what can/should i put in my compost heap?

In My Humble Opinion
21

[QUOTE=Purgatory Creek]
One note on manures that I learned only today from my new issue of Countryside magazine: If you come across some free horse or cow manure to add to your compost, ask if the critters have been treated with chemical worming agents. Apparently these chemicals are not something that you want in your vegetable garden.

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If you have a barn with horses near you, visit with a bunch of black plastic trash bags. My soil went from awful to great (or crappy :slight_smile: ) thanks to the manure pile from the barn where my daughter’s horse was stabled. I don’t know if the horse got wormed, but I never had a problem. I just visited the barn where she rides for the college team, and they had a sign offering manure to a good home. Barns have to pay to get this stuff carted away, they’ll love for you to take it. Just dig deep into the pile.

Me too, and they seem to compost quite well.
Also, I’m not sure where your compost container is, but if you’ll be putting melon husks and corncobs and that sort of tasty tidbit into it, siting it away from the living quarters might be a good idea.

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I’ve never had an odor problem, and during the summer lots of corn cobs (and husks) go in.

I just turned my compost and put the good stuff on my garden. Delightful.

22

Yes, sorry. I wasn’t referring to odor, but to varmints. At our place, raccoons, mice, skunks and coyotes truly appreciate a well-stocked compost heap! We just keep it away from the house to prevent unexpected encounters and roommates.

23

[QUOTE=Purgatory Creek]

I’ll be trying the square yard gardening this year also, while Purgatory Man is planting his customary soon-to-be-weed-infested row garden. I can’t wait to start selling him vegetables.
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To combat weeds, collect or appropriate/liberate from a recycle bin, a wad of newspaper and use it as your mulch. It’s a bit of work to put all the sections down at first ( rocks to hold it in place and then water it to keep it down) but it pays off and gives you an idea of when to water again. Also, at the end of the season, you can rototil it under. FULL OF WIN Fur ALLES!

Another Weed Prevention tip that comes from my friends 90 year old master gardener Uncle is grab up the carpet rolls out of peoples garbage and use it down the rows of your garden. Then, you can pitch it out at the end of the summer. Brilliant!

24

Some thoughts: there’s never really any leftover beer around here, so I think I’m gonna get a 40 of something ridiculously cheap, then recycle the glass, of course. Despite the lack of beer, there’s often leftover wine. Is that worth trekking over to dump on the heap?

Also, I’ve started seeing bags of lawn clippings and such that people are leaving by the side of the road. Does anyone have any experience in liberating these bags and using the grass clippings?

25

[QUOTE=bufftabby]
Some thoughts: there’s never really any leftover beer around here, so I think I’m gonna get a 40 of something ridiculously cheap, then recycle the glass, of course. Despite the lack of beer, there’s often leftover wine. Is that worth trekking over to dump on the heap?

Also, I’ve started seeing bags of lawn clippings and such that people are leaving by the side of the road. Does anyone have any experience in liberating these bags and using the grass clippings?
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Liberating grass clippings is a good thing IF you can determine whether chemicals have been used on the lawn. If it’s been treated with weedkiller or even some pesticides, you might want to skip it. Bagged leaves in the fall are definitely a bonus, though!

If you have a neighbor that you know bags grass clippings, you might want to ask if he treats his lawn and, if not, whether he’ll save his clippings for you.

I can’t help with the wine question, though I don’t see how it could hurt.

26

[QUOTE=bufftabby]
Some thoughts: there’s never really any leftover beer around here, so I think I’m gonna get a 40 of something ridiculously cheap, then recycle the glass, of course. Despite the lack of beer, there’s often leftover wine. Is that worth trekking over to dump on the heap?

Also, I’ve started seeing bags of lawn clippings and such that people are leaving by the side of the road. Does anyone have any experience in liberating these bags and using the grass clippings?
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The words ‘leftover’ and ‘wine’ can combine in your language? Is this a metaphor?

27

[QUOTE=Le Ministre de l’au-delà]
The words ‘leftover’ and ‘wine’ can combine in your language? Is this a metaphor?
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The wine is sometimes interrupted by other hedonistic pleasures, ones of far greater import. :smiley:
Otherwise there will be no “leftover” incidents. And there is no such thing as leftover Molly Dooker, I assure you.

