Starting a compost pile

[MrsFarrow]

I have literally no background on this at all. Imagine a 5 year old starting a compost pile. That's about where I'm at. I'm starting a vegetable garden, and looking into composting for fertilizer.

We have a ton of leaves on our property, but aside from that, I've got nothing. I've read a bunch of articles on beginning a pile, but I'd like to hear it from those of you who routinely do it.

What has worked for you? Do you have a legit pile, or have you sectioned it off in some way?

What materials do you use? What has proven successful for a decent crop yield?

Thank you in advance

[puddlejumper007]

click on extreme composting,,,you will get all the info you need there.

[SouthGAMan]

I certainly wouldn't classify myself as an expert but I have been composting at least in some form for the lsat 6 or 7 years probably. I really had no choice. Our homestead property is on what was once family land but all the topsoil was sold off around 1970. There is in fact a very small graveyard from the late 1800's that is roughly about 40 inches or so above the ground level of the rest of the property. All we have is clay that holds water like unreal and in the summer gets baked into a concrete like substance that hand held hole-diggers won't penetrate. Pine trees were planted on it, but although they have been growing for more than 40 years the vast majority are far below normal expected height. If we wanted to have any garden at all we had to do something (we do have raised beds).

We compost both in piles, and in 3 barrels which are for different stages. We have chickens, goats, and rabbits. These animals contribute manure among their other benefits (such as meat, eggs, and selling their young at times). We utilize pine straw into a bedding system for the goats and chickens. This all gets composted (but supposedly pine straw is also very acidic). I have very few trees on our property that drop 'normal' leaves. We do raid my mother's leave piles though (and sometimes are gifted leaves from other sources) to add to our piles.

We also diligently save many kitchen scraps into a compost bucket under the sink (which in turn when full goes into our 'stage 1' compost barrel outside). Most greenery admittedly goes to the chickens but a good bit of stuff goes into the kitchen scrap bucket including teabags, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc (I don't want to tempt critters too much by adding all this to my normal pile). My mother-in-law and her family also contribute. We try to crush the eggshells the best we can. In 'stage 1' barrel after we get X amount into the barrel we throw a little rabbit manure onto it as well. When the barrel gets close to be full (or before if we think it is ready) we move it to barrel stage 2 (and yes we try to rotate it/stir it as much as possible in all stages). All the barrels have tons of holes drilled into them to help with aeration and to make sure water doesn't build up too much (which is always a danger in barrels imho). This process continues into the stage 3 barrel and by the time it is finished there it is rich black gold.

There are tons of videos and info about composting on the internet. I am sure you will find something that works for you! Good luck.

[HuskyBoris]

I remember when I was a kid my dad would barter or just plain get it for free,,we had a good supply of leaves and chicken poop but were lacking in other things he wanted in it,,the cemetary or closest town dumpsite was a great place to score free grass clippings,another guy had manure and all the organic table scraps went in,,the extreme composting thread is the best for the rest.
just a note,,my wife works for a large hog farm and they compost the deads,they have a very large building in which all the deads are lined up and covered with dirt and straw,after the process is done hardly a speck of a bone is left

[Chucknbob]

Compost is honestly this easy.

1. Take your leaves, kitchen scraps (no meat or grease unless you have a huge pile) manure, used bedding, and any other plant based stuff and put it in a big pile. The bigger the pile the better.

2. Wait. (Turn it if you want. It speeds the process but isn't required)

3. Harvest compost. It starts forming at the bottom and works it's way up. You can wait until it's all done, or scrape the top off, get compost, and pile it back up to continue the process.

[MrsFarrow]

So much good information!! Thank you everyone !

[Conhntr]

Im with chucknbob. I throw everything i have into a big pile, stir it with the tractor about once a month. I do compost animals, butcher/sluaghter scraps, and all non-pig-edible kitchen scraps. I also get a few loads of manure a year. I can get horse manure mixed with pine shavngs or straw loaded on my trailer for free around here (horse country). Check on craigslist you may be able to find a smaller horse owner that will give you a pickup bed full (or your barrels) free especially if your willing to load. i will add a step and that is at the end of summer i start a new pile and dont use any compost until it is 3+ years old. If you arent adding anything but plant/manure a year is fine

Not sure on the pine needles. I have tons of blueberries, rasberries, and blackberries and use pine needles to mulch them so they dont go in. Everything else does though.

[watcher]

I'm lazy and have way too much more to do to 'tend' compost piles so here's what I do. I pick a place and I start putting all the things I want to compost there; old hay, leaves, grass clippings, table scraps and the like. I keep piling things there for 6-12 months. Then I pick a second place and start another pile. In 6-12 months I pick a third place and start over. By that time the 1st pile is ready to be used and after its gone I use that place to start my new pile. Next season I use the pile in the #2 spot and start my new pile there.

[Tricky Grama]

DH built a small 'fence' w/kinda chicken wire (square holes)& metal posts, its an 'arc' or kinda 3 sided. Everything goes in, except grease/meat. I turn it sporatically, usually I dig under it all to get small am'ts of compost.

[Vikestand]

I have an unlimited supply of leaves and grass so most of our compost is just for food scraps. We burn our paper(do mix some cardboard in with the compost pile) and all food scraps go into the pile. That may change when we get chickens.

