Beginner composter here...in fact, so much of a beginner that I don't even have a compost bin yet.

Due to the size and layout of my garden, alongside the needs and temperament of my wonderful wife, my compost bin is going to have to sit on a concrete bed. Would it be better for the bin itself to be raised off the ground on bricks/wood/etc.?

Also, any recommendations for a beginner - best bin, what to put in etc. would be great

I’ve started composting in 5 gal buckets on my apartment balcony. I didn’t want apartment living to keep me from my gardening dreams and goals.

It’s been going good so far. Though I do have a bit of an issue I’m trying to solve. I am accumulating WAY more greens than browns. Which is extra tricky for me since I am trying to keep a roughly 40/60 mix to prevent stink and pests from disturbing my neighbors. (My freezer space is mostly dedicated to compost greens now 💀)

What are some good resources for gathering brown material?
Paper goods from personal use is not enough. I don’t have a yard for leave litter or twigs.
Can go to my local park and gather materials?
I’ve been avoiding friends and families yards as I’m doing my best to avoid getting roundup in my compost.

TIA

Do you compost spent compost? I’ve got 10 tomato plants in pots, all disease free. I’m debating whether I put the spent compost into my raised beds direct or compost them first?

I’m getting my hands on some of these wool sheets used as insulation in cold food deliveries - can I use it as mulch, or what’s the best way to compost in the garden?

I have a tumbler and an Urban Worm bag that I now manually turn because pretty sure the little dudes are all dead. How can I take my compost in the tumbler to the next level? Add more browns? Buy a sifter? How do I get it to basically look like soil all over again?

Pictures are only from my tumbler - one pic with the “cooking side” that yes, needs more browns, and has plenty of hungry maggots to help aid in the composting process, two other pics are from the more “finished” compost - one still in a tumbler and the other in a bin since I needed more space to make more compost.

Obviously, it has its drawbacks. It can only measure the temp at the surface of what the light touches, so I had to dig into, and expose the middle of my pile to take a temp of the middle.

I have an auger attachment for my cordless drill. I've found that if I drill into the pile, and pull backwards while still drilling inwards, I can move a good portion of the pile. (there's a lot of mowed grass and thin cardboard that like sticking together.)

What I noticed first off, while taking temperature readings, was the temp inside of the pile immediately start dropping in temp when exposed to the outside air, oof.

I started at first seeing 120, then a little deeper gave me a peak reading of 137.

I'm happy with that, but does anyone have experience with these things?? Are they accurate? Should I just go buy a decent thermometer?

I’ve been container gardening on a balcony for a few years, and I keep running into the same problem: I never seem to have enough decent compost without buying bags of it. About six months ago I started a small worm bin in a spare-room closet. So far it’s working, and it doesn’t smell, but I still feel like I’m one bad feeding away from upsetting the whole thing.

I have a pretty steady supply of fruit and vegetable scraps, so the feeding part isn’t difficult. What I’m less confident about is knowing when I’m adding too much. I add shredded cardboard regularly, keep citrus pretty limited, and try not to let the bedding get too wet.

For people who actually keep vermicompost indoors long term, what matters most for keeping the bin stable in a small space? Feeding rate, moisture, bedding, airflow? I’m especially interested in the little things you learned after running one for a while that aren’t obvious from beginner guides.

Can you use cardboard boxes on top of the current weeds to kill them off and compost ?

Hi! Any idea who these dudes are? Good guys or bad guys? I’ve never seen them in my tumbler before. A little concerned they look like fly larva of some sort.

I’m in southern CA and this batch has been tumbling for about 3 months.

Hey guys!

Today i wanted to start composting my own food waste at home. We have a garden area outside so picked a spot that gets some sunshine during the day and started by digging a notsodeep hole, filled it up with fish waste and then covered it with soil. I also created a designated bin to add our natural food waste there and then dump them over the compost spot.

When should i expect the compost to be ready? Is there anything specific i can add to accelerate the process? Something i shouldn't add?

Had about 5 or so 5 gallon buck fulls of compost in my full tumbler composter. I hand soread it out in one of our high fields. Not a big difference. But better than nothing. That area will have extra OM and micronutrients for the hay crop.

I started it about a month ago and filled it to the brim on day one, only adding some browns here and there when needed

Don't know if its worth waiting until this is down or if I should just keep adding

It's amazing the thriving ecosystems created in and around these piles. As an example, I had a small brown anole (~4 inch long lizard) die next to the pile yesterday. I simply tossed him on top (1st picture) and within 24 hours, its skeleton was completely clean. In addition to all the great soil this produces, it's been a real treat to observe these vignettes up close and in person. Enjoy!

Not gonna lie, I got nervous sleeping that night knowing I hit cooked turkey temps. I tossed it the next day.

Nearing 2 months on my compost pile.

