I just bought a house and am looking to start composting. The previous owner had a compost bin in the backyard but it looks like it hasn't been in use for a while. I was going someone could tell me whether or not it is worth resurrecting or if I should start fresh.

https://imgur.com/a/compost-f8oJpT0

I was wondering if hedgeballs would be a good addition to my compost pile?

My cousin gave me a 5gal bucket full of wood ash (along with 10 bags of leaves!) Anywho, I am unsure of how to used the wood ash. Everything I've read said to use it sparingly or sprinkle here or there, but nothing regarding amounts.

I have a 80 gal Earth Machine compost bin, a 32 gal tote that I made into a compost bin, I have 2 8x2 raised beds and a couple pretty large flower beds that border my house.

So my question is, do I just sprinkle it in all the flower beds, add all of it to the compost bins and mix. I am just not sure what amounts to use and with winter - it seems like I will be getting a nice supply of it until spring.

Been watching a lot of the distinguished Charles Dowding and noticed he does this on his boxes to keep heat in.🔥

I live in middle Tennessee which gets 50"+ of rain a year. I plan to collect a bunch of leaves for use throughout the year in the garden and for compost as I add greens from the kitchen. I will likely be gathering 3-4 pickup bed truckloads. I thought about buying 1x2" metal fencing and sticking rods in the ground in a big circle to hold them, but I am looking for suggestions.

Anyone do something similar? How do you store it?

Leaving the thermometer in the pile is easier and you can just take a quick look when you are in your yard but will the thermometer get damaged?

We know that some of the 'compostable plastics' are not compostable in domestic set ups - but only breakdown in large scale industrial/municipal facilities.

But what is it about these larger facilities that allows these plastics to break down that domestic piles lack? Is it just a matter of temperature?

Every fall I add lots of leaves to my pile and I’ve always wondered what sources of nitrogen other people use in the winter when all the mulched leaves are added. Any suggestions?

I wasn't happy with larger sieves, and they all seemed to be fairly pricey (and have relatively small capacities), so whilst wandering IKEA looking for something completely different I thought maybe these mesh baskets would work. They come in a range of sizes, and I got one about this size.

The holes in the expanded wire mesh are oblong so it's tough to size them, but I get very fine sieved compost out the other side, maybe 1/8" and smaller overall.

After a summer of use, the epoxy (?) coat on the metal isn't affected. It's an extremely dry climate here in Phoenix, so it's not rusting and that may be a problem for wetter areas, but it would likely take a bit of time before any rust got bad enough it would affect its use.

At under $8, it's an absolute steal as a fine sieve for compost. I don't even think I could make one from 2x4 lumber and a piece of expanded wire mesh for that much.

Anyway. Just thought someone in the subreddit somewhere might find this useful for their own efforts!

My friend has two horses and a donkey. Every few weeks I get a trailer full of all their waste and old bedding. Been doing this for two years now. and have accrued much compost. I have super rocky soil and every little bit helps. This spring I will plant my first big (by my perspective) veggie garden. Hoping for the best.

Moving poop around

Cover crop is under a few inches of snow now.

Just filled six huge bags with leaves. My compost pile is both full and needs work before I can start adding again. I was thinking of just stashing the bags on my covered front porch over the winter and using them for browns in the spring once I redo the pile. Any issues with this?

New to composting and vermi composting!

I have started my first plants in coco coir based soil mix and they suffered some insect infestations , i made the mistake of spraying the plants and soil with permithrin about 50 days ago, these plants have died now(unrelated) and i want to reuse the coco coir soil and integrate it into my compost and vermicompost. I compost most of my apartment's waste using bokashi and i recently started vermicompost bins. I use my old soil as browns for the bokashi soil factory.

I am planning to start feeding my worms partially composted bokashi from the soil factory and i'm worried that the permithrin i used might harm my worms or stay in my compost. According to google it breaks down in soil within 40 days but i'm not sure how accurate this is .

Does anyone have personal experience with this or has any idea about using pesticide sprayed soil and plants in compost and worm bins or how to ensure it is completely broken down?

To my understanding permithrin is a synthetic pyrethroid that mimics pyrethrin and is supposed to be minimally toxic to humans and animals.

