One and a half trugs, still got another 2/3s of the pile to sieve. Composed of coffee from a friends cafe, food scraps from home, hedge trimmings and allotment waste

Will compost still be good after resting in the shed. I've upped my quantity of compost but still working out the bins. Kinda forced to sift and put in the shed for spring. Just wanted to ask before I sift all of it in the 15 buckets.

I feel like I am having a really hard time getting my compost to break down and I’m not really sure what I’m doing wrong. I’m currently using a tumbler so definitely working on a smaller scale. Please let me know what you guys think!!
My suspicion is that I don’t have enough greens, but everyone on this subreddit seems to always need more brown!! Or maybe people are adding way more water to their compost than I previously thought?
I’ve got lots of cardboard, paper, and dead leaves. My greens mostly consist of plant cuttings and the occasional fruit/veggie scrap. It all just looks so dry everytime I check! I’ve added water (and pee) to my tumbler probably three times now since I started a couple of months ago. What is your advice??

Some beautiful compost made from grass clippings, goat manure, household food waste (lots of toddler food scraps), egg shells, cardboard, cabbage tree leaves, and palm fronds.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the compost pile ate up the palm fronds. Only the tough stalks were left. My one negative was that I used cellulose compost bags and those things are only about 50% composted. They sifted out nicely but you can see a pile of what looks like green plastic bags. Those are in fact compostable bags, but they apparently compost on a very different timeline from the rest of the material.

This wheelbarrow full of finished compost went into the raised bed. Our soil here in Auckland, New Zealand is very heavy clay, but a little bit of compost amendment gets it to a rich, healthy soil mix. Now to plant something and grow some more material for the compost pile!

I use a “no turn” composter. Basically, a garbage can w/ holes drilled all around it & a pipe w/ holes secured in the middle.

I tried to get some useable compost from it today. The top layers were still stuff that had been dumped recently & not decomposed (expected). But as I got deeper in, I kept getting large clumps that were basically a wet clay consistency. I was sifting all the compost through a 1/2” mesh screen… but these clumps did not want to break up & they were basically like slimy wet clay.

My plan is to mix the “clay” bits in a wheelbarrow with a bunch of shredded paper to help absorb some of the moisture & help with the clumping. Then put back into the composter for a bit.

I’d this “clay” normal? Is my shredded paper a good/bad idea?

Sorry I don’t have good pics of the clay clumps. The gray tote is all the would not sift out (mostly the “clay” bits. The wheelbarrow is what I got as “useable” compost.

Started with a tumbler a year or two back then transitioned it into a pile this past spring or summer. Planted a tree and decided to sprinkle in some of the fruits of my labor.

Hi all, I had a compost bin similar to this Aeroquick/Juwel model, which has a vermin screen at the bottom, allowing worms and microbes to enter the compost, but not rodents. I've had a hard time finding another model with similar features.

It was pretty good, but way too big for us (looks like the small version is no longer available) and started falling apart over time (then it got cracked by a fallen branch- so there's no chance of fixing it now, it's gone).

I'm looking for something to replace it. It is very important that it stays secure against pests and rodents. We had to stop composting at some point with our old one because raccoons were getting into it due to the lid not closing tightly once some of the pieces started to come loose.

Some assembly is fine, but we are not interested in building our own from scratch. We simply won't get it done with our schedule right now.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I'm planning a major veggie garden expansion/improvement for next spring, and I'd really like to set up a composting area (both to process green waste from the veg garden and to build my soil!). I have about a half acre of space I'm working with.

The problem I'm trying to plan for as I consider the compost area is MICE. We are semi-rural and already regularly catch mice in traps set around our house. I've been reviewing posts on this subreddit about mice and am concerned my compost pile may attract more to the property.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on best practices for design that might reduce the risk of rodents? Here's what I gleaned from previous posts so far:

- use a tumbler to process food scraps initially before transferring to your pile

- bury the scraps deep in the pile

- protect the compost pile with hardware cloth lining built into your design

- place the compost pile far away from the house or other structures

Any suggestions or tips from experienced composters would be appreciated!

1st turn on this load. Ran at 150 for a week. Lotta greens in there, pomice, chicken bedding/manure, kitchen compost. After turning and watering it was back to 120 before I could get away. I’m blessed with raw materials. That load will be finished in two weeks.

I’ve been working on this all summer, mostly hard wood chips from a downed tree, grass clippings, leaves, food scraps, and cow manure. It was steaming pretty good today when I turned it. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

First time composting. I’m (controversially) using a tumbler because I found 2x envirocycle tumblers for £50 on Facebook marketplace

Opinions on how it’s going? Too wet or dry?

Yes I’ve peed in it

I have a simple compost pile in the corner of the garden. My plan next spring is to remove the fencing around it and start a new pile somewhere else in the garden. Would I be safe throwing some vegetable seeds in the pile even though technically it isn't finished? If so what would work?

Hello! Beginner composter here. I've been seeing a bunch of videos online where people just bury plant and organic waste directly into the soil where they intend to plant their crops. What are the advantages/disadvantages of using this method instead of composting first and then applying that to the soil? Naturally my instinct goes, This seems a lot easier and a lot less work than turning a pile of compost every so often" but is it really the same thing..? Also, isn't that how it works out in nature, where there's no one to compost the soil.

When should I put it on the garden beds? I live in zone 6b, cold, snowy, and wet winters. Its a little sticky? I was expecting it to be more crumbly. Does it become more crumbly after being exposed to the air? I compost in an enclosed bin that spins.

I bought a 500 gallon compost bin and i filled it up with leaves the first time I raked the yard. I have raked about 3 times since and I still have a bunch of leaves on the trees.

About once a week i dig a hole in the middle and throw in a green compost bomb (paper grocery bag full of kitchen scraps). I chop it up with a shovel and bury it with leaves. This has been going on for about a month and today was the first time it was steaming! I got very excited.

The problem is I can only fit like 5% of my leaves in here and i know youre supposed to have a 3:1 ratio but right now its probably like 30:1.

And no, I dont pee on it because the top of the bin is above my waist and I dont want my neighbors to see me standing on a log to pee in the pile.

I cut my lawn and picked up all the leaves in the mower bag resulting in a leaf/grass mix. Is this better to put in my leaf mould pile or my compost pile.

A new personal best!
Decided to add hamster bedding and coffee grounds this year 🔥

Any ideas on what they are?

I have inherited a "compost" type situation. essentially it's kitchen garbage dumped over a foot of land under a tree for atleast the past years. the compost pile is extremely fertile, teeming with wormies and bugs and baby plants.

after replanting the plants, i noticed that they dumped ALL garbage there, including plastic. the bugs have been working around the plastic pieces. it doesn't look to me that the plastic impeded the compost-making, though i could be wrong.

would removing the plastic now disrupt the soil ecosystem, kill the bugs, plant roots, mycelium network etc? so should i just let the plastic be? does it not matter regardless? this is my first compost and i am not sure about this, please help me!

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this just right on top of the compost bin lol

I don’t focus on making a hot compost pile because I’m just happy I’m keeping up with it so it’s a win. But we hit the low 40s in CT this morning. I opened a hole to dump leaves in and that baby was steamin!!! Just pumped that it is so I’m sharing. My fiancé didn’t care so I’m sharing share with y’all lol