How can I fix my compost pile?

[pastrygirl]

We started a compost pile last summer. We have a lot of acreage with woods, so my husband picked a clear spot that was already full of years' worth of leaves. Then we just started dumping raw vegetable matter, tea leaves, and coffee grinds onto it. It just a big pile and stuff rolls off now. We never turn it or add anything other than what came from the kitchen.

What can we do now to make it useful compost? My husband thinks we can just keep a pile without having to buy or build any kind of barrier. I've been googling but haven't found anything where someone started "wrong" and fixed it.

Help!

[brittone2]

I think it is just slower that way. I'm not composting now, but IIRC you basically want to layer things like dead leaves with things like (untreated/unsprayed) grass clippings. I think that gets you the right balance of nitrogen and carbon. It will break down faster if you can roll or otherwise turn it. If you don't have grass clippings or leaves (I'm sure you have leaves with living in the woods!), then I'd ask if any neighbors want to donate to your pile maybe? That might get the pile going a little better.

Does this help?
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/other/compost_mulch/hgic1600.html

You could ask your local cooperative extension office. Those people are a great and usually free resource :)

I would probably split it up and "turn" it using a pitchfork if you can, and then figure out what type of approach you want to take with it longer term.

[trales]

We did the same thing. You have to turn and turn and turn. You probably have more leaves than you need and will need to keep adding food waste, and yard waste to it. Once you get grass clippings in it things will kick up. Leaves can be a bit acidic, so you might want to add some more basic materials. I have found that if I have too many woody products and leaves like oak leaves, adding rabbit food once it gets warm and turning the hell out of it will kick up the nitrogen level and get things decomposing.

Buy some worms at a bait shop and toss them in the pile and turn some more. Get a pitchfork.

[brittone2]

Trales mentioned worms. Have you ever considered vermicomposting? If you want to stick with kitchen scraps maybe that would be a good option? I've never done it but I've thought about it as a project to do with my kids.

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/vermicomposting-and-vermiculture-worms-bins-and-how-to-get-started.html

Seems a little squicky, I know, but I've known 2 people who have used this method successfully.

[trales]

I did the indoor vermicomposting thing for one winter. It was a royal and bloody disaster.

They attracted fruit flies, stank. I read every book, spent a fortune on worms and special bins. We finally put it outside.

[brittone2]

I did the indoor vermicomposting thing for one winter. It was a royal and bloody disaster.

They attracted fruit flies, stank. I read every book, spent a fortune on worms and special bins. We finally put it outside.
Oh that doesn't sound good at all!! That fear is what has kept me from starting a worm bin. But then I have known two families that were successful with it; one used to take the bin in to her children's school for show and tell and science discussions. They had happy worms and swore there was no stink or any other issues. I would likely end up with the same scenario you describe!

[pastrygirl]

We have a ton of leaves, and in the fall my husband adds more. He'll add our grass clippings once he starts mowing (around 3/4 acre weekly, so lots of clippings!). I'll get a pitchfork and turn it, maybe flatten it out so I can get a better feel for the size.

We have a pile that looks like beautiful compost that is just leaves and clippings from over the years. Is that good to use in a new vegetable garden? Or better in a flower garden?


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[wendibird22]

Do you have access to a rototiller? DH dumps leaves, grass clippings, and all of our food scraps on our garden at the end of the growing season and throughout the fall, winter, and spring. He tills it a few times a year which really turns things over. We pay no attention to ratios of food to yard waste and never have a problem with things breaking down.

[trales]

Everyone swears by the vermicomposting. It is supposed to be fool proof.

Every bill and piece of mail we received got shredded and added. I spent hours on the phone with our local worm composting guru.

It did everything it was no supposed to do. Things like that seem to happen to me.

[ahisma]

We do indoor vermicomposting and love it. We're only 4 months in, but it's going very well. We literally keep in in the living room and have zero stink or bug problems. It's pretty cool to show people the worms in the living room - they never know until we show them.

We do microwave any banana peels first to kill any gnat eggs, maybe that's the trick? Maybe we just have the right conditions, it's an old wood house and tends to be dry. Either way, we have had great results and I'm really excited to use the vermicompost this week when I pot up our seedlings.

I didn't know that you could put worms in compost piles. Doesn't the heat cook them? I have recently read people raving about putting (human!) urine on compost piles. http://www.nwedible.com/2013/03/how-to-use-pee-in-your-garden.html

[wendibird22]

Everyone swears by the vermicomposting. It is supposed to be fool proof.

Every bill and piece of mail we received got shredded and added. I spent hours on the phone with our local worm composting guru.

It did everything it was no supposed to do. Things like that seem to happen to me.

My town has one of the most successful commercial vermicomposting businesses in the US. I got to tour it a few years ago. They said that the type of worm is crucial to success and that not all worms, even those advertised for vermicomposting, are equal. Maybe you had a batch of dud worms?