The lawn and the edge trimmer just kicked my butt.
I may have to wait until tomorrow to clean the inside of the house, unless I catch a second wind.
BTW- I’m goingto build a compost heap, and i was wondering if you all had some experiences in the past that I might want to avoid. I intend to put it in the back under some evergreens. Mainly it will be for lawn trimmings, dandelion corpses, leaves, pine needles, and of course anything I don’t want to put down the disposal. Any suggestions on what I should build? Should drainage be a concern?
Yutsano
Do yourself a favor: when the second wind comes up, just let it pass on by. You know we do have Sundays to take care of life’s issues as well.
stuckinred
Yea dawg, fixed the exhaust on my 66 chevy longbed, unloaded 20 2x12X12, made the ol lady’s sewing table 16 inches shorter, carried the new bookshelf upstairs and started to brine the amberjack and mahi fillet’s for fish tacos at the garden tour tomorrow. . .hell yes!
(oh yea, swan my daily 1250)
Omnes Omnibus
I was out running earlier today with my wife. As we ran past the groups of people pre-partying for the Mifflin Street Fest, a drunk guy in a bright orange shirt yelled, “Woohoo, old people running!” Sure, it may fit me, but I must confess to some outrage on my wife’s behalf (she’s only 30).
D-Chance.
Love to do that, myself; but, it rained hard last night and the grass is still too wet.
Maybe Monday. Grass, edging, and a pile of tree limbs to burn (trifecta!).
demkat620
While you are at it, can you please come get all the pollen near my house?
My eyes are burning so bad and my nose is itching so much I am tempted to turn the a/c on to get some relief.
stuckinred
Earlier folks were wondering about media coverage of Anti-Immigration demonstration coverage. Here’s the Atlanta Journal article.
licensed to kill time
Tell us again about how you’re not a neat freak, Señor Cole! You are not fooling anyone with that disclaimer. Who are we going to believe, you or our lying eyes? as we read post after post about your adventures on the home front?
stuckinred
@Omnes Omnibus: Sheeeet, tell the little weasel I saw the Dead in the Fieldhouse in 71 and I could still whip his ass!
And here’s the taper page for him
http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-03-14.sbd.cole.6115.sbeok.shnf
Nicole
@Omnes Omnibus: Heh. That reminds me of a friend of mine who got slammed by a young runner at the Central Park Reservoir (lots of rude runners in NYC). She went after the runner to exchange a few words and the chickensh*t runner went for a police phone, got on and said that she had been assaulted by “two old people.” My friend angrily grabbed for the phone and yelled, ‘We’re not old!” into it.
Needless to say, New York’s Finest did not elect to make this altercation a high priority.
stuckinred
Grateful Dead Live at Camp Randall Field House, University of Wisconsin on 1971-03-14 (March 14, 1971)
taylormattd
Do you have yard waste service?
beltane
A compost pile is only as complicated as you make it. My mother-in-law is a bit OCD when it comes to hers (she’s a neat freak anyway), but I’m a slacker when it comes to mine. My only suggestion is to make sure it is well enough contained to prevent it from spreading out into a poorly defined pile of refuse. Hardware cloth stapled to sturdy posts works well.
Being that you don’t have an overabundance of garden waste or livestock manure, you might want to invest in one of those backyard composters they sell at Agway. It goes with your Topsy-Turvy tomato planter and will keep out the raccoons and skunks.
Johio
When I moved into my current house, the previous owner had built a compost heap by lining back and two sides with lumber and stacked bricks across the front. So, then you just piled stuff on top, wait 6 mos – year and then pull it out from the bottom front by unstacking however many bricks you needed to. Very easy access. Good system if you’re not in a hurry.
Steve from Monkeytown
I have a great compost pile built out of 3 wooden pallets just laid out on a patch of our backyard and filled with leaves, grass clippings and kitchen vegetable waste. Shrimp and lobster shells are ok but otherwise stay away from anything like fish or meat. Pine straw is indestructible and will never rot in a compost pile, so don’t waste the space with it. Just use the straw for mulch.Turn it over about once a week and keep it wet like a sponge and in this time of year you will be able to take dirt from the middle of it in 2 to 3 months time. It helps if the leaves are chopped.
Laura W.
Compost!
ErinSiobhan
Build/get more than one composter so that you can rotate them.
