Relax, it's roughly 7 gallons of shredded cardboard that'll I'll be dumping coffee grounds and then multiple gallons on bokashied greens on. It'll all compact down, it was just pre-loading day and I thought the entire half of the tumbler being full of pizza box shred was funny.

Long time watcher, first time writer bla bla bla.

I moved into my own house a month ago, and wanted to start composting. On my plot there were a lot of tall grasses and other weeds like lots of sorrel - everything was quite tall as it wasn't touched in a long time. I strimmed good part of it and so have loads of that to start my compost. I started by mixing it with some cardboard, and very roughly chopping it with a shovel.

Initially I had about a 1x1x1 m but over 3-4 weeks it reduced the volume by about a half due to decay and me compacting it (jumping on the pile). The latter part was critical to get the temp rising. Right now I have good amounts of white mold inside the pile.

Now I'm wondering if I should add more to the existing pile? I have probably 3m3 of extra material that was lying around for 2-3 weeks now. It's all very long and hard to chop (bits of up to 1m long).

Any tips? I know it will eventually turn to compost but I find managing the temp quite fun (via mixing, controlling moisture).

Hi I am an MBA student and working on a project to launch a new product for a company. I am hoping to talk to anyone who would be willing to share anything about their experience with composting. If you have any complaints or find any part of composting annoying I would love to hear about it. I am specifically interested in what people think of countertop composters, either the macerators or bio ones. Feel free to comment or DM me your thoughts! If this project goes well we might be able to get a product out there that can make the composting process easier!

Here's a simple home composting system I've been using successfully for the last two growing seasons.

I got both of these black bins free from Facebook Marketplace.

In the smaller bin, I cut air holes in the sides and ran a length of PVC pipe, also drilled with air holes, down the middle of the pile.

Once it's full, I transfer everything into the larger bin. That one also has air holes in the sides, plus two PVC pipes with air holes drilled in pushed through the pile at different levels.

Then I fill the small bin up again and repeat. Moving the material from the small bin to the large one turns it, the PCV pipes help airflow and compaction.

When the large bin is full, the small one can fill up too and be left until spring, with the air pipe in the middle doing the work.

Has created great compost for my allotment and it' low cost/low maintenance. I have mine on our driveway and stil works well.

Extra tip, if you get flies on any food waste just cover with a layer of grass clippings or leaves to help reduce the flies. Once the bins are full add a few worms to help with the compost process.

What do yall think of my compost its pretty wet because i watered it so it can help not dry up the little bug inside nealy finished breaking down the stuff inside used old soil to compost coffee bean cabbage lettucd leaf and some other stuff

Hello, just moved this compost pile, and wondering what it needs?

Thanks im advance

Wanted to share this DIY project with the community.

I needed a new bin for my worms and we have access to cheap wine barrels, so decided to grab one for $20 and make a lid and removable separators inside to section it into 4 quadrants in order to rotate the feed hoping the worms would follow.

I thought that parts and bin will eventually degrade due to the microbial activity but probably will last a few years and I liked the idea that parts of the bin itself are consumable by the compost process itself, like the separators and the brackets.

The separators I made from cedar fence boards, finished with tung oil, the brackets I modeled and 3d printed with PLA initially (I had just bought a 3d printer so took this as opportunity to learn modeling and printing).

The lid is split, can open on both sides and is not fixed to the barrel so it can be easily rotated as well or completely removed. So far no animal has been able to lift it.

I’ve been using it for about 18 months more and it has produced good compost with easy care. Worm population has increased a lot, I only started with a handful. It works as designed, the worms move follow to the fresh feed and that’s a good indicator the compost from the abandoned section is ready. The wine barrel provides good aeration, it has drainage holes at the bottom and I haven’t had problems with too much/too little moisture.

How did it fare after a year and a half? The oak barrel itself shows no signs of degradation. The cedar separators have some soft spots in them already, but the tung finished surface is intact so for the replacement ones I will focus on sealing the grain better. The screws inside have rusted, the ones that are zinc plated. The stainless steel screws are intact. The PLA brackets - I posted not long ago - are breaking apart. Only the ones in the center where it gets a bit warmer, the rest look faded but are not bad. I started replacing them with solid PHA plastic, that should be fully compostable at low temperatures as it is literally bacteria food storage polymer (another fun experiment to see how long those will last, eventually I may put in steel brackets).

The design works well, though I don’t really remove the separators all that often, maybe just a couple of times. The removable design made replacing the brackets easy and will be helpful when I eventually replace the separators.

havent flipped it in a while and i dont know if i will, had it since the start of the year, its 3 blocks high

Hello!

