Thread: Composting

As the title states who composts and what are your tips and tricks for those starting out? The wife just had me install one in the yard and we’re looking forward to using it!

IIRC Niagara waste management has some composting hints on their website.

No animal waste! If you put it in, you will attract all kinds of critters and create a foul smell.

Alternate green (grass clippings, vegetable scraps, etc.) with brown (leaves, soil). That helps keep the compost from packing down into a smelly mess.

Keep it moist, not wet and stir it up once in a while - I do it when it looks like it could use it or when I think about it.

You can purchase compost accelerator at garden supplies. It helps get the process going.

Enjoy. The stuff really does give a boost to the garden.

Have composted for years, you can make it as simple or complicated as you want.

I go simple with a roll of concrete reinforcement wire mesh Zip tied into a 4 ft circle. Toss in your waste, the smaller the faster it decomposes. Grass is a good activator and will add moisture.

As said keep it wet and turn frequently. Pick up a hay pitchfork, round tine. They work much better than a flat tine pitchfork and are cheap at thrift and antique stores. When I add material, I lift off the wire, move it next to the pile and move the pile into the wire container in the new spot.

You can also get plastic ones that rotate and other that are simple containers. You can make one by cutting the bottom from a plastic trash can and drill holes in the sides.

If you want faster and impressive results, Vermicomposting. Worm multiply quickly, produce great fertilizer and you will be impressed at how much material they go through. They will double in quantity every 3 months.

I use a commercial plastic stacking worm bin with multiple bins that I have had for 15-20 years. The county was giving them away it you attended the class. For vegetables and flowers, the results of the fertilizer they produce are impressive and totally organic.

All you need is a hand full of worms, anyone that has a worm bin can give you a handful of several hundred and you are on your way. You can buy red worms also. I feed mine shredded junk mail and cut up cardboard boxes. My worms make more fertilizer than we can use and give bags of it away. Dried it looks like used coffee grounds, just sprinkle in the ground, and rake it in. Great for lawns.

The trick to regular composting is keep it damp and turn frequently. A hand full of worm will also speed up composting and super charge it with castings. If you turn frequently it will not get hot enough to kill the worms.

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.