A family of three(wife, myself and our 1.5 year old) only produce about 1 1/2 bags of trash a week that isn't either compost or burned. Mostly diapers or other plastics.

Doing these has really cut our trash.

[MichaelK!]

I scoop out a shallow depression in the area I want the pile to be located, and set the fresh soil off to the side. I then dump in about 6-8 inches of new compostable materials, and then sprinkle a shovel full of soil over this material. I then lay done a second layer of compostables just like the first, and then sprinkle another shovel of soil. I keep up this pattern till I've used up my compostables and the soil. I then keep the new pile water such that it's nicely moist, but not soaking wet.

After two weeks or so, I dig into the pile such that what was on the top is now at the bottom, and what was lowest is now at the top. This will mix your materials enough that the pile contents will be completely composted in just a few months.

[Forerunner]

Just for fun......

Extreme Composting

[am1too]

Originally Posted by MrsFarrow

I have literally no background on this at all. Imagine a 5 year old starting a compost pile. That's about where I'm at. I'm starting a vegetable garden, and looking into composting for fertilizer.

We have a ton of leaves on our property, but aside from that, I've got nothing. I've read a bunch of articles on beginning a pile, but I'd like to hear it from those of you who routinely do it.

What has worked for you? Do you have a legit pile, or have you sectioned it off in some way?

What materials do you use? What has proven successful for a decent crop yield?

Thank you in advance

I use lots of grinder tub offal. It mainly consists of common yard waste city people need to get rid of. I haul it home by the ton. I usually do nothing to it. All the rain this year got me to turn it so the wet stuff is in the middle with the dry stuff on top. This is key in making it heat up. Mostly I just let it sit for a couple years. I might move it once a year. The bigger the pile the better. Mine usually start of 10ft wide, 5ft high and as long as want to make them. Then I sift out the trash and big stuff and spread it. Sometimes I cover it with an inch or two of sand or other dirt. I think forerunner will spread it up to 8ft deep. I'm just hoping for 2 or 3 inches. That's a bunch of material.

[Forerunner]

Naw.....8 feet at a time is a little much, unless I'm filling a really bad gouge of a waterway.
4-6 inches is an average spread after I get topography set up to suit me.

[MichaelZ]

Get yourself 4 pallets, 1 8ft 2x4 cut in half, 1 8ft 2x2 cut in half, and one or two strong 4ft rubber bungees. Fasten 3 pallets in a U shape with a 4ft 2x4 at each corner. Sharpen the ends of the 2x2's so you can use them as stakes. Pound them in the ground, one on each side of your U at the ends to keep the sides from bowing out. Place the 4th pallet across the front and hold in place with bungees. Fill this with

• Leaves
• Grass Clippings
• Food Scraps
• REPEAT 3 Previous Layers again and again

Water all this so it is as wet as a rung out sponge. If you can fill this "bin" to the top, it will start heating up fairly quick. The pallets can be obtained free if you ask around. The 2x4 & 2x2 and bungee might set you back $5 - $10, unless you already have this laying around. The pallet setup will give you the volume your need, along with the air needed. Instead of food scraps, placing already composted material or animal manure is very helpful in getting your pile going.

[Moosetails]

If you want a "fast" compost, check out the Berkeley Method on the Internet. This is the first year I've tried it and have to say that I'm impressed.

I have a 5'x4'x3' covered pile that I started on the first of May. I've turned it a couple of times. It's decomposing and turning to dirt so quickly, that I'm definitely doing this again. It is so hot that stream rises from the middle when I turn the pile over.

No more hanging out for a year or two, waiting for Mother Nature to do her thing. I've spent about 30 minutes every couple of days turning the pile and will probably be able to use it in my yard and garden by the first week of June.

[logbuilder]

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Just for fun......

Extreme Composting

This is a wealth of info. You can't do much better.

Thanks Forerunner.

[am1too]

Originally Posted by watcher

I'm lazy and have way too much more to do to 'tend' compost piles so here's what I do. I pick a place and I start putting all the things I want to compost there; old hay, leaves, grass clippings, table scraps and the like. I keep piling things there for 6-12 months. Then I pick a second place and start another pile. In 6-12 months I pick a third place and start over. By that time the 1st pile is ready to be used and after its gone I use that place to start my new pile. Next season I use the pile in the #2 spot and start my new pile there.

I'm even lazier when it comes to compost.

I take a 16ft trailer to the local compost yard and they load it free with what they call mulch. This is grinder tub offal. Same stuff they use to make compost with. The only difference is the addition of lots of water and frequent turning. Their process takes bout 4 months.

Anyway I just pile it up for a couple years. I recently did turn my small pile of 10x10x5 because I wanted the 9 inches of rain in the middle which was dry as dust.

I do have a pile grass is starting to grow in.

[cfuhrer]

"Composting For Dummies" is an excellent book.
Inexpensive, quick read.

Breaks materials down into browns and greens, length of time for which mixes.

We have curious dogs so I do a lot of anerobic composting: dig a hole, throw materials in, shove hole closed.

[Homesteader1]

I have a 4x12 box I use for compost, most of my scraps goes to the chickens or pigs, but when I clean the rabbits or chicken house in goes in the box, along with a couple pkgs of yeast I soak it and turn it and done nice compost. It works for me.