Compost pile?

[Autumn]

I'd like to start one but I'm totally new to it - could I ask some questions about your setups?

How did you start it?
Is it just a pile or do you have a container? Which one?
What all do you put in it?
Did you buy worms for it or just have food, etc in it?
Do you have trouble with dogs/other animals getting into it?
Anything you wish you knew when you started or wish you'd done differently?
Any pictures?

:cup

[Sundance]

:cup

I don't have pics right now, but I might take some later for you.

If you want a hot pile, you will want some type of container to contain it. If you just want a slow/cold heap, you can just make a pile.

A cold pile might stink, though, depending on what you compost.

Right now, we have a cement crock from a well with a small pile in it, but we have a manure pile that composts pretty well for us (but I know that's not what most people will have!).

[swimming with sharks]

How did you start it? We got a big plastic ball one that you can *Roll* around to mix it.
Is it just a pile or do you have a container? Which one? looks vaguely like this one (http://www.amazon.com/STC-33371-CompoSpin-Composter-Rolling/dp/B003LL5AKA/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1351970786&sr=1-1&keywords=compost+ball)except it doesn't have a 'base' :shrug3
What all do you put in it? everything but meat scraps and even those sometimes (mostly when I'm too lazy to separate them. :bag
Did you buy worms for it or just have food, etc in it? It has holes around it and the worms have climbed in and live in it. :giggle
Do you have trouble with dogs/other animals getting into it? The lid is REALLY tricky to get undone. DD takes out the compost as her job. If I put the lid on the 'right' way I'd have to go out there with her EVERYDAY to get it open and it's just not happening so we leave the lid ajar and when the neighbor's dog breaks through her e fence, she comes over and roots through it. Her favorite thing is rotting pumpkin. :sick:doh It's not such a big deal for us because it's outside of our fenced area and it's pretty much just forest where she makes a mess. :shrug3
Anything you wish you knew when you started or wish you'd done differently? :no not yet, I'm really about to start using compost so maybe in 6 mths there will be! :giggle
Any pictures? :no but I can make that happen if you *really* want. :giggle


This post makes me look about as lazy as a bump on the log. :bag

[UltraMother]

I got one with plastic walls around it years ago, and move it with us as needed. There's no base, the walls just sit on the ground.

You can start one by simply throwing in fruit and veg scraps, eggshells, hair if you do home haircuts, dryer lint if it's mostly cotton, etc.

I don't have worms, they would probably die in the heat here in AZ.

Don't put cooked food or meat in eat, and you shouldn't have any problems with dogs getting into it (unless you have really weird dogs).

[charla]

:cup

[Sundance]

I don't get the cooked food thing. I've heard a lot of people say it, but why?

Rice, mashed potatoes, hardboiled eggs, cooked veggies are all compostable, no?

[BarefootBetsy]

We have a container that's black plastic. It was the only one we could find locally. It works fine. We put everything in that the dog won't eat as well as veggie ends that the chickens won't eat.

I'll come back. Gotta get ready for church.

[Rabbit]

The container is to keep out wildlife, which includes rodents you don't want to attract to your house, and to make turning less physically intensive. It will still be a hot heap, if it has no container.

[Sundance]

If you have enough of a pile, yes...but I find that with the smaller volume prouced in a household, they're hard to keep contained enough to heat well w/o a container to keep it together. Especially if you're not putting a specific ratio of nutrients in it (carbon:nitrogen), and just throwing your scraps in there.

But even then, it won't heat if you don't have the right stuff in there, an you'll end up with a slow/cold pile anyways...which isn't a bad thing, you just don't end up with the finished compost very quick!

[BarefootBetsy]

This is the second year we've had the compost bin - we haven't actually tried to use any of it for a garden yet, but we are planning to use it next spring. We moved the bin with us when we moved to our current house also :giggle

[Barefoot Bookworm]

My husband rigged one up with chicken wire when we first started. When a neighbor moved, he gave us his big black compost bin that looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Soilsaver-Classic-Composter/dp/B003959G9Y/ref=sr_1_7?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1352069998&sr=1-7