Compost leaves separately because they are slow to decompose. I made the mistake of tossing some in a few years ago – they were still there two years later.
Leave your grass trimmings on the lawn and eventually you can avoid fertilizing your grass. Get a mulching mower.
We have two commercial plastic composters for household waste. The biggest hassle was keeping the lids on them because the raccoons were very persistent. The raccoons eventually won and we gave up on the lids.
Our leaves just get raked into a big pile in the woods to rot.
My dad makes his composters by driving three metal poles into the ground and then wrapping chain link fence around them. Fills them for a couple of years, lets them sit for a couple of years, then rips them down and recovers the compost.
rknight44
Keep it far enough away from the house so the bugs/flies don’t have a clean shot at you. I wouldn’t throw too much kitchen waste in there. Turn in once in while and let nature do it (she will). You’re not making potting soil so I’m not sure you would need any accelerators. How are the birds? My heart is broken because of the migratory bird fall-out that’s to come because of the Gulf.
wrb
O2 Systems make awesome industrial compost system for stables and even fish waste.
I thought all their systems would be massive overkill for you but they’ve come out with a residential system
Well, really big residential/commercial system. Probably still overkill.
beltane
@ErinSiobhan: We do it similarly to your dad, except our piles decompose pretty fast due to the addition of litter from the chicken coop. Even the leave decompose quickly. The only thing that lasts forever are corn stalks. I should probably make torches out of them.
AlanDean
Depending on the ultimate destination of the compost the pine may be a problem. I have heard this stuff is fairly acid and something may have to be added to offset this or make sure this compost goes under azaleas or other acid loving plants. There are also starter compounds to get the thing going.
And when you get bold or drunk or both you can go out and pee on the pile, adding more nitrogen.
robin
Large Rubbermaid tubs with lids make great, inexpenisve compost bins; just drill about 10 holes in the top and bottom so air can get through. Be sure to layer your “wet” (i.e. household refuse, grass clippings) with “dry” materials. Dry is stuff like leaves and so forth, but you can layer shredded paper and mix it through if you don’t have leaves.
Whatever you choose, be sure there is something on the bottom (like mesh grating). Rats can tunnel under a compost pile in nothing flat.
Violet
I’ve got a three compost bin system. It’s very low tech. The compost bins made out of coated wire fencing. One bin is active (put stuff in), one is “composting” and the last is what’s being used.
You need both “green” and “brown” stuff going into the compost to make it work. Green is like lawn clippings, brown is like dead leaves in the fall.
Be sure not to put any animal products in.
Turn it regularly for faster composting. Water if it’s very dry.
Find a way to protect the compost from your dog and other animals. This can be a problem.
Your own homemade compost is the best! Have fun!
apikoros
The two secrets to successful composting are (1) keep it wet and (2) keep it moving. You want bacteria and worms to eat the new stuff and excrete soil. As beltane said, construct some sort of limiter to keep it piled high and to keep the surface area low. ake it easy to access the whole and every week or two turn the whole pile over to move the dry outer stuff to the wet inside.
Interestingly, for small amounts of debris, a heavy duty garbage bag makes a dandy composter. Fill it up, stuff it down, water it, tie it off and turn it every week. Add earthworms if you have a supply and you are good to go.
BeccaM
Under evergreens and putting in pine needles and branches is a recipe for a composter that won’t work very well. Gets too acidic, as AlanDean remarked. The bacteria won’t grow in it and the worms will avoid it.
Best to keep those separate from the stuff you want to turn into good composting soil.
MTiffany
Keep the compost pile within reach of the hose and downwind of your house and the neighbors.
henqiguai
Don’t put the pile under the tree. Also sprach experience. The needed heat is much reduced and slows down the cooking process of the pile. And feel free to put in as much non-protein (i.e. animal scraps and fat) food scraps as you generate including coffee grounds and egg shells; just bury them or otherwise regularly turn the pile and give it a little water.
Oh, and the smaller the pieces the quicker the composting. For instance, to help with leaf decomposition, run ‘um through the lawn mower or a shredder; grass (and weed) clippings and leaf mold is good soil amendment (weed seeds are destroyed by the heat of decomposition if your pile is cooking correctly).
Hmm. Maybe I don’t need to re-read that damned composting pamphlet again after all.
Hey ! Anybody ever tried any home vermiculturing ?