28

You can pee on your compost heap too, good for moisture and also for nitrates. Easy for the gentlemen among us, harder for the ladies to get away with, and maybe impossible in an urban garden! (My compost heap is about twenty feet from the neighbours living room window…) You could pee in a pot and pour it on.

29

[QUOTE=Purgatory Creek]
Yes, sorry. I wasn’t referring to odor, but to varmints. At our place, raccoons, mice, skunks and coyotes truly appreciate a well-stocked compost heap! We just keep it away from the house to prevent unexpected encounters and roommates.
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Ah. Ours is closed enough to probably keep the contents from them, plus we have two crazy dogs. No coyotes, happily, but we do have raccoons and possums. We’ve got cats next door, so no mice.

30

[QUOTE=Hokkaido Brit]
You can pee on your compost heap too, good for moisture and also for nitrates. Easy for the gentlemen among us, harder for the ladies to get away with, and maybe impossible in an urban garden! (My compost heap is about twenty feet from the neighbours living room window…) You could pee in a pot and pour it on.
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The boyfriend has kindly volunteered to oversee this particular duty. He’ll take any chance he can get to pee outside. At least he doesn’t scratch at the back door when he needs to go out!

31

Beginner composter here with questions. (Actually, I’m planning my compost now as I type…)

-How long does it take to “compost”?
-When will I be able to use the compost?
-Although I don’t have an official garden, I do have a LOT of plants in pots (along with tomato, peppers, herbs, etc. in pots)–will compost material work for these as well?
-Does the compost pile need to go in a full sun part of the yard, or is partial sun okay?
-How much compost is actually made from stuff? I mean, if I have a compost pile that is, say, four by four feet, and two feet tall, how much compost material will I actually end up with? (It has to be fairly small because I rent and don’t want it to be incredibly noticable to my neighbors.)
-Speaking of neighbors, will this smell? Will it have an offensive odor?
-What do I do in the winter with my compost pile? Can I still add to it? Does it need to be covered?

32

I have a couple of barrel-style composters (open to the soil at the bottom) - what I tend to do is fill one while the other is full and rotting - when the second one is full, I turn it out (doesn’t generally need turning, as we have lots of worms) - about the top third is typically incompletely decomposed when we empty it, so that goes back into the bottom of the emptied barrel and we start filling that one while the other rots.

Too many lawn clippings at once will tend to pickle themselves into a stinky, slimy mess, but if you mix them 50/50 with sawdust and shavings, or shredded paper (better still these materials from the bottom of a rabbit cage), they’ll rot down nicely.

And if the heap is too dry, add some moisture. You’ll never eat vegetables at my house after I tell you this, but here it is: I pee on my compost heap - the nitrates in urine are just fantastic for getting all those bacteria working, especially if the material in there is a bit on the fibrous side.

33

Should I mention that if you or any other potential compost-pee-er is on medication you may want to forgo the peeing? Chemicals, again. Let’s use only “clean” pee. Antibiotics, for example, can be found in urine and may interfere with the composting critters. Just as an example.

Anyhow - I’ve been composting with lawn clippings and vegetable/kitchen waste. It hadn’t occurred to me to use the birds’ cage paper, but now that’s it’s been brought up I think I will. Hell, those animals eat better than I do, I wouldn’t mind getting a return on their food. Especially since they’ll be sampling from the garden, too (where appropriate - some foods are not good for parrots but fine for people).

Question: I currently have an abundance of brown paper grocery bags. Would those work in lieu of the newspapers I don’t have? If so, I’ll run a few through the paper shredder. And maybe use them for bird cage liners, too.

My first compost pile seems to be cooking just fine, but it occurs to me that if I keep adding to it and stirring I won’t get compost, just compost+stuff. I’m thinking of letting that one “simmer” for a month or two while starting a second compost heap in another corner of the garden - how does that sound to you experts?

34

[QUOTE=Broomstick]
Should I mention that if you or any other potential compost-pee-er is on medication you may want to forgo the peeing? Chemicals, again. Let’s use only “clean” pee. Antibiotics, for example, can be found in urine and may interfere with the composting critters. Just as an example.
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I’ve been fortunate not to have been on medication often enough to think of this, but it’s a good point.

