I have a plywood frame and pull it up as the compost gets taller.
In spring the frame gets set onto the ground beside and fill the loose compost from top. The bottom is is good compost, we never turn it.

Well, I do like pictures, so here goes. These pics come out almost full screen on my computer, sorry if the same happens on yours. I can't figure out why... I reduced them but even when I reduced some to avatar size in photobucket they still upload here for me as full screen.???

Anyway, you need to start with a lot of material, I swear raw plant material reduces to compost by at least a factor of 100. Maybe 200. Here's my main source area:
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Sure, it doesn't look like much now, but come the end of summer:

Here's another view, showing some of the back flower garden on the far left. Stuff from here goes in too.
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The front gardens go in too. Most of the tree leaves are used as mulch for the rose and bulb gardens, then rot in place over the summer, but some tree leaves go into the composter, but only some of the oak, maple and buckeye leaves. I got into trouble with scab once by composting fruit tree leaves. I don't add lawn cuttings because I leave those on the lawn to decay and the stuff I rake up in the spring I put out in the garbage...I guess I could compost it, but this spring I raked up over 10 big orange garbage bags from the lawn so it's easier to toss it than have to deal with that all at once. Oh, and this stuff from the kitchen also goes in year-round:
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Here's the bins themselves, each about 1m x 1m x 1m
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This is the full one that I will spread and rototill in probably this fall. (or early next spring if I don't get to it in the fall). I started filling this last spring but the main flush of material went in at harvest last fall and was able to rot down substantially before freeze up. That requires diligent watering on my part, plus nitrogen fertilizer. This spring I added most of the stuff from the second bin, plus some leaves that were used as mulch, and it has reduced in volume by a factor of several times already. It might shrink to half-full by the fall, producing a half-yard or slightly more.
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I still have to add these leaves from the second bin before I stop adding to the full bin. Guess I should do that now.
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Here's my compost thermometer in the big bin, humming along at 95F (35C). It's usually a bit warmer but all this rain knocked it down a bit. I have had it up over 50C but I was kinda generous with the nitrogen then :)
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So one bin gets loaded with plant material all spring, summer and fall, plus veggie kitchen scraps all winter, plus any old potting soil, etc. If I have extra, then the second bin becomes a temporary storehouse. In the spring I add some of the leaves I used to mulch the gardens plus any extra in the second bin, then I leave that bin to rot all summer. I add some handfulls of high nitrogen lawn fertilizer to kick start the bacteria and spray it with water in the dry weather to keep it moist. Never turn it, too lazy for that. The second bin then takes over as my new bin for garden waste. In the fall, the first bin is rotted compost except for maybe the very top layer which is always a bit drier and slower to rot. If the top hasn't rotted enough, I toss it into the other bin. I spread the compost and start the process all over again with in the other bin, which has already started filling up over the summer.

Don

Thanks Konrad and Don. Awesome pictures Don. I wish I had your garden.

I guess we should ramp up our composting. Obviously it can be more productive than what we've done in the past. It may get too dry in the summer. Not the problem lately though.

We do have vermicompost, but it doesn't produce much yet.

Everything from the house and garden goes into the compost bin. Woody material is chopped up for around the compost bins so it doesn't get too muddy.

I have to get leaves from others in the fall to add to the winter household stuff but other than that, it's just from our house and yard.

Because material is added gradually the temperature doesn't get much over 110F but it still works. This produces about 1 cubic yard per year.

My initial impression was that I wouldn't have enough to fill the bin. But over the years, the amount of material has increased so that I can fill a bin in less than a year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost bin construction

I have three raised bins, a green cone, and a plastic mesh barrel that I use for kitchen waste in the winter. The bulk of my composting is done in the raised beds. I'm on the third year of using the beds. The big bed, 6'*8'*3' is for the rough material: vines, hollyhocks, leaves, etc.. I planted squash in this (inserted a large bucket of dirt). This year I got enough semi processed material for a four inch planting layer. My main composting bed is 4'*8'*2'. I'm getting about a foot, 64 cu ft about 2 yards, of mostly finished compost out of it. In the spring I dig out the finished compost and replace it with dried grass clippings and smaller leaves leaves mixed with the green cone and kitchen waste. I cover this with a thin layer of finished compost for planting. The third bin, a little smaller (an old packing crate producing almost a yard of compost) has foam chunks in the bottom so gets about a foot of mixed dry grass and leaves which is covered with a thin layer of finished compost. By next year I hope to wean myself off potting soil. :)

There is a fair amount of work in the spring digging out the finished compost and replacing with compostable material.