Violet
Any weeds you put into your compost will reward you by showing up the following spring. It’s find to put the stems in, but avoid anything that is blooming or has gone to seed unless you want a lot more of them.
Martin
We had problems with the compost pile and critters, not to mention the corgi that would go dig in there. And turning the pile gets to be a challenge.
I’d consider using one of the drum type composters that you can stuff everything in and then give it a regular turn. Will keep the critters somewhat at bay, as well. Costs more, but IMO it’s a lot more productive for people who want to keep the time investment down. If you’re going to do lawn clippings, one drum for a little bit of that plus kitchen and other waste that turned out soil at a fairly steady rate and one simple pile (my old one was made out of slump blocks piled up – took about 20 minutes) dedicated to the bulk of the clippings and needles that would be a long-term deal would work well. The critters won’t be interested in the lawn stuff.
Martin
Being in WV, you might just want to swipe a 55 gallon drum from any of your neighbors’ front yards, some of the cinder blocks they don’t happen to have a car on, and roll your own turning one.
Svensker
My crazy recycles-everything friend made her compost piles out of plastic garbage cans that had cracks in the bottom. She just piles everything in, stirs it up with a pitchfork (could come in handy in the future!) occasionally, and has awesome compost in a couple of months. The lid helps keep the moisture in and the critters out.
I have a big passive pile inside a chicken wire circle. About once a year, I move it and take all the good stuff off the bottom and put it on the garden. Am definitely thinking about going with the garbage can method though — neater and faster.
Kitchen waste shouldn’t be a problem as long as you keep meat out of it, plus cover and stir the kitchen scraps when you add to the compost. We put in tea bags, all veggie trimmings, coffee grounds, egg shells, fruit scraps.
Don’t put too many pine needles in, because they are very high acid. Put them in their own pile, or just distribute them around acid lovers like azalea and rhodies.
Here’s a good composting website.
You’ll be so proud — and have much less garbage!
KRK
If you’re not planning to use the compost and instead just want a contained place for things to decompose, you might like my system which is just a simplified variant of what beltane suggests. Instead of hardware cloth (which is 1/4″ metal mesh and not cloth at all) tacked to stakes, I just made a big circle (about 5′ across) of 3′ wide hardware cloth, wired the ends together, and put a few stakes around the bottom to hold it down. You probably wouldn’t need the stakes where you are if it’s protected.
Out in the open rather than under the trees would make for a pile that shrinks faster since both the sun and the rain exposure will accelerate decomposition. If you’re putting it under evergreens, you’ll need to water it with a hose once in a while since it will need some moisture to break down. But other than that I wouldn’t bother with accelerators or proper ratios of brown-green or acidity or any of that unless you are trying to produce lovely, rich, crumbling compost for your yard and flower beds.
wrb
That is an advantage of the expensive aerated systems that might justify them in some cases. They operate at such high temperatures that they sterilize seeds. They also can safely compost meat (try fish waste for truly awesome compost) and don’t generate much smell.
Svensker
Oh, my composting friend also has the vermiculture indoor composter thing which she keeps in her basement — feeds the worms scraps all winter and has fabulous compost ready to go in the spring.
Then she makes her own seedling pots out of newspaper (soy-ink only), makes her own potting mix out of compost and some coconut husk stuff she buys somewhere. When the seedlings are ready to pot out, they can go right into the ground in their biodegradable pots.
She has more energy than I.
Martin
@Svensker: Wow, that’s awesome. My son is getting into gardening and I’ll have to run some of these ideas past him. He’ll probably love it.
Kristine
I have a little drum that I load veggie trims and other stuff into. The thing is, I need to keep it in the sun so that the black plastic drum absorbs the heat and the decomp rate increases. Don’t all compost piles need to be in the sun?
Citizen_X
You might try one (or two, cycling between them?) of these composting balls. Not that I know jack about gardening/composting, but I saw one in the store and thought it looked pretty cool. (I am easily impressed.) You turn them by just pushing the ball around every couple of days, and can roll it to wherever it’s needed or best in the yard. They make a larger version, shown and reviewed here.
Bill E Pilgrim
I have a system where I just throw everything into a big heap, all on top of each other, then when it gets really pungent after maybe six months, just take it all out and wash it all at once.
Oh composting. I thought you said laundry. Never mind.
MMM
I thought your office was your compost heap.
licensed to kill time
__
We are all dung beetles now.