Also (according to the gardening magazine that inspired me to do it) man-pee is better for the compost heap than lady-pee.

35

We grill outside a lot in the warmer months. Can we use the ash from the charcoal briquettes in compost? I’ve heard that wood ash is a good addition. We don’t use a ton of fire starter, as we don’t like to taste it on our food.

36

[QUOTE=phall0106]
Beginner composter here with questions. (Actually, I’m planning my compost now as I type…)

-How long does it take to “compost”?
-When will I be able to use the compost?
-Although I don’t have an official garden, I do have a LOT of plants in pots (along with tomato, peppers, herbs, etc. in pots)–will compost material work for these as well?
-Does the compost pile need to go in a full sun part of the yard, or is partial sun okay?
-How much compost is actually made from stuff? I mean, if I have a compost pile that is, say, four by four feet, and two feet tall, how much compost material will I actually end up with? (It has to be fairly small because I rent and don’t want it to be incredibly noticable to my neighbors.)
-Speaking of neighbors, will this smell? Will it have an offensive odor?
-What do I do in the winter with my compost pile? Can I still add to it? Does it need to be covered?
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Things compost at different speeds. I take out compost for my garden in the spring before planting and the fall before I start my winter garden. I think it took a month or so to get started, but after that it is a pipeline, in the sense that stuff you put in the top comes out the bottom eventually.

I’ve never had an odor problem. I don’t use grass clippings, because I’ve got too many weeds, and don’t want to risk them getting started in my garden. We have a green can for them, and I get a few bags of compost every spring from the waste collection service for free in return.
Never put weeds in your compost. Some seeds are very hardy. Last year I got wonderful volunteer spaghetti squash in my garden, and one is coming along nicely this year, plus a few tomato plants. I transplant them to where I want them to go. It may not be hot enough, but I’m not seeing any weeds, so it is okay.
I’ve never used compost in pots, but it should work, though you may want to mix it with the soil you use now. My compost pile is covered, so sun is not an issue. I water it some times during the dry summer. The bin is too high to pee on - though it is a thought.

Compost compresses wonderfully. About a year’s worth composted down to a 4’ x 4’ x 2’ foot space. I live in California, so I add to my pile all year long. I cover mine, because I think the heat is better. I got a composter which is stacked plastic squares, a base (actually 2 for moving it) and a cover for very little from the county.

The thread mentioned coffee. Coffee is great, and you can put your filters in also.

I repeat this every time we have this discussion, but those with gardens should think about visiting their nearest horse barn and asking for composted horse manure. My daughter rode, and we got bags and bags of the stuff, which turned my garden of clay into a paradise for worms. Barns have to pay to get the stuff carted off, so most should be thrilled for you to take some. Bring a pitchfork and shovel, and a lot of black plastic garbage bags. Dig deep into the pile for the composted stuff. It helps to have a truck.

37

I don’t know anyone with a horse, but I have a co-worker who keeps sheep and goats as pets. Would their manure work? How much should I use in my compost heap?

38

[QUOTE=Broomstick]
I don’t know anyone with a horse, but I have a co-worker who keeps sheep and goats as pets. Would their manure work? How much should I use in my compost heap?
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That should be just fine. Any herbivore’s poop is going to be good news for your garden.

I’ve been wondering about that too! Glad you asked – hope we get a good answer.

39

A little ash will be fine, as long as your heap mostly consists of rottable matter. I also dig some ash straight into the ground as fertiliser, it’s got some trace elements worth using up.

40

I have a 10X10 chicken-wire pen with about a foot or so of well-turned leaf mould. In the past couple months, it has gotten filled to about five feet high with unchopped, indiscriminate plant waste (i.e., weed and good-plant prunings). It’s likely to get another two to three feet added to it in the next few weeks.

Should I drag it out, run it over with a mulching mower, and keep turning?

Will the pile ever heat up enough to destroy the weed seeds and roots?

Should I drag it out, put it into individual hole-poked lawn-bags, and let it sit in smaller, more manageable compost units?

Should I drag it out, dump it in the woods and start afresh?

Should I look into a burn permit?

If it makes a difference, we have a bunny that does her business in a corn-cob/compostable litter box, and friends that can give us horse and/or chicken manure.

Thanks,

Rhythm