Composting?

[wamplercathy]

Am planning to make a compost unit out of pallets and t-post.
DH: "Your crazy, WHY do we need it?"
Me: "It will be good for the garden and it would mean less that needs to be burnt."
DH: "Your insane."

To say the least he is not being supportive.

Anyways: What are yalls experience with composting?

 

[DBA]

I have a good sized pile, ( about 14 foot wide by 25 foot long) at one corner of my garden. It gets added to constantly until fall. Once the gardening is done for the year, it gets spread on the garden and started over.
Right now it has a dead pig rotting under it, gets fresh rabbit heads and skins added regularly, chicken parts and pieces added, chicken coop clean outs, some rabbit tray clean outs, grass clippings, weeds, wood chips, and occasionally some cattle manure.

 

[katiebear]

My D.H. is under the impression that you can't put meat of any sort in compost...Don't know why...He just insists that any heads, guts, fur, feet, or dead chickens go into the dumpster..then he complains like crazy because of the smell...go figure??
I can't really grow much anyway..kinda got a brown thumb. I actually killed a mint plant...didn't think that was possible.

 

[DBA]

A guy I know about an hour or so away makes litterally tons of compost. I'm talking compost piles bigger than most people's houses. He has completely composted full cows and even horses before. Just bury them into the pile and let nature take over.

 

[Zass]

I compost everything.
I have two large bins that I stir whenever I feel up to it... I add it to garden beds in the fall.
Meat can attract predators, so make sure to to bury carcass parts in a bin far from your animals.
Lime helps break down animal parts , I think, and reduces odors.

 

[Dood]

Meats and fats will area to attract vermin - mice, rats, skunks, opossum, etc...

What is your housing situation? Urban? suburb? Small acreage?

 

[skysthelimit]

I can't compost anything. I'm way too urban and too close to neighbors. Nothing I've tried makes the smell completely disappear. I've resorted to bagging up manure, and I have just enough room to hide it.

 

[Marinea]

We have had a pallet compost bin in the past. It worked well, but I have one piece of advice- make sure you cut down one side so you can easily get into it to turn it over or take stuff out. We just used a Sawsall and cut down about halfway on one side of the bin, with the opening wide enough to get a turning fork/shovel in easily.

We didn't use t=posts, just screwed the pallets together so that when we needed to empty it, we could just unscrew it and have a big pile of compost to move to the garden beds.

 

[Truckinguy]

I have six compost bins side by side made out of pallets. When I'm starting to fill the last one I empty bin 1 onto the garden then start turning bin 2 into bin 1, then bin 3 into bin 2 and so forth. It's a bit of unnecessary work, I suppose, but if they are turned they work faster and its cheaper than a gym membership. Everything goes in to it, dirty straw, rabbit and chicken bedding and poop, butchering offal, grass clippings, kitchen waste that doesn't go to the worms (meat, dairy, etc) and anything else organic like leaves and dead animals. When it's finished it has been turned five times and is a beautiful consistant blackish compost with lots of organic matter left in it. The bins get hot enough that they steam on a cool morning and if I pull back the top layer the steam will actually fog my glasses.

My neighbor calls it my rocket fuel!

 

[Rainey]

We have a series of compost bins built from pallets along one side of our vegetable garden and a 2 bin unit nearer to my flower and herb gardens. We also have an indoor worm compost box that we use in the winter and to make a finer compost for starting seeds and for houseplants.
We turn the outdoor bins regularly because the compost makes up faster than if it is just left to sit until it's done and because it discourages rodents. We don't put meat in the compost because in our experience it attracts rats, skunks etc. Guess that would depend on where you lived. The outdoor bins get garden waste, goat bedding, some kitchen stuff. The worm box gets coffee grounds and most kitchen waste that doesn't go in the pig bucket or the hen bowl. Mostly the bunny berries go straight onto whatever area of the garden needs a boost, but if they aren't needed immediately, they go into the bins. When I have time, I cut back comfrey and whatever I'm not feeding goes into the compost bins. I can't imagine gardening without compost. And one of my favorite things about our farm is how little gets wasted. Pretty much everything has a use--just sometimes we haven't thought of it yet.
This year we have a composting area that our pullets have access to and we do put bones and offal in there since they clean it all up before anything else gets to it.

 

[wamplercathy]

Meats and fats will area to attract vermin - mice, rats, skunks, opossum, etc...

What is your housing situation? Urban? suburb? Small acreage?

I won't be adding any meat or dairy. I don't want the critters getting in it. We have 2+acres down by the river out in the sticks. I placed ours in far NW corner. Close enough to the garden and were I am planing a hog shed but far enough away from the house.

 

[Dood]

Sounds like your place is perfect and if you're just composting veggies and garden weeds/leaves/grass clippings/brush the smell and vermin won't be a big problem

Ours is in the north east corner of the property as the prevailing winds are out of the west and it blows the odour into the pasture and not towards the back yard and house there will still be a smell - especially on hot days and after a good rain

One thing people often don't do enough of is aerating and turning it to encourage the less smelly oxygen loving bacteria and fungi growth - IMHO a well tossed compost pile has a lovely earthy scent but not everyone agrees :mrgreen:

It also needs moisture - ours is in full sun so we must water it down occasionally in the summer but one in the shade likely won't dry out as quickly

 

[Easy Ears]

We just throw our compost on the garden... :lol: We do egg shells, melon rinds, etc.

 

[DBA]

I don't think our compost pile stinks, but it is in the corner of our biggest garden (half acre garden) and right at the end of our pig pen. The pigs stink, but if the compost does, I can't smell it over the pigs.

 

[Truckinguy]

I just put a whole turkey in mine on Saturday. We butchered four of my neighbor's tom turkeys and one had a nasty cut in it's chest. He had cleaned it up and tried to bandage it but when we got the feathers off we found the infection went deep into the chest and he decided to discard it. Into the compost bin it went and is covered by about a foot of dirty straw and shavings. In a couple of days I should see steam rising from it on a cool morning. City people don't seem to get why I get all excited about a steaming compost pile. I think it's as beautiful as a sunrise!

 

[wamplercathy]

Well I finally got the compost unit put together. Even drove 4 of the post myself. Back is killing me, but I did it. Hubby came out and took pity on me and drove the last 2.




Door can be taken off or just swung open.


My little sidekick. :lol:

It's not much but I'm ecstatic.

 

[DBA]

Great!! Now get to filling it up, your garden will thank you.

 

[wamplercathy]

I'm sure it would prefer less rain and some weed mat too. All I got out of a 24'x50' garden is 1 tomato, and 1 cucumber, and a bunch of lovely grass. :evil: Bunny berries do wonders for your grass.

Next year will be better.

 

[DBA]

Next year will be better.... I've been saying that every year.
I mean it this time. I'm saving my pennies so that next year I can plant everything on plastic with drip tube irrigation.