BethanyAnne
hmm, what to put in a compost heap…
couldya put bipartisanship in there? Mebbe next to Jimmy Hoffa?
farmette
Your compost pile needs greens/leaf/plant matter, soil and water. Don’t add dandelions since the flower heads will go to seed long after the flower/plant is dead. Also, don’t add meat or meat products. It won’t decompose the same way as the plant matter will. The center of the compost should get hot enough to break down the organic matter into a loamy like soil. Happy gardening!
Jennifer
Several considerations:
Turning a compost pile once a week is a lot of work. For fast, or “hot” composting, get a composting drum you can turn to mix the compost. I have one that’s a big plastic ball, more or less, with a screw-off lid for adding water and material and holes for ventilation. Once a week, I flip it on its side, roll it a few feet back and forth, then set it back upright. You can compost weeds in a hot compost pile, because the heat will kill the seeds. Also, hot composting kills plant pathogens. You can cook a batch of hot compost in about 6 weeks.
Slow compost will take a year or more to break down, and never gets hot enough to kill unwanted seeds and pathogens, so don’t put any weeds or diseased plant material in the pile. If you’re just going to “let it rot”, get some perforated PVC drain tile pipe for the middle of the pile – it supplies the oxygen the composting bacteria needs to work faster (and hotter). I have a slow compost pile too – it takes longer to cook but produces a greater volume than my rolling composter.
Absolutely shred leaves before adding to the compost – they will break down fairly quickly if you run over them with a mower a few times to shred them before adding to the pile (or compost tumbler). And although leaving clippings on the lawn is good for the lawn, grass clippings are also very good for composting – green material helps the dried leaves break down much more quickly and really heats up the pile, plus adds moisture. For slow compost, you want to layer your materials – a layer of dried shredded leaves followed by a layer of green material, followed by more shredded leaves, etc. I use the clippings from every 3rd or 4th mowing for the compost.
You can buy compost inoculator to sprinkle on the pile to speed things up a bit, but it’s really not necessary – if you build the pile right, provide oxygen to the center of the pile with a PVC drain tile, site the pile correctly and add enough water to keep it moist (not drowning), the bacteria and earthworms will find it pretty quickly and get to work.
BethanyAnne
cheapo mulcher project
http://www.aaroncake.net/projects/mulcher.htm
Litlebritdifrnt
I am the laziest composter on the planet, but my system works for me. Whenever DH is cutting the grass (and at the same time gathering leaves) I pick a designated spot in the yard for the clippings and leaves to be piled in. I then leave it alone for at least a year. I am blessed with an incredibly healthy population of very large active worms thanks to my organic habits (I believe they are called Night Crawlers in fishing terms) and they quickly get to work on the pile. When I revisit the pile a year later (as I did recently building a new flower bed) it has turned into worm poo filled gorgeous compost/soil. One pile (which was the result of one lawn mowing front and back and started out about 3 feet wide around and about two feet high) was enough to fill a new round flower bed at a depth of about 3 inches.
Here is a shot of the new bed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/MsNick40/DSC09686.jpg
If you want to work at it there are lots of other methods as people have stated above. However if you want it easy and you have the land, my method works like a charm, Mother Nature does all the work and you reap the rewards.
pika
The compost heap (we have a bin out back in the corner of the yard) is an awesome thing. I have two recommendations:
First, make the path to and from it clear. Last year I was surprised (though I shouldn’t have been) to find that a nest of yellowjackets had taken up residence, and I ended up running around the yard yelling “Bees in my hair! Bees in my hair!” There would have been fewer had I not had to back my way out from the compost box because of other plants.
Second, start a “slug” tag for the blog, because you will never see slugs as big as the ones you will find just under the lid, and you will likely need new Balloon-Juice merchandise to honor them. Also, spiders that may or may not be black widows. Thus, when looking at all the recommendations for barrels, etc., above, think of how easy the lid is to open and close.
gbear
I’ve got a couple of composting bins that are made of recycled plastic and have 5 removable slats on each side. They’re about 30″x30″x25″. I tried to find a link to my bins but couldn’t find one.
I really like the removable slat style because it’s so much easier to load or unload the bin. You need to turn your compost occasionally and multiple bins make that so much easier. Just flip the compost into the next bin.
I’ve got a mulching mower so the grass clippings just stay in the yard. This works fine as long as you don’t let the grass get too long. I agree with others above who warn against throwing weeds that have gone to seed into your bins.
