Simple Compost Explanation

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I need a good resource to explain composting. I know what it is, it's just the how's and "to do's" and "not to do". I have a horse and a mule. I currently shovel manure and spread it out on the yard. I have grass now, lots of grass. I would believe that if I built something to hold it and heat it up it would kill the grass seed and cure it for gardening? I also have chickens and have a big pile of chicken manure with pine shavings. I just don't know the easiest way to get started. I have several pallets laying around and could build a box, but then what. Please guide me and of course I'm visual so a video or pictures to help it sink in would be great. I would love to amend my garden soil with my own compost in the future. TIA, Melissa

 

[patandchickens]

I need a good resource to explain composting. I know what it is, it's just the how's and "to do's" and "not to do".

Here is a sample info page http://www.compost.org/backyard.html but if you google you may find another more suited to your tastes, there are a gazillion resources on composting out there

I have a horse and a mule. I currently shovel manure and spread it out on the yard.

If they are being fed grain, or eating hay with significant amounts of seeds in it (which a lot of affordable grass hay does have), then you are likely to be seeding the yard with grain and hayseed, if that matters to you. I would not count on composting to entirely eliminate this, since unless you are SUPER organized and type-A-personality, or are an industrial composting company, even if *some* of the compost heats up enough to kill weed seeds, not *all* of it will.

I have grass now, lots of grass. I would believe that if I built something to hold it and heat it up it would kill the grass seed and cure it for gardening?

Well, couple things here.

First, this time of year is your grass really even RUNNING to seed? If there are no seeds in the lawn there will be no seeds in the clippings

Second, you can't compost just fresh grass clippings very well. Way too much nitrogen and not enough carbon. You need to mix it with something "browner", higher-carbon lower-N, like shavings from bedding, or straw, or old leaves, or etc.

Third, get a mulching mower and leave the clippings on the lawn in the FIRST place and you won't need to fertilize the lawn much if at all in future years. That is better than removing the clippings and composting them

I also have chickens and have a big pile of chicken manure with pine shavings.

If there is a lot of shavings in there, it probably needs more high-nitrogen material to compost well -- meaning, it might work real well to mix in a bunch of your grass clippings! (Or horse/mule manure, if you don't mind the weed seed issue). Although, if most of the chicken pile is from a (bare) droppings board, with only a *bit* of shavings mixed in, it might be close to the ideal C:N ratio already.

I just don't know the easiest way to get started. I have several pallets laying around and could build a box, but then what.

The easiest way to get started is to make a big giant pile, or two, of the stuff to be composted -- trying to get a reasonable mix of high-carbon and high-nitrogen stuff, but not really *worrying* about it as such -- and then just let it sit for a year or two. Then dig in towards the center of the pile (which will have gotten a lot smaller by then). When you hit stuff that seems finished enough for you, mine it out and use it (it probalby won't have heated up enough to kill weed seeds, but it'll still be perfectly good compost). Re-pile the remainder to continue composting, and ignore it for another year or two. Really, it CAN be that simple

There is no particular *need* to make a box or bin or other container. It does help contain the pile from spreading all over, and keeps it in a more heat-retaining shape. And it looks more organized, if you care about that, and makes it easier to run several concurrent piles right next to each other without losing track of things. But you certainly don't NEED anything. If you want a container, use baler twine to tie some pallets together at the corners, or use a length of unused wire fencing curled into a circle

Really, some people make composting sound like rocket science, and you CAN make it all complicated and try to make it as fast/hot/efficient as possible if that happens to entertain you... but really, bottom line, composting is just stuff rotting down on its own, which it will do whether you DO anything or not, and whether you LIKE it or not. So if you want to just sort of set things up well and then let Mother Nature and Father Time take care of the rest, that works pretty ok too

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Thanks Pat. I really like the site you gave me and from just reading your post and reading some of the link you gave me I now know what the first thing I want to try. I will continue with my piles of chicken litter and poo and spreading the horse manure on the lawn. I've never planted a grass seed in my lawn. My whole lawn is weeds and horse grass from manure/seeds. I live way out in the country and manicured lawns is not important. It takes us 6 hours to cut grass with two people. One on a small Ford tractor with a bush hog attached and one on a Huskvarna (spelling?) zero turn. Not all of this lawn is mine (neither is the tractor and zero turn). My neighbors are all my family. So we help each other cut and take turns.

I'm currently building a new coop with a droppings board. I have an empty unused 55 gal plastic drum. I will be placing the droppings board poo and tea/coffee grounds in along with leaves (I have 4 acres of Oak). That way I can experiment with the fast cooking and still keep my piles. So now I need an idea to mount the drum so I can turn it easily. Ideas?

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

Jeese, I have compost already!!!! After reading more of that link you gave me I just realized the dirt under the leaves in my 4 acres of woods is compost. I noticed when the chickens scratch up the leaves the dirt is black and has an "earthy" smell. Score, compost!!!! This 4 acres has been there for at least my life time 38 years. There is always 1 to 2 feet of leaves. The chickens love it.

 

[boggybranch]

http://www.composting101.com/