Making compost today

[MsCowpea]

Making compost today.

Layer upon layer. Horse manure and bedding. Old arugula greens-too pungent to eat. Alfalfa hay.
And sprinklings from a bag Of bat guano that I Found.

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[MissS]

That should turn out great with that mixture and I don't think that it would take too long either.
What type of container are you putting it in?

[TheDante]

Hey Elaine, is your compost heap sitting on the ground or are they in the composting container with no contact with the ground? A huge difference and impact between the two

[MsCowpea]

This is not how we make our main compost piles but we wanted to have a smaller batch going.

These compost ‘bins’ are large drainage pipes
Open at the bottom. Salvaged from the trash pile at a construction site.
We were originally going to cut them for round raised beds but the white sticks out like a sore thumb in the garden. I eventually have another idea for them but thought we would do this in the meantime.
We are going to drill holes all around them as well.

We have perforated pipe that we could have placed in the middle to allow air down the depth of the pile but we forgot to put it in. Originally , to turn the pile , I thought they could be pulled off and then the pile forked back in but you can’t do it —too heavy.
So these will not be turned. We have only used them once before in this capacity.
DH filled with horse manure and bedding which is mostly bedding and let it sit for many months. Lots of worms at the bottom of the pile when we removed the compost.

These are our regular piles. We would like them 4 feet tall but 3 is minimum. We build them in the actual garden bed when the tomatoes are removed. And keep them covered. They are turned. The pile is flipped right next to itself. And later, flipped again, etc. if I have a cover crop that is sometimes added. Horse manure and bedding, Alfalfa hay, Grass clippings etc. Always layered. The orange ‘stuff’ is kitchen waste—mango skins.

Then when it is ready we use it all over the garden and in containers.
Since it is made in a bed we just fork some into that bed as well.

Here we are in the process of piling up the material.

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DH

Another one:

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[MsCowpea]

Karen you know I am a groupie of Charles Wilber. I base my composting on his method and another I learned in a class. .

Years ago I took an 8 day 'Organic Farming ' workshop at the University of Calif. Santa Cruz. Part of it was learning how they made compost piles. I took this picture of my class mates and the piles we made.

They will then turn them a specified number of times as they are a certified organic farm and need to follow the rules.

I basically do it this way. Similar to Wilber's method as well.

Univ of Calif. Santa Cruz

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[TheDante]

As I am with Charles Dowding too…lol.. I guess… that´s what my DH called me when we visited him back in 2016.

Very, very nice compost setup you got there =)))

It is HUGE! isnt´t it hard to turn the heap? Maybe better make them smaller, by making some kinda partition in between?

I hardly turn ours anymore. Too much other stuff to do. I did turn ours in 1 year and it definitely sped the composting process. It does have it´s perks with turning.

Ok, glad to know your compost heap is sitting on the ground and in contact with it in some way. I swear one of my neighbours doesn´t and she wonders why she has no compost.. lol.

I didn´t want to interfere because sometimes there are peeps who are fairly set in their own ways.

[MsCowpea]

I agree with not turning. May take longer but it is going to compost eventually. In that class I took since they are certified organic and the compost contains a type of manure they must turn it a certain number of times in a certain number of days
to maintain certification. There may be a way where sheer passage of time without turning is OK for certification but I don’t know. Glad I can just do what I want.

My piles are really not that big (hope you are not looking at those huge heaps) . They have to have a certain mass to get up to temperature. But I think the minimum is 3 feet (About 1 meter) by 3 feet — does that sound right? And we do turn these , maybe twice??

Re- compost on ground. You may not have these in E.U. but for years a compost tumbler was very popular in U S. It was a sorta barrel off the ground. You threw the stuff in and cranked it around. I got one but it made a pretty small amount - so it didn’t really work for me. I do prefer the wooden bin structures or just piles but if a person mainly wants to deal with kitchen scraps another small system may work.

[peebee]

Oh I am so envious of your compost! Living in the city, all I have is a pitiful amount of leaves that are leathery & don't dry well, and grass clippings from the one neighbor who still has a lawn & doesn't use weed killer. I use mainly kitchen waste & I cold compost now. I have to buy chicken manure.
Great pics from Santa Cruz, love that place so beautiful.

[TheDante]

I agree with not turning. May take longer but it is going to compost eventually. In that class I took since they are certified organic and the compost contains a type of manure they must turn it a certain number of times in a certain number of days
to maintain certification. There may be a way where sheer passage of time without turning is OK for certification but I don’t know. Glad I can just do what I want.

My piles are really not that big (hope you are not looking at those huge heaps) . They have to have a certain mass to get up to temperature. But I think the minimum is 3 feet (About 1 meter) by 3 feet — does that sound right?