Hi all, I do everything that everyone else has been doing. But I would also like to add that I keep adding the kitchen scraps all winter. I would like to add layers of dry (brown) material to the kitchen scraps but always seem to run out. I have two bins now and hope to add a third this year. By the spring one is usually full from all the winter scraps and I just let it sit all summer long. Sometime putting a hose to it if it gets really dry, by fall I can usually open the bottom and take out at least 2/3. I then push the top down and start refilling that one the next winter. I'm a lazy composter and never stir or flip. It would probably produce more if I did. C

I've tried most methods of composting but the easiest I've found for this lazy northern gardener is to dig in the daily collection of kitchen scraps between plants. The worms turn it into fertilizer quickly and I've rarely had a problem except once the bear dug into it in fall for the earthworms I think.

Over winter I save all the kitchen scraps and collect them outside in a large black vinyl composter. When it's thawed in the spring I layer/mix it with fine wood shavings.

I never have enough leaves as most of our trees are coniferous. The leaves from the deciduous trees in the house yard I rake into the beds and leave as mulch. I could, and have, gotten bagged leaves from people in town but it's just another task on a long list that I can ignore. I've also collected veggie trimmings from store produce depts. and coffee grounds from the coffee shops. To produce lots of compost one needs *lots* of organic material.

I've used various compost bins but this year I'm just piling it up. I don't pay attention to whether or not it heats altho it's nice to see a few wisps of steam on a cool morning occasionally. Eventually it all decomposes. I use mine as mulch because of the wood shavings which don't fully decompose but when it all looks like nice brown mulch it's ready. In other years I've mixed the mulch in the cement mixer but I've decided that's too much work so will simplify this year. I have one pile that might be ready by end of July and the second probably by fall. I already used one pile from last year on a couple of the perennial beds.

Weeds and crabgrass are in a separate pile covered with a tarp. I try not to throw out any organics.

Because I try to be as organic as possible I seldom use nitrogen fert. to speed the process but have used alfalfa pellets, UCG, soya meal, and blood meal. I have lots of grass clippings this year as they were too long to leave because of the rain.

IMO each gardener needs to find the method that works best for them. There are many ways to compost - the important thing is to do 'something' and try to keep as many valuable organics as possible out of the landfills.

Here is a link that might be useful: pics of my compost and mulch

I just fill my black plastic commercial composter all summer, then every spring I seem to start a vegetable garden box or a new flower bed, and I just dump out what's in the composter and cover it up with a foot of topsoil. The worms do the rest. I also have 2 metal garbage cans for overflow.

Mine gets kitchen scraps, about 1/4 of my grass clippings (large yard, don't always bag it), and any of the leaves we rake up in the spring that haven't been infiltrated with dog poo.

I can't seem to compost very well. For one, I think my composters are too small. They are black plastic, probably 1.5 sq ft around and 3 ft tall. (2 of them)

Also, I can never seem to figure out what the proper amount of garden scraps/house scraps to dry stuff would be. I have a little compost bucket in the house that gets dumped in the composter about once a week or more. How many of those should I dump in before I add some dry matter? Do I layer it? Mix it all together? Doesn't matter? Mostly the wet stuff just sort of seems to sit there and mold or get slimey. This spring I went and looked at what I had put in the year before, and it had only gone down probably by 1/3. That seems waaaaayyy too slow.

LOL, you guys make it sound so easy, but it seems kind of complicated to me!

Just keep at it. My compost gets way too much kitchen scraps, according to the "composting bible" I only add the "brown" when it is easy and convenient. I usually let it go for two years before I dump the bottom, I just push it down with a shovel and keep adding more.

