Thread: Composting

Not too many grass clippings at once. They will make a solid mass that hardly decomposes.

I have read that you need at least 1 cubic yard to generate enough heat to kill the seeds. I have gotten a lot of coffee grounds from the coffee shops, used to get 5 gal buckets of lettuce scraps from the fast food places, artesian brewers used to give their mash away, grass clippings and leaves in the fall. It is a lot of work but the results are excellent for your garden.

This is my pile. When one side is full you turn the pile over to the next bin then start filling the empty bin. Once you get the first bin done it gets a lot easier.
If you don't want the hassle of finding all that material and just want to stop feeding the garbage disposal look into vermicomposting. This is composting with worms specifically manure worms, Eisenia fetida. 15 gallon rubber maid tub can be made into a good worm bin and generate gallons of compost. I used to have many bins in the basement but could not keep the fungus gnats down so moved them out to the garage.

I have a rolling type composter like the picture below. Not only does the barrel compost for me, but the base catches rainwater that runs though the compost, giving me about 5 gallons (~19 liters) of super rich fertilizer water. Great for new trees and plants!



As you may have guessed from what others are saying, balance is key, especially when you first start it. Balance between green and brown and moisture. No meats. No poop.

And add a bunch of earthworms, if you can. They love it and make the stuff break down better, while leaving behind good stuff.

I put fish waste in mine, along with kitchen scraps, no meat, egg shells are fine. I might also add that not a lot of fish waste. Mostly skins and crab and prawn shells. It does smell so if you have a small yard stick with veggie waste and grass clippings. We keep our grass clippings out of the garden compost. We have had a chick weed invasion as the result of grass clippings in the garden compost. I also compost sea weed. The down side of sea weed is it may add salt to the solid and a lot of plants don’t like it, like raspberries.

Thanks for all the interesting and insightful information gents. Been getting mine going, mixing food scraps and yard scraps with brown cardboard and paper shredding. I’ve had to add water twice to it because it dried out completely. Is this normal?

Used coffee grounds are great for composting.

Originally Posted by s0litarys0ldier

Thanks for all the interesting and insightful information gents. Been getting mine going, mixing food scraps and yard scraps with brown cardboard and paper shredding. I’ve had to add water twice to it because it dried out completely. Is this normal?

Given the weather we have experienced in Niagara lately, if your pile is in a sunny spot, it certainly could dry out quickly. A new compost heap hasn’t built up sufficient mass to maintain its moisture Level. When it looks dry, give it a good misting from the hose and keep adding vegetable matter. In my experience, when it’s deep enough, the bottom layers will stay pretty damp.

Originally Posted by DZEC

Given the weather we have experienced in Niagara lately, if your pile is in a sunny spot, it certainly could dry out quickly. A new compost heap hasn’t built up sufficient mass to maintain its moisture Level. When it looks dry, give it a good misting from the hose and keep adding vegetable matter. In my experience, when it’s deep enough, the bottom layers will stay pretty damp.

Thank you for the tip! I’ll keep at it.