Things I added to my compost today thread

[doubleatraining]

Thanks for letting me know about the milk. I was told that the sugar in flat sodas was supposed to be good for the compost pile.

 

[Greenthumb18]

No problem! I haven't heard of using soda in the compost. Maybe it does help with the process of decomposition.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Greenthumb18 - I have been putting meat, bones, eggs, fish, newspaper, magazines, as well as all green waste from the kitchen and gardens in our compost heap for 30 years. I also put a 2" layer of manure (cow, goat, chicken, rabbit) and a 2" layer of soil on top about every two or three months. Bales of old sour straw and sometimes hay. Sawdust and wood shavings from our wood shop, log sawing, and the animal stalls. Lots of shredded corn stalks and cobs. Lots of shredded sticks and limbs. The only thing I don't put in there is human and dog feces but lots of urine goes in.

No problems. But my compost heaps are arranged so that each heap is about 6' x 6' x 6' deep and composts for three to four years. Maybe that's one reason why it works for me. I use the front loader on the tractor to turn the piles about three or four times a year.

The cats and the chickens take care of any rodent problems we may have - they're very good mousers. And our compost heaps are about 1,000 ft. out behind the barns.

 

[Just-Moxie]

I toss in anything organic from the kitchen......manure..any I can find, flower garden waster, newspapers sometimes, a dead small animal here and there, fish scraps (shared now with chickens), mowed grass clippings, leaf piles, ...although, not managing to build very good compst piles this winter. We got the leaves all blown into several areas, but it has been too wet to move them.

Coffee grounds, I am saving them, drying them, and going to use them for the veggie gardens this spring. I read that they were good for deterring cutworms. We'll see.

 

[digitS']

Evidence from what turns up in the garden soil:

stickers with bar codes



Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Evidence from what turns up in the garden soil: stickers with bar codes Steve

Oh yeah, but I thought the worms put them there.

 

[lesa]

Warmed up enough to trudge out to the pile...emptied the kitchen bucket, at long last.

 

[Gnome_Czech]

When we people eat eggs, I squash the shells and put them in the pile. Last time my neighbor put his green waste out for pick up, I emptied it into my pile - I cannot believe ANYONE would ever want to get rid of avocado leaves! They are AMAZING!!! I have a lot to do this weekend for the several piles I have going:

*Empty the quail run
*empty all the k-cups from the coffee machine - this one is bittersweet because I am religious about waste and recycling, but I also love my coffee and can tell you, outside of going somewhere for breakfast, I haven't made a cup of coffee in years until I got this machine and now I am back to every day - oh black granules, I did miss you, but now my garden wont & used cups make good seed starters!!
*rake out the coops from the winter straw and poo
*rake out under the rabbits

I've been digging in them the last few days for my gardening. I've got some beautiful black gold going

 

[chris09]

You can compost meat and dead livestock, you just have to know how to do it correctly. For one and the most important, the average backyard compost pile doesn't get hot enough to compost meat or dead livestock correctly.
When you are composting meat/ livestock the compost pile should have a minimum temperature of 160+ [some say 180+] and turned less often. The pile should be fully composted and used with in a year. Any longer than that and you start to loose nutrition.


Chris

 

[peteyfoozer]

Evidence from what turns up in the garden soil:

stickers with bar codes



Steve

I thought they were worm footprints....