That is why I need to get a third bin, (commercial one, sounds like we have the same kind)

Cheryl

I didn't realize so many people on this forum did composting. Glad to find out =:)

I think after reading these posts, that my only problem is the moisture. Our compost bin is about 4x4x4 and I do pretty much what everyone else does, more or less. We did give up composting during the winter. Trudging through the snow to get to the bin was too much. We should have stuck to filling at least a 68L rubbermaid bin with kitchen scraps in winter though. Maybe I'll start the pile up again and get DH to contribute some nitrogen to start it up =:)

Weeper - You're on a farm with horses. You should have awesome compost =:) As you said, your composters are way too small. You could probably manage to have two compost piles, one to use on your veggies and one to use on your perennial beds. Plus, if I remember, you probably have access to some good cow manure also. If I were you (don't you just hate when people say that) I would get DH to build you two or three wooden bins reasonably near your barn and/or trees and go at it, LOL! I think your slimy problem could be fixed by layering grass, dry leaves, etc. I don't think anyone else that's responded has a farm, and you're in an enviable position when it comes to composting. You go girl ! Ramp it up ! =:)

BTW The Soil Compost and Mulch Forum if you haven't looked, is awesome. Lloyd from Manitoba and Jon Hughes from Oregon are a hoot ! Check out their operations if you have time.

Good Grief !

I was salivating over the potential Weeper has for compost and forgot to thank everyone for their input.

Thanks everyone for your input =:)

For those who want to save kitchen scraps over the winter, here is a tip: buy a shredder if you don't have one, and shred, shred, shred! Adding a layer of shredded paper keeps your scraps from smelling, and in the spring, you have a ready made pile to throw on the compost pile. Those "checks" the credit card company sends? Shred! Credit card receipts...shred! Any papers you no longer need with personal info...SHRED!!! I find that the shredded paper is the first thing to "disappear" in my compost pile.

Excellent point on the shredded paper. Hate thoughs credit card cheques. C

What a great tutorial on composting Don. That makes my composting bin look pretty shabby...lol. DH put a 3 sided pallet bin together for me and lined it with black pastic and another pallet to use as a "gate". Your back garden is lovely..Jean

I have the same type of composters, Jean. I'm pretty lazy about it too. I usually start a pile with a thick layer of leaves and we throw kitchen scraps and grass clippings on top of that. We keep that up all winter. Some years i get ambitious and throw some leaves in the next bin and then fork over some of the stuff from the first bin. I had a third but it fell apart and i've never made it up again. It usually takes a few years to get compost if you don't stir it up much.

I've heard of people who get lucky and have a bear come into the yard and turn their compost for them, but it's never happened to me! :>

NAF - I'll definitely check out that composting forum. Maybe I can also see some more pics of composters so I have something my hubby can model one after.

Yes, you're right...I should be using horse manure! The even more amusing thing is that part of the pasture is probably 30 ft from where the gate to our orchard will be. LOL. Talk about convienent. I guess I'll just keep plugging along. I don't have a lot of time to tinker with it, so I doubt I'll be turning mine either. I'll just have to be content with a slow system.

Weeper - Lloyd is pt03 and Jon Hughes is jonhughes. Jon has some videos that are pretty cool on youtube. Jonehughes3384.

BTW There's lots of good information on the forum and lots of pictures of people's compost piles. I would, however, at least for a while, avoid the posts that say "What have you fed your compost today?" If you can blast gophers, your "Yuck" tolerance is better than mine, but some of the stuff is pretty disgusting if you ask me. Definitely for experienced, hot composters. I think us cold climate, cold composters, need to be much more careful what we throw in.

Let us know how you make out. =:)

On the farm in Switzerland by Dad had a large compost, [3 of them] about 4 by 5 meters, all the weeds we kids had to pull and some of the harvest scraps got put there. There was 3 piles total, every spring when we needed compost under the fruit trees, the last, 3 year old pile got used. Then the second pile got shoveled to the 3rd. the first pile to the second, then you had a new empty base again for a new season. Of course in those years we labored a lot more, now these day's I don't think it's done anymore, some scrapes get tossed to the manure pile now.

Jeesh, I'll bet you guys had some muscles! People these days are too lazy(myself included) for stuff like that. Sounds like you would have wound up with an impressive amount of compost though - 4x5 meters! Wow!