starting a compost pile?

you can buy commercial made composters,all I do is start a pile of organic material leaves,lawn clippings,organic food debris from the kitchen(don't use meat products),make the pile in a sunny location in a corner of the yard(I like to make a small indent in the ground to start)put your pile of stuff in the indent cover with the soil you dug out for the indent and wet the area really good.add new materials daily and about once a week turn the pile over with a shovel or digging fork and wet the pile down with water

It can be easy or complicated. If it smells, you are doing something wrong. Outside is easier. You don't have to add any bugs, worms, or starters. Speed varies.

The best size is 4' cubed, give or take a foot in each dimension. If larger, air cannot reach the center; if smaller, the pile won't heat up. Try to have a mix of 2/3 high carbon material (leaves, sawdust, wood chips) and 1/2 high nitrogen material (grass clippings, table scraps). If you have too much of the first, the rate will be slower. Too much of the second and the pile will stink. If it does, get in there with a spading fork and turn it over so more air can get in. Never use oils, grease, or meat in the pile. The more finely you can chop the material, the faster it will compost and the less likely it is to attract rodents. Every so often, toss a little soil into the pile; it provides the micro-organisms you need..

I compost yard clipping, leaves, and some kitchen waste, keep the pile in the back part of the yard away from the house, and there is no noticeable smell except when I turn it over. Outside, definitely. If it is outside, it will soon have all the bugs, worms, bacteria, and mold that you could ever want, and you do want them, because they are what turns the original material into compost.

How long to get how much depends on how much you start with. The volume tends to go way down over time. I sometimes add a little commercial fertilizer to help the composting processes along. Leaves decompose slower than grass clippings. Good stuff from the kitchen would be egg shells, coffee grounds, and peelings from vegetables.

When we were little it was called a slop-pile - now all grown up, it's compost.

You can keep a lidded bucket under the kitchen sink for scraps from veggies, fruit, etc... no meat, though. Take it outdoors maybe twice a week if you use it a lot.

Other than that, it's just preference...

My compost area is made out of old pallets from the local newspaper (freebies that they put out back). Fall leaves are great, kitchen scraps, bits of trees that have blown into the yard, grass clippings, even newspaper clippings, really.

The time all depends on location and weather, I'm afraid. Compost is slow in winter and pretty fast in summer around here (Midatlantic US).

Well, the most obvious thing is that you want to use ORGANIC materials. Inorganic, like plastics, metal, etc, won't work, because they take too long to compost or dissolve, if at all. Egg shells, coffee grounds, old vegetables & salad are good things to use. You also want to use some dirt. You might place some dirt at bottom, add the veggies, egg, etc, then add some more dirt over it. The dirt above helps to compact it and covers it so it doesn't smell as the organics begin to break down. Only trouble is that composting usually takes a long time, like a few months. I'm not sure if there's a "quick" compost method. I have to admit, I'm stumped by that one, but the importnat thing is to use organic materials, like foods or even dried leaves, but not grass clippings.. Obviously, a styrofoam cup is pretty small, so you'd most likely have to chop up the materials or foods so that you can get them into the cups more evenly. Good luck.

Oh yay! The world needs more people like you! :):)

Anyways, compost pile. We have had compost for as long as I can remember, and first, we kept them outside in a heap under a tarp, (redneck, I know), but the animals would get in it, you know. In the end, we have gotten two really handy compost decomposers that speed up the process. I believe you can get them online from http://www.composters.com/compost-bins.php

They are really great, they do wonders for the environment, and for your garden! What we do, in addition to the out door compost bins, is that we have a mini compost container by the sink in our kitchen. We empty it about every other day so it doesn't smell, and it never does, and we just put our food scraps in their instead of taking them out to the bins every day. Very helpful.

Good luck!

Lily K

Best place is out doors, on the ground, in a sunny location. Put in leaves, cut grass, raw vegetable discards from the kitchen.

I started mine in the fall, with leaves. When it is not frozen, turn it over every now and then. If you must start it off the ground, you may need to add some "compost starter". Normally, you'll get plenty of bacteria and worms through the ground, but not if you are using a plastic barrel.

How fast it goes depends on how warm the pile is. It will generate its own heat, but it goes faster in Miami than in Saskatchewan.

i have a compost pile, it is so easy. i keep a giant pile in my back yard it is just a big pile of junk in the corner. All i do is keep a bucket on my kitchen counter and fill it with fruit , vegetables , etc scraps and when it is full i dump it into the pile. keep it in a sunny place. be expecting a garden. out of my compost pile is growing potatoes , cabbage , lettuce , melons , peppers, tomatoes , and cucumbers.

To add to the others, you can purchase worms on e-bay. No joke. I have if you do get three lots

it is easy and no smell

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