Re- compost on ground. You may not have these in E.U. but for years a compost tumbler was very popular in U S. It was a sorta barrel off the ground. You threw the stuff in and cranked it around. I got one but it made a pretty small amount - so it didn’t really work for me. I do prefer the ‘bins’ but if a person mainly wants to deal with kitchen scraps another small system may work.

The pics with the mango peels. That size of your compost heap looks HUGE! I think ours is likely about 1-1.5m (3-5 feet). I guess most importantly is of a manageable size. Can´t be too big or too small. But then again, look at our horse manure heaps under the tarps. I guess it don´t matter much coz we don´t turn our compost heaps or horse manure. Just let them sit there and let nature work it. All I know is that I need to have them properly covered to keep the ´heat´ in.

Think I have seen pics of those compost tumblers. IMO, kinda absurd or impossible to turn those things! Yeah, if one has tons of composting materials, wouldn´t really be practical. Think best to stick to simple and easy

[MsCowpea]

Peebee, re compost envy. I actually have this too, in a different way. Even though it is a very bad thing and we don’t want it in South Florida I am envious of people who live where kudzu grows. It is high in nitrogen and can be composted if you know what you are doing . (As in How To Grow World Record Tomatoes).

Peebee, I still admire you for putting together what you can. Your compost is bound to be better than the store kind.
I use bagged chicken manure too in my beds. Can you get coffee ground from coffee shops? I used to get that. Just writing this reminds me I should go track down some more. I think it is nitrogen input not a carbon one???

[peebee]

Yes coffee is green/nitrogen. I used to be able to find ready-packaged used grounds in Starbucks, they would be prominently displayed as you walked in, but that was a few years ago. Now you have to call ahead & ask. I just use what we drink plus kitchen scraps. We eat lots of food so there's no shortage of that

[bower]

Great looking compost Ms. Cowpea. I too envy you the fine manure! My garden compost is mostly weeds and clippings, driven by coffee grounds and kitchen scraps. Raw kelp is another material that heats up the pile when I can get some for that. I usually aim for a 4X4 foot pile - I think that was the recommended figure out of the Rodale Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening which I learned from. But I have one with a smaller footprint which I enclosed with chicken wire to discourage rats, and that seemed to work well enough, but will see next season if a lot of weed seeds carry over. I'm a lazy composter and rarely do anything to the pile other than stack it and wait a year, then chop it up. But I've been doing more chopping just to discourage anything rat. That's probably a good thing anyway to speed it up a little.

[imp]

I used to side dress with the Starbucks "pucks", LOL, early in the season for many plants. My house coffee filters and used grounds get tossed directly into/on a spot where I compost as they are used.

[MsCowpea]

Bower, thank you. But your compost sounds fine too. I have one similar by the kitchen. But we are lucky to get all that horse manure and bedding for free. DH’ s friend. And he delivers it to us. He has a business picking it up from horse farms and he has to get rid of it so it is a win, win situation.

[peebee]

So you do not chop up the arugula etc just throw them in there whole? I'm getting ready to make the biggest compost pile ever, right on a bed that already has a cover crop turned in. Until now I've composted in bins only. Super excited, straw bales coming in Fri. How I wish I had lots of mango skins! Worms love them.
Another question: should I cover w/ plastic tarp or see-thru plastic? Wondering if the see-thru would burn what's underneath? It's getting warm here.

[MsCowpea]

I didn’t chop up those plants- if they are pulled I just add them whole. You don’t have to chop. I do have a fair amount of Asian greens and radishes that I have now let go. They are flowering. I like to see the bees around them. But I am debating whether I should run the lawn mower on them to shred or just pull and layer them in. Don’t think there is a wrong answer. I am building the compost pile on that bed like you are going to do. If I use lawn mower the roots are still in the soil and those are brassicas so maybe the roots will repel nematodes. Still haven’t decided.

The thing I wish I could shred is alfalfa hay. That is what you are seeing in my pile. But it didn’t seem too good for the lawn mower when we tried to run over it. But it also works to just layer it as we did. I am also growing a cover crop next to the brassicas that has nitrogen so I am excited to make my pile too.

I would not use clear plastic- You are right I think that would cook it too much.

Wishing you all the best as you assemble it. That truly is a fun thing to do in the garden.

[peebee]

Do you think it will be ok for some of the fresh green matter to have aphids or spider mites on them, when I hot compost? I was pulling some of my arugula today to add to the pile when I noticed both types of pests. I wouldn't add to a cold compost pile but wouldn't they die in a hot one?

[MsCowpea]

I think it would OK. They will die from heat or maybe suffocate. Just make sure the leaves are buried.

[peebee]

Ok thanks. There wasn't a heavy infestation so I think it'll be okay too. Got my straw hay today so I'll be having fun tomorrow.

[Tinkerbell]

Does anyone else have problems with the straw sprouting all over the place? I you do, how do you cope with it? It is hard to pull and is everywhere.