Your best bet is to go to the soils,compost forum or the vericomposting form for all kinds of information. Actually while easy, it would take pages to explain for different situations.

Penny

I think your idea of using pallets is good. I just throw in a layer of material. sprinkle with ground limestone, another layerof material, sprinkle some cheap fertilizer and continue on. youmight want to think of two bins, you could be using one while building the second. Enjoy, steve in baltimore

Not quite fast!

As a Master Gardener, I like to give information for both sides to a question and let the gardener makes an informed decision. While Penny's suggestion has some merit, this topic is a many-faceted stone.

In my case, maintaining a compost pile would be a waste of valuable time that could be better spend on other endeavors -- and that is just what I do. You won't find a compost pile at my house. I had one in the past. However, I soon realized the folly.

Yes, I agree that any organic material should not be wasted. Fortunately, you do NOT need a labor intensive compost pile to accomplish this goal. I simply do my pruning, trimming, raking and weeding before I mow the lawn. I throw all of this debris out onto the lawn as I perform these taks. When finished, I then mow the lawn with my mulching mower. The weeds, small sticks and leaves are finely chopped up and disappear into the turf while providing nutrients to my lawn. My time is utilized efficiently.

If I want to add organic material to my garden beds (which I often do), I either bag my clippings while mowing and add them to my garden or I simply go down to our local municipal compost center and buy a cubic yard of compost for nine dollars and haul it home in my pickup truck.

I know that over on the Compost Forum, they are an enthusiastic bunch. They practice their craft with zeal. However, rarely is the down side of the coin examined. While I won't say that what they are doing is wrong, I will say that many of them seem to have a lot more free time than I do. The concept of composting is tremendous -- the practice of composting is what is in question.

Annually, many communities offer composting bins to the public at greatly subsidized prices. If one takes a few steps back and examines the issue without all the politically correct hoopla; here is my situation. I could spend about thirty dollars (a tremendously reduced price) and purchase one of those compost bins, which are more than adequate for the needs of the average home gardener. Or, I can take that same thirty dollars and buy many times more compost than the purchased item will ever make in two or three of my lifetimes! Which is the better deal? Which tack conserves cash, makes better use of my time and provides a higher return of value? I think, unquestionably, purchasing my compost is far superior. It certainly consumes much less of my time and the results are immediate.

Mind you, I still have not contributed a single ounce of organic material to the landfill and the same or less money has been spent. While some of those on the Compost Forum are sweating, gathering materials, turning their piles and waiting for enough compost to be generated, I have already completed preparing my beds with all of the compost that I need ... no sweating, gathering, turning and waiting. I have saved both time and money and a lot more compost has been incorporated into my beds than would have otherwise been possible.

I know that making compost is a "feel-good" activity that has many vocal advocates. Sometimes they make more noise than sense. The question now comes down to should you own a compost pile?

As a professor once told me long ago, "Answers to any horticultural question should be prefaced with Well, that depends..." Therefore, I suggest that you research this issue until you are satisfied with a conclusion that fits your situation.

And always remember ...
The only thing that two gardeners will ever agree upon is what the third one is doing wrong.

IronBelly

While I know how to do hot compost - turn, take temp, turn etc. I do worm compost and cold compost. My piles sit for a year or two. I have plenty of space and just let it happen. However, to make a choice one needs to see all the ways it can be done. If I were to chose one way it would with worms.

Penny

While I agree with IronBelly's philosophy of doing the least amount of work for the most amount of reward, composting can be almost as easy as his "throw it on the yard and mow it" method. Here's how I do it.

I keep several "double" piles going at all times, one nearly finished one and one fresh one, at convenient locations in the edges of the woods surrounding my house. Whenever I prune or dig or pull up stuff from the beds or empty the kitchen waste bin, the organic stuff goes to the closest fresh pile and nothing much is ever done to it until I'm ready to use it.

When I'm ready to spread compost on a bed I just lightly rake off the top of the finished pile and dig in. When I use up one finished pile, I start another fresh pile in it's place and let the previous fresh pile rest till it's decayed on it's own.

Yes, this is a slow way to make compost but it works and doesn't break my back or budget. Plus, this way I know what goes into making it. I will admit that once in awhile (when I'm feeling particularly energetic, or is that stupid?) I will turn a pile, but it's not necessary. The mantra of composters is (or should be!) It All Leads Back To Compost!

