Tips for Compost Beginner

Study up on greens vs. browns.

Compost veteran: forget the little fiddly tumbler unless you have a minuscule yard and thus tiny output of scraps and clippings. I just make a neat pile, bordered on two sides by hardware cloth as a fence. It can take an entire yards worth of mowing, and all I do is give it a few turns a few times a year. When I want “good” compost, I dig down toward the bottom. Which also accomplishes the necessary job of turning the heap. If you’re not in a hurry, piling it up in contact with the soil works fine.

hungryone is right on the mark with forgetting about those tumblers.

I have mine on the ground in a corner of my yard and in it goes all organic kitchen waste----coffee grounds, egg shells, vegetable/fruit trimmings, tea bags and even shredded paper from mail that I run through my shredder.

I also put in grass clippings, any waste from my garden when I pull plants, oak leaves and I will head over to a local horse stable to collect manure, straw and wood shavings when they muck the stalls.

Keep it turned from time to time and keep it somewhat damp so it doesn't dry out. That helps in it decaying faster.

Bottom line is you want about an even amount of "greens and browns" in your compost pile for it to work well.

Oh, and if you use worms for fishing, they are a good byproduct of a healthy compost pile. I pull worms out of mine that are huge.


ETA: Also, read up on how to make "compost tea" to use to water your plants with nutrient rich liquid. It's easy to make and all you really need are a nice size bucket, an aquarium aerator pump and some composted material and other ingredients offered in various recipes on the net. You can look them over and pick and choose what you want to put in yours.

You will need more "brown" than you think. Also certain "brown" things decompose faster than others. Leaves work great but I have pine trees around me and the needles are slower to decompose because they a type wax coating on them but they still work.

I have a mini compost bin with a air filter that put on the kitchen counter for scraps and dump it every few days which is nice.

My poults run to mine when I open coup in the morning. I’m glad I’m not a fan of fishing with worms, they work them over.

OP you inspired me to build a respectable bin instead of the leaf piles I had all over the yard. I screwed four wood pallets together in a shady spot, raked up all my rotten piles, pulled up a bunch of weeds and clover, shredded some cardboard boxes and watered the whole thing down

I also tossed in a bag of composted manure I had. I picked up tons of earthworms from my piles of rotted leaves and I had an old trampoline on the ground near my barn that was covered in a few inches of rotten leaves so I have about half the bin filled up with a good start. Wet the bin down every few inches or so

so there you go...compost bin 101

I started out composting and moved to worm bins. I personally prefer the worm bins. I've got 9 in my backyard now. I didn't like the tumbler. My mother bought one didn't like it and gave it to me. I didn't like it either.

yes a tumbler is perfect for a suburban yard, and everyone should have one. It’s insane to me that we throw away the stuff that makes the good stuff we enjoy possible. It’s too easy to cut your garbage bag in half and use the other stuff that you’re gonna rake up anyway

quote:

---

What are some things to avoid as far as fruit/veggie peels? Mostly have apple, potato, carrot, and maybe some other stuff for now.

---

any plant product is fine.
no meats, fats, oils, etc and no cooked leftovers which typically will include fats.