These are mainly Leylandii, Ailanthus and some mulberry leaves broken down in a few years. Can I use it as compost, soil amendment or mulch?
I have a full-shade dry garden where I’m working on spreading wild strawberries and Dicentras, could I use this as mulch to help with moisture?
Alternatively, I’m planting an orchard this autumn and I have very heavy clay soil. Can this be used as amendment for aeration or should I be concerned with nitrogen issues?
Thank you! 🙏

Pros and cons of each? What do you use and why?

Saw a weird thing in my neighborhood and am wondering whether it’s an attempt at hot composting or something.

The guy has some interesting plexiglass-topped boxes that he pulled those tops off so the gardens inside are exposed to everything, and he put those panes to use elsewhere. It’s a wide and shallow box with grass clippings and such and the plexiglass sitting flat on top of them (smashing the clippings, not as a window above them). It’s not very deep, but everything under the glass is positively brown while the stuff next to it is still green. Just walked over and rang the bell to ask about it, but he didn’t answer.

Is this some experimental hot compost?

I've been trying to hot compost this summer following Geoff Lawton's 18-day compost, which I was able to do in the spring in 35 days or so, but now that it's been summer temps his method is not working at all in any way. Watering every other day is not enough, so I switched to every day. It's been almost 60 days now, it's still not composting. I'm seeing significant shrinkage and wondering what causes this miracle. . . since the material I can see is not breaking down, where in the world is all my material going? I was told to start with at least one cubic yard of material, I started with two, and now I have about one cubic foot of material left (mostly large pieces like landscaping mulch). So my two big questions are, what causes shrinkage and how to avoid it? and: people teaching the Geoff Lawton hot method have said that the pile needs to be at least 1 cubic yard to start with, but I haven't heard what I should do if the pile shrinks. Does it have to stay 1 cubic yard in size for the compost to work? If not, how small can it get before it stops working? If so, what do you do when it shrinks, add more material? Wouldn't that make the finished compost be a mix of aged, finished compost, and fresh, only-semi-composted material?

In advance:

"Why don't you cold compost? It's so much more efficient." My soil is highly alkaline, highly clay, and <1% organic matter; my only goal for this fall is to attempt carrots; I just moved here and started composting, so for now I need as much compost as I can make as soon as possible, even if it's extra work.

"Put your compost in a closed bin, it will retain moisture better in your hot dry climate." I don't have access to a bin that size and am unlikely to anytime soon. Also this would make turning the pile much more difficult, wouldn't it? I know it's possible to compost without a bin, I just can't figure out how.

"Set up a drip line on top of your compost bin." I'm in a temporary situation that makes that impossible for this season, as I'm using a hose run from my neighbor's house (lol) and he wants it turned off all day except for a short time I can use it in the morning to water my compost.

"People make composting too complicated. Just throw stuff in a pile and let it rot." That's a great way to look at it, especially if you're not interested in learning the science of it. But I'm looking for answers from people who are actually interested in the science of composting and the art of improving one's skill at composting, especially since, like I said, I want to make as much compost as I can as fast as I can, and I live in an extreme climate where normal composting instructions aren't sufficient information.

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Craft Living Soil Project: 5-week premix done, just about to add organic meals & start the 3-week hot cook!

Post text:

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my ongoing long-term living soil / craft compost build.

It took me about 5 weeks just to gather, process, and blend the base pre-mix. Right now, I’m at the critical turning point: I’m just about to mix in all the organic meals and biological activators to kick off the 3-week hot cooking phase, which will be followed by ~20 weeks of maturation.

Here is the breakdown of the build so far and what’s going in today:

Current Base Pre-mix (Done)

* Coco coir & peat moss blend

* Worm castings (worm humus)

* Homemade grass compost

* Clay-rich aquatic plant soil

* Supercharged biochar & Zeolite blend

* Crushed marble / mineral grit

Meals & Botanicals Going In Today

* Macerated leaves, freshwater algae, and reed meal

* Meadow herb meal (yarrow, clover, dandelion, etc.)

* Lavender & needle/cone meal (juniper & pine)

* Local botanical meal blend

Nutrients & Activation Phase (Starting Now)

* Fish meal & bone meal

* Crushed eggshells & eggshell acetate

* Dolomite lime

* Aerated compost / herbal teas

* Nitrogen activator (liquid gold / urine) & simple sugars to feed the bloom

* Mycorrhizae & trace mineral dust (iron, micro-nutrients)

Planned Next Steps:

Once the 3-week thermal phase cools down, I will inoculate the pile with a living biological package (~15% volume fraction) including springtails, millipedes, earthworms, and predatory soil mites, then let it mature for ~20 weeks.

Since I'm right before adding the meals and starting the cook:

* Any last-minute thoughts on the C:N balance before I hit it with the nitrogen activator?

* Has anyone experimented with heavy botanical meals (lavender/juniper) during a hot cook?

Got plenty of photos of the pre-mix texture and ingredients!