Compost and how to make it

[Thinx]

We recently got an allotment and have made a wooden compost bin, and I was wondering how you make your compost, if you do? We're interested to know what amounts of different types of materials should be put in, to make good compost? For example, I saw @Gerald Wilgus say he puts ash in his compost, how much ash, and what else do you put in? We burn kiln dried logs and smokeless coal, is that ash ok to put in? I think there's many ways to make compost, and would be interested to know what has worked well for others.

 

[Magna]

A good rule of thumb is: 1/3 "greens" (vegetation that still has chlorophyll in it. This can include grass clippings, kitchen scraps, etc), 1/3 "browns" (dried/dead vegetation such as dried leaves, wood chips, straw, etc) and the final 1/3 soil, previously composted material, manures, etc.

A compost pile also needs to have moisture. Not soaking wet, but not dry.

Things with high nitrogen content really get the compost working. One thing that has high nitrogen content is urine. This may sound bizarre, but on farms generations ago it was common for people to pee on the compost pile. What worked back then still works well today.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I would not use any coal products as any coal has heavy metals. I have a bin where all veggie scraps go along with , as I said, ash from the wood stove. I take out the bottom portion yearly and add nitrogenous waste along with more veggie compost to a rotatiing bin.

 

[Thinx]

A good rule of thumb is: 1/3 "greens" (vegetation that still has chlorophyll in it. This can include grass clippings, kitchen scraps, etc), 1/3 "browns" (dried/dead vegetation such as dried leaves, wood chips, straw, etc) and the final 1/3 soil, previously composted material, manures, etc.

A compost pile also needs to have moisture. Not soaking wet, but not dry.

Things with high nitrogen content really get the compost working. One thing that has high nitrogen content is urine. This may sound bizarre, but on farms generations ago it was common for people to pee on the compost pile. What worked back then still works well today.

Thanks, that's really useful. And, yes I'd heard that urine is good for the compost, that makes sense. And we were given some manure recently, so we could add some of that to the compost too. I guess that speeds up the composting process, probably.

 

[Thinx]

I would not use any coal products as any coal has heavy metals. I have a bin where all veggie scraps go along with , as I said, ash from the wood stove. I take out the bottom portion yearly and add nitrogenous waste along with more veggie compost to a rotatiing bin.

Thanks! Yes, I wondered about the coal, we usually use some to keep the fire going, so that's going to make our ash not so useful then. We're going to stir our compost all together, and it should get hot I think. The rotating bin does the stirring I guess.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

It's all about the layers.

Put veggie scraps, egg shells, lawn clippings etc in, and then on top do like coffee grounds, torn up (unwaxed) cardboard, newspapers, shredded bills, etc.

Also any plant based beverage from the kitchen is fine too. I used to pour kombucha on mine and it'd make it break down really fast.

I used to go down to the coffee shop on the corner, and at the end of the day, they'd give me a garbage sack full of used coffee grounds. I'd put that on top of my pile and it would heat it up so much that it'd break down in a couple of days.

About once a week you want to take a big garden fork or a shovel and turn the compost over, so it doesn't rot, rather it will sweeten.

Maybe 3 months and it's ready to use. I don't mind if there's still little chunks of paper in the compost. It'll make air spaces that are good for the soil.

Ants are great friends to the gardener. Put your compost heap near an ant hole and they'll help you break your compost down right quickly.

It's always fun when you look out at your compost and there's a pumpkin vine or some other plant growing out of it.

Don't put any coal in it. The fireplace ash and small broken down pieces of wood are fine. If you've got an outhouse, that's really the place that the ash should go.

If it wasn't growing from the ground at some point, it usually doesn't belong in your compost.

 

[Thinx]

It's all about the layers.

Put veggie scraps, egg shells, lawn clippings etc in, and then on top do like coffee grounds, torn up (unwaxed) cardboard, newspapers, shredded bills, etc.

Also any plant based beverage from the kitchen is fine too. I used to pour kombucha on mine and it'd make it break down really fast.

I used to go down to the coffee shop on the corner, and at the end of the day, they'd give me a garbage sack full of used coffee grounds. I'd put that on top of my pile and it would heat it up so much that it'd break down in a couple of days.

About once a week you want to take a big garden fork or a shovel and turn the compost over, so it doesn't rot, rather it will sweeten.

Maybe 3 months and it's ready to use. I don't mind if there's still little chunks of paper in the compost. It'll make air spaces that are good for the soil.

Ants are great friends to the gardener. Put your compost heap near an ant hole and they'll help you break your compost down right quickly.

It's always fun when you look out at your compost and there's a pumpkin vine or some other plant growing out of it.

Don't put any coal in it. The fireplace ash and small broken down pieces of wood are fine. If you've got an outhouse, that's really the place that the ash should go.

If it wasn't growing from the ground at some point, it usually doesn't belong in your compost.

Thanks! That's all really useful. I wondered about cardboard, plain brown cardboard I guess is best. We're putting some tea leaves and coffee grounds on, and other kitchen scraps like vegetable peelings.

We're growing pumpkins too. They're nearly ready to plant out. 3 different kinds this year. The compost won't be ready in time for them I suppose, depends how fast it breaks down, but it's been cold here so far this spring. That can't help, probably.

 

[Magna]

If cardboard pieces are added to compost it's important to avoid using glossy cardboard (the kind that usually have full color pictures on them) or cardboard that has any colored inks. Apparently from what I understand black ink is ok on cardboard but no other ink colors.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

If cardboard pieces are added to compost it's important to avoid using glossy cardboard (the kind that usually have full color pictures on them) or cardboard that has any colored inks. Apparently from what I understand black ink is ok on cardboard but no other ink colors.

That is true, but if you wanna be eco friendly you can often still use it if you carefully rip off the plasticky outer layer.

 

[Mary Terry]

I'm profoundly lazy when it comes to our compost pile. We've had the same pile in one place for decades, and don't worry much about mixing, layering, watering it, or anything else. We get over 80 inches of rain every year so it gets plenty of water. Vegetation will eventually rot, one way or the other, with a lot human involvement or not. I do add eggshells and coffee grounds to it. We use the chicken manure to spread over soil that needs nutrition to help grass grow to prevent erosion. The horse and donkey manure from inside the barn is piled up near the barn. We let that sit there for at least a year before we use some of it for our garden.

The compost pile grows great vegetables and I'm not opposed to occasionally harvesting leeks, onions and potatoes from the pile! It also has the best, big, fat worms for fishing.

 

[Forest Cat]

I see people take their compost seriously. I have a more relaxed approach. I have a big compost pile and everything organic goes into it. No layering or anything, I just toss it on the pile. I do hose it down with water if it seems dry. I think it works fine, it all turns to soil eventually.

 

[Thinx]

Thanks everyone, these are useful approaches. Yes, good point, @Forest Cat, I do feel something akin to reverence when I study theories of composting. So far though, throwing stuff in the box is going OK. It's not heated up yet though, maybe because there isn't enough in it. We'll keep feeding it...