And I will confess to all the ambitious folks here that I haven’t done jack-shit today other than one load of laundry and listen to my Elvis – The Memphis Album CD. I’ve been a total slug today.
t jasper parnell
@Omnes Omnibus: Was that Crazy Legs?
gbear
@BethanyAnne:
Nah, someone would steal that and turn it into a gocart.
BethanyAnne
@gbear: that’s where you get the engine in the first place ;-)
Jay S
First of all there is not a lot to go wrong in composting.
Basically you make a pile of the proper size with appropriate material and stuff happens. Turning it periodically speeds up the stuff happening. You can start with a simple pile, but a containment system helps keep it in one place with a shape that helps the process. Give it ventilation and it shouldn’t smell bad. If it smells bad you are doing something wrong, but give the pile a turn and you should fix the smell.
What can go wrong? You put in stuff that attracts vermin or your dog. There isn’t enough water in the pile to allow the process to continue. The pile isn’t well ventilated. Simple stuff to fix, and not likely to happen if you pay attention.
More sophisticated systems with drums, balls, worms or electronics can get you compost faster and may handle more or different types of material. 2 or 3 pile container systems can make it easier to manage. But you can start with a pile 3′ high and 3′-5′ around of mixed material and move up to something more structured as you see the need.
tt crews
I’ve composted for ten years, since I learned it as a Master Gardener in the Rutgers University extension program.
I cannot emphasize this enough: compost is mostly leaves.
Leaves are what creates that gorgeous black humus in the forest and composted leaves is what you want for your garden. Leaves provide the texture, organic matter and nutrients you want. Besides leaves, you can add anything that’s whole food type vegetable and has no oil or dairy on it.
Pine needles are not great for composting because the needles have a waxy coating that slows the process. Wood takes too long and uses up nitrogen as it decomposes so keep it out of the compost. Coffee grounds are great for your compost.
I am a laissez-faire composter because, quite frankly, compost just happens on its own and I have better things to do then turn leaves. It takes about 8 months (I’m near Philly) for the leaves to break down if you do nothing other than stack ’em up. It goes faster (about 5 months) if you shred the leaves and turn the pile. I do get some weeds if I add mature weeds with seed heads on them into the pile. I could fix this by turning the pile to speed up the decomposition and generate heat.
Start composting in the fall and collect bags and bags of leaves. Take your neighbor’s leaves. I go through about 15 bags plus what I rake up and put in directly each year which is more than enough for my 10,000 sq ft surburban yard/garden. I
My compost pile with leaves, kitchen waste, coffee grounds and garden waste smells wonderful–like a forest in the morning. I once got a yellow jacket nest in it, but no rodents. The neighbor’s cat (I love you Sherman!) takes care of that for me.
Jay S
Add to what can go wrong what @pika: said.
I had bumble bees this year for the first time. probably because we had an early spring and I was late in turning the pile. Bumble bees can become aggressive when you disturb their nest, but mine were just dazed and confused.
Yellow jackets are just nasty all the time. I had a problem with them while trying to compost sod several years ago. I’ve never had that problem with a traditional pile myself.
jackie
@henqiguai: I have one of those stackable worm hotels in my basement. It is very easy and for those of us in colder climes allows you to not add your compostables to the waste stream. For me the only hitch is that I have tomato and strawberry plants in all my pots/window boxes. Evidently the worms don’t destroy all the seeds. For Christmas I give them cantaloupe and tea bags. (That’s there favorite) It gives me street cred with my grand kids. Plus it makes compost tea.
joe from Lowell
It’s a beautiful day in the Lowell Highlands. I planted some pots.
Pots. With an s. Some pots of flowers.
Glad we cleared that up.
joe from Lowell
Oh, I planted them with compost from my own bin. Picking out peanuts and lobster shells and bits of wood…to throw back in.
And little sheets of plastic. I put a lot of lined-cardboard boxes, like from frozen vegetables, in there when I first started. The cardboard turns into soil, and I’m left picking out the lining.
It’s an iterative process, composting.
JGabriel
John Cole:
If you feed the grass the dead corpses of its peers and ancestors, won’t it end with up mad grass disease, like cows that are fed cow parts?
.
Jay S
@JGabriel: You do recognize that you are arguing against mulching and for composting, don’t you?
