father made to buy me a compost tumbler. I thought it was a cool idea, but I have way more stuff to compost than would fit in it. Looking back I should have asked him for a chipper/shredder instead (though that would probably have been a little rude - no, but can I have...... haha).

I think the problem with the tumblers is that no contact with the earth. No worms, bacteria, fungus, and bugs to make it go. I would always throw in a bunch of soil if I had a tumbler. But they are best used to mix soil after you compost on the ground. LOL