I know this is not a practical approach for most urban and suburban gardeners who have to be somewhat tidy in their limited space, but if you've got the room, it's a great, lazy way to compost.

Also, you don't know what went into bought compost - biosolids, for example. Some types of compost also have tons of weed weeds.

This is the point where we need to set our emotions aside and present only verifiable, research-based information. Opinions derived from segments of society offering only "What if statements" and anecdotal tales constructed of charged words just do not qualify.

I will agree with the statement; "Some types of compost also have tons of weed seeds." In fact, typically it is the homeowner produced compost that has this problem. The volume of the average homeowner compost pile is just not big enough to ever reach the sustained, 140+ degree temperatures generally required to make viable seeds inert.

And the problem with biosolids is Â?
It is easy to sit back and fall prey to all kinds of horror scenarios. Can I 100% guarantee that nobody will ever commercially produce poor quality compost? Heck no. However, I have personally toured a few of these facilities; including the one where I purchase my compost. What I do see with my own eyes (not just rumored) are crews of tremendously dedicated people who got into the business because of their own environmental commitment. They are extremely concerned with quality. They are also more than willing to prove that quality by routinely having their product sampled and tested by independent, outside labs.

When discussing the issue of biosolids in compost with the public, I do explain that one option for them is to avoid using that product in garden areas used to produce edible root crops like radishes, carrots, potatoes, etc if they are uncomfortable with biosolids. My personal opinion is that, properly tested and treated, biosolids are a non-issue. However, I just provide all sides of the research-based facts and let the gardener draw their own conclusions.

Interestingly enough, awhile back I read a report derived from tests conducted at a university (Sorry, I canÂt remember which one.) looking into the possibility of harmful effects from biosolids in compost. In blind studies of numerous composts, with some compost containing biosolids and some not, they could document no adverse effects or potential problems to either plant or animal. However, what they did unexpectedly find was that the composts later found to contain biosolids provided an additional productivity boost due to increased micronutrients and trace minerals. The positive results and nutritional boost to plants was said to be like similar results seen in another set of trials involving seaweed supplements.

In spite of each of our own political bents, as Master Gardeners, it behooves us to take the Jack Webb approach  Just the facts, mamm.

IronBelly

thanks for all the ideas and information. I will be starting a compost pile just trying to get the time to get the pallets and put it togeather. Thanks again
gandenmaker79

Composting requires a moist acidic environment. Lime neutralizes the acidic requirement so it is best to add lime after the composting process. Our count spent 8 million for a composting facility that now sits idle. They weren't separating out organic material but were including anything and everything: paint, pills, metal, batteries, needles and glass. One of the people in charge there defended the adding of glass by saying "you add sand to your garden, what is glass made out of? Duh, it's sand." What an idiot. A crew of Master Gardeners used this compost on the Children's Demo Garden and everyone of them got sick. Then they said don't tell anybody. That compost facility now sits idle.

Almost every county in California has a composting facility,since the state required a steady reduction of green waste being added to the landfills. Here I have 6 acers, most of it native woods. All of the leaf litter from 1000 feet of paved road is cold composted in a huge pile over the winter. I turn it with the loader on my tractor three or four times as the winter rain keeps up the moisture. In June after the last rain I move it to a location on the edge of the garden where it gets sprinked during the summer as the garden is watered. Each year in June I move the previous years pile, which is now ready for use, into the woods where it is covered with a tarp to retain the moisture and keep it clean. As I need it I screen it through a one half inch hardward cloth to remove the rocks and sticks picked up with the leaves from the road. This compost made entirely from leaves tests out at a PH of 6.5 Al

Eddie,
Wow! That is a horror story. I guess it is an example of good ol boy greed and government never a good combination. It is really sad that something that could have, and should have, been providing for the greater public good was pirated. I think someone belongs in jail.

Al,
What a great example of a large volume user with "big-boy toys". Tim Allen would be proud! I always have to wince when I see people burning leaves. They make some great compost. One of our local colleges has a major stand of oak trees that create a mountain of leaves every fall. They actually have a farmer come in with a hay baler to bale all of those leaves. He then takes those bales and uses them for livestock bedding. Those leaves eventually wind up being spread on his fields as manure.

Im glad this thread has outlined a number of different ways to make use of precious organic material. As the old saying goes, "Many roads lead to Boston." Of course, Eddies example again reminds us to always do our research.

IronBelly

Thanks for all the inforamtion. I have also went to the composting forum and they are alot of great help also. Thanks again.
gardenmake79