Ps: we buy normal food from the grocery store not organic so it probably has traces of pesticides anyway!

Thanks!

Anyone have a recommendation for something I can store my kitchen scraps in until I’m ready to add it to the compost pile? I’ve used paper grocery bags for years and hate it. Too easy to start soaking through the bottom before the bag is filled. Ideally looking for something roughly the same size, that’s easy to rinse out.

So I am considering a composting bin like this.

I have just moved into a new house, we have a small garden that faces the street and walk path, our garden is not fenced and will never be due to not having pets, we have hedges in the borders offering a little privacy. But I want to compost our kitchen and garden waste. I am not to sure something like this would look out of place or is it even good to have a composting station so close to a foot path.

Looking for your thoughts on this please.

Read that it’s generally okay to put rice in ur compost but I wonder if it’s okay at the ratio in doing it. To keep bacteria and fungi from growing at the bottom of my kitchen compost bin(1gal) I’ve been adding a cup(sorry metric users) of inedible uncooked white rice after I dump the bin into the main heap. I couldn’t find any specifics suggesting certain ratios of rice are bad so if anyone has any experience here I’d love the input!

so ive had an old olive drum (red 200L drum) filled with grass clippings and filled with water for about 2 or 3 months, sealed. today i decided to empty it because i didnt actually have any use for my weird experiment and oh my god. the smell. it was bad. really bad. did i just create a bio hazard in my backyard?

I have recently scored two 3'x3'x3' compost bins and really want to do hot composting, since this volume is sufficient for that. Since hot composting requires that you start out with a minimum volume of 3x3x3 worth of materials, alternating green and brown ... I don't have enough green materials to start with. I keep some in my freezer but I can't keep enough, and if I store them in plastic bags until I get enough, I'll have stinking rotting anaerobic sludge by the time I have enough!

So I got the idea to get some green material all at once from a local business.

1. there's a vegetarian restaurant nearby but they use cheese, so newp.
2. there's a vegan restaurant nearby - is there any difference between cooked table scraps, and uncooked? If not, I could maybe ask them for their scraps
3. my local supermarket generates TONS of green matter waste every day in their produce department. For example, they discard any fruit or veg that doesn't look perfect for sale.

BUT, most of their produce is not organic.

I'm not running a farm and I don't need organic certification, but just for my own consumption - is there any difference between compost using the hot method that starts out with non-organic matter, as opposed to organic matter?

Cuz if not, I could probably quickly score enough at the supermarket if the manager would let me have it.

TIA for any advice. Hopefully based on SCIENCE not just OPINION!

Been smashing a lot of pumpkins lately and peeing on them. My Wife thinks I’m crazy, but I’m just getting started

I made a run to my municipal composting facility today and picked up about two hundred pounds of free "leaf mulch" that's already half composted. It's not always free. This much usually only costs a couple bucks for me though. I also stopped by my local Starbucks and picked up about 60lbs of free coffee grounds. Don't forget to check out your local green waste facilities for bulk materials.

Should I be defrosting my kitchen scraps? I keep a big bowl in my freezer & add my scraps & leftovers until it's full & then add them to my pile. I've been just adding them frozen. But since it's winter should I be defrosting them? My pile is finally warm but not hot, at least at the top last time I checked. Also should I turn it or just add stuff on top? I live in the Midwest so it gets cold & very windy. So it dries out pretty fast.

I’m looking for some advice on winter composting. I currently use a compost tumbler, adding food scraps almost daily during warmer months, and supplement with wood chips and other browns. Now that it’s really cold, I’m unsure how to continue. I’m considering two options: creating a compost pile at a property 10 minutes away or storing food waste to add to the tumbler on warmer days. Building a pile in my backyard isn’t an option due to neighbor proximity. What would you recommend?

Hi! I somehow grew cucurbitacin-laced bitter spaghetti squash this year, and my whole crop is ruined. In the hope of making lemonade from some really bitter lemons - so to speak - I want to add all of them to my compost, knowing I wouldn’t eat any volunteer plants that come up next year. Is it safe to compost bitter spaghetti squash, or can this contaminate or somehow poison the pile and infect my compost-treated plants?