finally, i got a start on my compost pile.
 

i am going "all in" on next years garden. i will fence out the chickens, and build a substantial plot. i cleaned my chicken coop, and all the bedding and stuff went into the bin. i usually green bin it and set it to the curb, but not anymore. i raked one section of lawn, and filled my biocube. i am gonna turn it very often, so i can get it to break down faster. i did build a pile with my surplus, but i expect my chickens to spread it back out shortly. with my chickens, and all my yard trimmings, i hope to get some great compost.

decent exercise. kinda sore. never compost anything before. strangely exciting and interesting.

now i just need to revisit my fruit tree pruning thread. it is about that time.

I tried composting years ago - terrible. I don't care what anyone says; sauteed, boiled, fried, roasted - the stuff tastes awful.

lol, Darisc.

Fruit tree pruning, huh. I guess I should do the same with the persimmon and apple tees.

I know someone that works at a grocery store. The grocery store throws out all of the old fruits and veggies, so the person used to bring them home for a compost pile. It was pretty amazing, toss the stuff in a pile, the compost pile had better fruits and veggies growing out of it than the garden did.

Compost piles are THE BEST. I have a huge property so I can make a pile so big you could use a bobcat to move it. I don't think it would be worth it to make one of those silly small plastic bin ones. Mine is literally a pile. When I had chickens their straw/**** combo would always go in the pile. Instead of putting kitchen scraps in the pile feed that to the chickens. I NEVER put kitchen scrap in there. My compost is rich. I also made a 2X4 framed wire sieve that i pour the compost over before using it so any rocks or uncomposted things stay out.


The key with manure is to allow it to rot and leach out the ammonia. If you don't compost it all, which I recommend you do, don't ever use it raw. I accidentally left the straw/**** mix by some plants and they were done!

The key to good compost is ratios. Go equal parts wet (grass & green stuff) to dry (fallen leaves, branches, and brown stuff). The straw/**** mix from the chickens I consider a neutral and add in as I have it. With my pile its so big that literally everything goes into it and it ends up fine. Remember you are trying to make a good breeding ground for the bacteria to digest so a bigger pile that can get wetter/hotter in the middle is always better than those small piles. Also, don't forget to supercharge the pile with some bacteria from the hardware store if you don't use any manure (never use pet waste).

My next step is to try and get some shredded crab, clam, oyster shells. That makes compost that leave minerals in the soil.

You can throw in a pound of red or europeen worms, they do an excellent job at making the best quality compost. If they like your pile, they will stay there. And they are great for fishing too.

I just googled and found this list. This is the truth: Compost Ingredients

Also don't rush compost because you dont want it still rotting when you put it in the garden because that will be using ground nutrients to decompose the material. I don't turn mine at all until I run it through my sieve. Turning isn't a bad idea but mine is so big it is just always hot in the middle. Also read the warning about manure at the bottom and use caution with all forms of manure.

My grandfather had a big compost pile for his garden. He also had two different worm beds. When he added it to the garden you had to drop the seeds and jump back. He grew enough vegetables to feed a small city. Here in Oklahoma City he grew corn "as high as an elephant's eye" just like the song.

Everything but meat and fat, pile it all in. The chickens will love it to, and pick through it and **** on it some more..

"compost man" said a great compost can be generated from raw stuff in 16 days. it would require daily turning, and proper moisture.

being an anal, type A, german car owning individual, i am gonna give it a try. WTF?

go home, jog, put on headlamp turn and water the pile...makes sense to me...heheh.

EarlyP, can I use manure with leaves, or do I need green (harder for me to get)? I took bagged leaves from a landscaper and made a huge pile (about 75' long, 15' wide, 8' tall). It hasn't degraded much in the last year. It's hard to turn, because it's so massive. Within the last 4 months, I added about 40 yards of horse manure, but it has been tough getting the wet, packed leaves to mix with the manure mix (about 5:1 ratio of sawdust to dung). My tractor isn't strong enough to turn the pile, and the excavator doesn't have the bucket to move volume. Whatcha think to save this pile? I'm thinking about hauling in another 50 or 60 yards of manure and pile it all really high to get it hot over winter.
jurgen

I have 2 seperate piles. One is the house junk (coffee grounds, fruit peels, etc) with leaves and grass clippings. The other is horse manure with sawdust and some grass clippings (provide nitrogen). My wife put some of the rotted manure in her raised pea patch....we had peas until early September and the pea plants themselves were over 8 feet tall. She also had Swiss Chard (like spinach) that produced more than we could ever eat until mid October. We currently have a manure pile that is about 12x8x4 that is doing its thing. The garden will be much bigger this coming year !

Thats a big pile. Mine is not quite as big. When I say "green" I am referring mostly to grass, which is high in nitrogen. The horse manure can help a ton but remember that woody stuff and brown leaves will need something "wet." It doesn't matter if the leaves are packed wet, what matters is the composition. If you can't get grass, which it seems to me like what you are saying then go with the manure. Not so much sawdust though, that is REALLY hard to compost and uses lots of nitrogen. You can get a lawn fertilizer and spread it on your pile to help things with nitrogen a bit. Any fertilizer that is high in the first number will help (not too much because you can burn out and kill good bacteria).

Most importantly for you will be time. I don't know what people are talking about when they say they got good compost in a couple months. I think what they are doing is just leeching the material out with waterings and eventually it falls apart looking like soil. There are people that cover their piles but yours is too big for that. If possible try and make the pile in a "teepee" shape so there is less surface area on the outside. Turning is a good idea but you don't have to if you're not in a hurry.

You should consider getting a sieve. Often the pile is pretty composted in the middle but the stuff hasn't broken up into pieces. Running it through a big sieve will get the stuff even smaller and then you can either leave it longer or use it as is. For now try and find some more green. The manure is a good idea too but if you use it make sure you have at least some straw. Straw can take the place of green grass too.

I kinda sorta have one in the back. A lot of grass clippings with leaves and of course the chicken poo. Is the pine shaving ok to keep in the pile?

pine shavings are good...it is a "brown".

i just flipped my bin! amazing! it was cooking! very hot. i will get all "engineering cliff" and jam a thermo probe in to measure the temps. one day, and it was steaming. at a minimum, i will have an IR thermometer handy, and ready.