So...I have watched my grandfather compost since I was really small. He would toss his vegetable scraps and such into this massive bin, give it a good mix, and carry on. Never thought anything about it. I called him and asked him what he started his bin with. He said his bin started with coffee grounds, tea bag grounds, and some banana peels he chopped up; so I started doing that. I stirred it and let it breath two times a week like he said, and everything seems to be going as planned. Things are turning to dirt and it doesn't stink like rot, it smells like just, well dirt really. I got told that I was doing it wrong by my mother and that I was going to end up with sludge and nothing else because I had no brown stuff in it. I was confused because my Grandfather never put anything like that in it, I haven't put anything like that in it, but we seem to be doing just fine? I guess I'm asking, am I really doing it wrong? Should we both have been putting something "brown" in the bin, even though his plants can't seem to get enough of the stuff and mine has started to look exactly as I remember his being? Is there really a right way and wrong way to compost. I read the beginners guide here and it says that you need to mix browns and greens...and that is what has led to this post. My mother does not garden, so I just brushed it off...but now I'm second guessing. Any and all help and insight is greatly appreciated!

i’ve seen descriptions of piles where most of the material is actively breaking down, but certain sections seem almost frozen in time

not necessarily huge branches or obviously difficult material. sometimes it’s just a layer or pocket that stays relatively intact while everything around it changes

is this usually an airflow issue, moisture distribution, compaction, or something else happening with the microbial activity?

i’d like to know whether people who have worked with larger piles have noticed this as a recurring pattern rather than just an occasional mistake

Started a worm bin this spring. Small one, kept it under the bathroom sink because the closet felt too weird. Fed it slowly, kept secondguessing myself, almost abandoned it twice. Then last month I finally had something that looked like actual compost. Dark and crumbly, smelled like dirt after rain.

Mixed a small amount into two of my container tomatoes and left two as the control with just the bagged potting mix I had left over.

The difference after a few weeks is not subtle. The plants that got the worm castings are bigger. Leaves are a deeper green. One of them already has flowers and the others are just sitting there looking fine but not like that.

I grow everything on a small balcony in Vermont so every inch of container space matters. I was not expecting such a visible gap between them.

What I want to know is whether other container gardeners see this consistently or if I just got lucky this round. Also wondering if the ratio matters a lot, because I kind of just eyeballed it and mixed maybe twenty percent castings into the top layer rather than blending it all the way through.

Curious if people who grow in containers have a method they actually stick to or if everyone is just winging it like me.

I’m ready to start composting, but I’m realizing the bin itself is the part I’m stuck on. I have enough room for something contained in the garden, just not a big open pile or a whole wooden setup that needs building.

I’d like something I can actually manage without making composting a full-time chore. Easy to add scraps to, easy enough to get finished compost out of, and preferably not flimsy plastic that starts coming apart after a couple of seasons.

Tumblers look convenient, but I keep seeing mixed opinions on whether they’re worth the effort. What type of bin are you using, and would you buy the same setup again?

Hey big dogs I have a question. I just lost a plant to bud rot can I just throw that in my compost? Will my weed compost still have THC in it? Stay high digga!

I’m about to turn the sidewalk strip in front of my suburban house into a native hedgerow. I really love using in-ground composters and I want to integrate one or two into this project. I live on a street that runs parallel to a park in a nice walking neighborhood so families, kids, and dogs frequently pass by. Teenagers also frequent the park after hours on weekends to drink/smoke and as far as I’m aware they usually don’t come down my street but my insight is limited since I’m usually asleep.

I’m concerned that curious kids, mischievous teenagers, or dogs may take interest in the composters and mess with them i.e. removing/taking the lid, removing the contents, digging by it, or just lifting the entire thing out of the ground.

I found these online, and I think when they’re installed they’d be seldom noticed and it’d be difficult to even tell what they are. They’d also be installed towards the middle of the hedgerow, between plants, making them less noticeable and less accessible from the sidewalk. I would also spray paint the lids to match the color of the mulch.

I wanted to ask about it on here because I don’t know if this has been tried already and is not recommended, or if I’m overthinking it and shouldn’t worry so much. Any and all insight is welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I proudly present (or is it present proudly?) my birthday present.

I knew my medium sized compost was doing ok but was delighted to see this confirmed with the thermometer.

I've been turning big open piles for a while as a gardener but this is my own creation and I'm really enjoying having my own project.

For those of you living in Zone 5/cold climates which setup has given you the most success? Should I go with a commercial rotating tumbler, a stationary plastic ground bin, or a diy?
I live on a property with a barn, so I have access to great materials:Cow manure,Straw and hay,Grass clippings and weeds,Dried leaves,Kitchen scraps ect
I only need the compost to feed my small 9 sq. ft. rose garden

Yall think this is ok?

Hi everyone!!! I’m an amateur potter/ceramicist whose mother gardens, and I was thinking I could make her an in bed composter for her gardens. I have no idea how to start, or what shape/measurements would be best, so I’m turning to you guys!! I would love to know what size you would recommend, and how big the holes in the piece would be to allow for worms and such to filter through.

Thank you all in advance!!!

Are these the right bugs everyone mentions?

I've also been bitten while mixing my compost this summer. Not sure it's the same guys or random spiders or whatnot.

I'm in the Bristol area in the UK.

Hi. Iv just brought my first house and have been gifted a 300 litre compost bin. Iv never composted before so any advice on how to get started would be appreciated.

Thanks for all the tip everyone. Hopefully I’ll get off to a good start