Thanks Sarah I was Just going to post the same thing..
More along the lines of how to start a compost I will have grass clipping in a week or so,veggie peels,coffee grounds,I only have thick oak leaves and dry pine needles. both of which I heard it is hard to compost.Any suggestions on the brown dry stuff?

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Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album

shred the leaves if and pine needles if you can.
that will greatly help the composting process.
i usually just run over em with the bag on the mower.
goat poo should be ok. just have to age it in the pile so it doesnt burn tender plants, and you could see weeds from undigested seeds if the pile doesnt get hot enough to kill em.

Thanks for the info, Porter!! And, Spring, as to the questioin about putting down planks or something, I think I read that some of the people here put their larger twigs/branches on the bottom to help keep the bottom areated. (But I could be wrong, it's not like I'm a seasoned pro!)

Sarah

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Sarah - Zone 5b/6

Awsome thanks for the info Longy that really is going to help a ton...

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Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album

Sarah,

Thanks for the Starbucks article. I'm like you. I don't drink coffee, but I'll take the coffee grounds. I've been considering it for years, but now I'm going to hit up my local Starbucks for their coffee grounds because of your post.

As a rule of thumb, manure from herbivores is fine to use in your garden. It needs to age or run through the compost process to avoid "burning" your garden plants.

Composting is a bit of an art form and obsession, once you start doing it. It can be broken down into two methods: hot and cold composting. There are pros and cons to both methods.

Hot composting Pros:
-Quicker. You can get usable compost in two weeks.
-Temps can reach >150 degrees F, hot enough to kill weed seeds and break down harmful chemicals.

Hot composting Cons:
-Labor intensive, in order to get compost quicker you need to turn it more frequently. You have to turn the pile daily to have a chance at getting compost in two weeks.
-If you don't get the Carbon to Nitrogen ratio close to 30:1, don't have enough critical mass, the right moisture level, and you don't turn it to provide aeration and mixing you won't get the heat required for hot composting. (It's not as hard as it sounds.)
-Too hot for worms at the upper levels.

Cold composting pros:
-Just throw stuff in the pile and let nature take its course.
-You don't need critical mass to start a pile.
-Great for raising worms.

Cold composting cons:
-Can take up to a year to get usable compost.
-Doesn't get hot enough to kill weed seeds.
-At some point you should stop adding material to let the compost "finish". Usually the stuff on the bottom is black gold, and the stuff on the top is what you'll use in your next compost pile.

The method that Longy described is hot composting. Personally, it's the composting method that I use most. Here is a link to the compost journal post from a while back. Compost Journal Post

I don't bother with the sticks at the bottom because I try to turn my piles daily. The pile gets aerated while you turn/mix everything up. I accomplish this with a cordless drill and a bulb auger. I've tried other methods and tools for turning a pile, and this is by far the easiest. You may be able to get your husband to turn your pile because it's justification for him to use his drill.

Welcome to the composting community. Good luck.

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Composting is more than good for your garden. It's a way of life.

I really like the watermelon box idea.

Off I go to the local grocer for a watermelon box. I'm sure the produce people will think I'm nuts......

Not to mention my husband!

Will one of those bad puppies fit in a car?

Is this box going to compost really slow because it is not very large?
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The box in the foto is a cubic metre, just a little bigger actually. There are a bunch of holes i cut into the sides with a battery drill and hole saw, to allow air into the pile.
Yes the box will compost away after a few uses. They generally last about 6 months before becoming useless.

my youngest loves to eat dirt
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Not sure what to say about that. If she can eat a cubic metre of compost though, she'll be doing well. Maybe just sprinkle a little on her cereal in the mornings.......

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The secret is the soil.

Sarah ... Lots of the people here get excited about POOP..

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Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album

That might make a good quick fix for the soil erosion and constant watering problem. My parents have pretty much solid clay, so I'll have to go dig some up. Thanks!

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Sarah - Zone 5b/6

Sarah,

I don't know about the mushrooms. I'd have to look it up, but I'm not near my reference material right now. They probably don't count toward either carbon or nitrogen. I'd classify them as micro nutrients. My guess is that it doesn't matter since you probably don't have pounds and pounds of mushrooms.

As far as carbon sources go, welcome to the eternal search for good carbon sources in the summer. That's one of the problems with hot composting, you need critical mass and the right C:N ratio. In the summer, you have more nitrogen sources than you have carbon sources. In the fall, you have more carbon (leaves, dried dead plant material) than you have nitrogen. It's easier to store carbon material. The nitrogen stuff can be stinky, and nitrogen itself is pretty volatile.

Dried grass clippings count as carbon, but it's really hard to dry enough of it for composting. If you pile it up, the inside hot composts very quickly, runs out of oxygen, and then goes into anaerobic decomposition, and then your husband will complain of the ammonia smell (nitrogen breaks down into NH4=ammonia)

I go so far as to gather leaves that other people put by the curb in the fall, shred them up, and store them for the next summer. You can buy bales of straw for a few bucks, run over it with your lawn mower, or try your local lumbar yard for sawdust. All those are good carbon sources.

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Composting is more than good for your garden. It's a way of life.

quote:

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Originally posted by LandOfOz:
Thank you! My mushrooms are going in, and I'll see if I can coerce the neighbors to give me their grass clippings so I can dry them and add them in too. This fall I'll have to remember to bag up all the leaves I can (we have a great many trees on our property).

Sarah

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Don't dry them. The moisture is good for the pile. Just mix them in well with the other materials. Every time I add clippings I use it as an excuse to mix the pile. Why people say to not put fresh clippings in their piles is just beyond me. One of the best greens you can add. A great source of nitrogen, potassium and moisture.

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John - Zone 6