I’d like to mulch more but the grass gets ahead of me and ends up to long to mulch. Compost is second choice, but necessary for me.
tim
Simple: just get one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-60021-Compost-Tumbler-Gallon/dp/B0030GG2FS
Built to last a lifetime, easy to turn, easy to open, easy to unload, easy, period. Love it.
and yeah, for god’s sake, john, don’t throw weeds into the compost pile. Those who are expert enough to be sure they are “hot composting” and destroying the seeds have more faith than do I. Play it safe and toss the weeds in the garbage or yard waste.
jak201
Some good plans for compost bins at this site: Also some composting ideas. Similar topics can be found on most state cooperative extension sites.
http://www.piercecountywa.org/pc/services/home/environ/waste/recycle/compost/compostbins.htm#Wire%20Mesh%20Composting%20Bins
Keith G
Wow. Composting for the OCD crowd.
Teri
I haven’t read the other posts but this is what works for us. Using those green metal “fence” posts we made an area three times the size of the front of our wheel barrow and twice as long. Stake out the corners and run fence so there are three equal sections. Don’t make the front fence permanent but easily removable. start your pile in right or left section, layering, green, paper, brown and add water. once a month using pitchfork transfer section to next section down the row, tossing it to areate, adding new layers as you go. third month do the same to the third section. then on the fourth month as you start transfering to the beginning section to start again, on the bottom you will have some lovely black gold know as compost. What really helps, if you have the area to do, is to back the whole thing up to a downed tree as a backer and you build up against it. After several years the tree rots wonderfully and gives you a nice fluffy compost. As for weed remains….make their own little pile in a closed container with some weep holes in the botton (small trash can work) then purchase some inexpensive foil trays to bake the compost to kill possible weed seeds. Personally I perferr to add that to our municple “green” collection rather than keep it in my yard.
wridge
2 cents:
I have two 3 ft by 3 ft bins side by side made of wire fencing on posts, but only wire on three sides – you need one side left open or you’ll never get the good stuff out. Fill one with everything except no animal matter, and no evergreen things (they’re called evergreen for a reason), and no woody things. You need brown stuff and green stuff – grass clippings are great for nitrogen and to get things really hot in there. When it is full, empty all the non-composted stuff over into the second bin, and when you get about a foot from the bottom, you will find black gold, which you put on your garden. Repeat ad infinitum.
LuciaMia
Don’t put it under too much tree cover. The compost needs to stay slightly moist (not soggy) so you want to take advantage of the rain. Like everybody else has posted here, you can compost nearly anything barring fats and proteins.
Peter
I use chicken wire to contain a mixture of kitchen scraps (no meat, bones, or fat) pulled weeds, ash from the grill, and cow manure I get for free from a farm down the road. When it’s high enough, I turn it, hose it down, and tarp it. In 6 months or so it’s pretty black and crumbly. The heat should kill most weed seeds, and the tarp keeps new ones from gaining purchase. I have a separate pile for leaves, grass, and lawn waste, which I mix in with the other when it’s time to dress the beds. Leave the pine needles out.
I know a guy who has beautiful beds made of notched 1 x 10s 4 feet long that fit together like those craft popsicle sticks; he adds a course as the pile grows, then caps it with black rubber when it’s high enough (about 3 feet). He’s got several, so at any given time he’s got one filling and several cooking with staggered ready dates. His is a very good system.
josefina
@tt crews: Listen to this, Cole! I’ve been a member of a seriously green and thriving community garden in NYC for almost 15 years and we keep a pile of leaves to use as the “brown” layer when members bring their “green” kitchen scraps. We also leave fallen leaves in beds to decompose over the winter and then work in whatever’s left in the spring.
Kristine
@tt crews:
I noticed that. My compost bin doesn’t smell bad at all. Earthy. It smells earthy, and not in a ‘manure pile’ kind of way.
Anne Laurie
John, do NOT put dandelions in an open compost pile/bin unless are planning to farm the damn things! Yes, they WILL survive & multiply, unless they’re in a sealed container.
I am lazy & 80% of our compostable material is oak leaves off the neighbors’ trees, so our “compost pile” was a heap in the darkest, least visible corner of our tiny yard, with a lidded plastic trash can next to it for dandelions, burdocks, and dog turds. Apart from the bi-annual (fall & spring) leaf rakings, it never got much higher or lower, but it did sprout tons of healthy vigorous grass & seedlings even with almost no sunlight. Including, hand to goddess, a perfectly healthy little balsam fir from a discarded xmas tree!
If all you are looking for is a way to get rid of ‘yard waste’ then adding a dedicated tightly-lidded trash can to your proposed pile will do you nicely. Don’t worry about adding fancy biostarters, the worms will find your pile without any help from you. Since I almost never got around to digging into our pile, I told any compost-obsessed visitors that I considered it a “backyard sanctuary” for our native earthworms…
PurpleGirl
Didn’t some national figure make a proposal last year to require homeowners to start composting? I just have this little thought in the back of the brain, I don’t remember when or who said it. Thread was interesting though.
psychobroad
Are you in California? I don’t know what types of snakes you have there, but here in GA we have copperheads. My godfather has a compost heap that he’s contained in a woodenframe held together with chicken wire. A couple of springs ago he reached into it and a copperhead bit him. He almost died; thankfully he’s a tough old bird. The next spring his son got bitten–same place, & HE almost died–at 30 years younger than his dad. So, BE CAREFUL!! I think compost generates heat, which snakes like, especially in the spring when it’s still cool.
KRK
Well, I must be doing something right because I always dump dandelions, thistles, and dandelions’ even more diabolical cousins, catsear, onto my compost pile and have never had even one sprout up. The only weeds I have to be sure to keep out of the pile are creeping charlie and catchweed.
psychobroad
I was mixing you up w/Tbogg–y’all sound alike to me. You’re in WVA , which means you have the same kinds of snakes that we do. Beware the copperheads, especially in the spring. Apparently, if one’s going to get you, that’s when it will happen.
Neldob
Adding nitrogen by peeing on the compost pile is a good idea. I think it helps it get hot enough to kill the weed seeds. If it is just a corralled pile it needs to be at least 3 or 4 cubic feet before it cooks. It shouldn’t smell (even if you pee on it).
tenkindsofgrumpy
Some observations from 58 years of composting.#1. Even the hottest pile can’t kill all your weed seeds(only the center gets hot enough) #2. dry compost won’t rot. #3. sprinkling a little soil in adds necessary bacteria #4. Dry compost won’t rot. #5. It is not a sin to add a small amount of urea or other nitrogen to jumpstart a slow pile. #6.Dry compost won’t rot. #7 my ideal size was 5’X5’X3′ high. Anything higher is a bitch to turn. #8. Dry compost won’t rot. Hope this helps.
hansragnar
DO NOT EVER … put grease, meat scraps or anything oily in the bin, trust me.
kindness
The Costco composter works well. Grass clippings don’t compost well unless you mix ’em with other greens & stuff. I can’t compost all my clippings, only a portion of them. Great for coffee grinds & vegetable matter though. Good move.
Glen Tomkins
“anything I don’t want to put down the disposal”
Kitchen scraps need to go to your stockpot first. Feed the humans before you feed the plants. You can’t make soups and gravies without stock, and a cuisine without soup is a sad, bereft, thing.
The compost heap still gets the kitchen scraps, but only after the stock has been strained from it. This means that you have to do the meat scraps and the vegetable odds and ends separately, because compost doesn’t like meat. But you have to do them seperately anyway if you have dogs and cats in the household, because they go absolutely apeshit over what’s left after you strain meat stock, but tend to get the runs if you give them the vegetable remains from stock.
Gina
I just picked up a composter bin at Sam’s Club for just under $40. I’m experimenting with composting dog and cat poo, along with kitchen waste. We have a small lot, and neighbors are close, so I wanted to switch from hardware cloth/open style to an enclosed box for aesthetic reasons. With the amount of nitrogen from the poo, I need to find a source of brown dried stuff to balance it out, but at least it’s contained and the cover locks.
That Other Mike
@psychobroad: Here in the UK, our single native species of snake, the adder, is fond of seeking out compost bins.
As you said, they generate heat, and snakes like heat, especially if they’re nesting, which also makes them cranky. While adders aren’t very dangerous at all, YMMV when it comes to snakes in your locality…
HumboldtBlue
My only suggestion, if it hasn’t been raised earlier, is avoid the pine needles in your compost.
Heathcliff
@beltane: I agree with this, though check the construction of the tumbler carefully. Plastic tumblers need to be reinforced at each seam or your tumbler will fall apart.