I have a few questions about composting. Input?

[Blue-Jay]

I'm handy with a hammer; Can I just build a large wooden box with a hinged lid?

What do you put in it? Rotten fruits? Veggies? Lawn clippings? Dog poop? Leaves?

How often do you need to stir up the compost?

Does is smell bad? Does it attract flies?

[Maddy McCall]

1. Here's my experience

I had this big iron wheel thing, about 4' diameter, 2' high. I started the pile (didn't cover it) with leaves. Added kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, more leaves.

Turned it with my pitchfork once a week or so.

It did stink. It did attract flies. I gave up.

(I was probably not doing it right.)

Now I'm using the big iron round thing for a fire pit and getting much more use of it.

[Blue-Jay]

2. Iron wheel?

Was that for turning the nasty smelly stuff?

I figure that I can mix it up with a garden rake.

[Maddy McCall]

3. No...it's a big iron cylinder...

Not really a wheel at all. I laid the cylinder down on its side so that it made a circular horizontal pit. Four feet across, two feet tall.

I couldn't keep my dogs out of the pile, so I moved the cylinder close to my porch, and that's where we all sit around when I have friends over...we burn a fire in it. (Us rednecks love fire and water. LOL)

[Call Me Wesley]

4. Forget dog poop. That's too much and stinky.

About composting, I've learned from Japanese gardeners. Every system we can buy here mostly is inefficient; it'll rather rot than compost. So, the best thing you can do is dig a hole in the ground - depending on the amount of what you want to compost, make it as big as you need it.

Leave the ground level uncovered and in direct contact with the earth. Don't dig too deep; 1 meter (I'm too lazy now to do the conversion) is the deepest. Enforce the walls with wood - just put a wooden box (without the base) in it. Lid will be nice, just make sure air flow is allowed.

Fill with kitchen trash (no meat, no bones, rarely egg shells) and make layers - start with a layer out of leaves and small sticks, then a layer of kitchen trash, leaves again, veggies, lawn clippings. Don't pack, it needs to have air all around.

Leave it. After a month you can stir it a bit, but don't overdo it, since the animals you need for composting have their place and work from bottom up.

It won't stink when done right.

[Blue-Jay]

10. No dog poop?

What am I going to do with all the extra dog poop? Can I mail it to you?

[sarge43]

20. Send it to George Bush

Don't put any animal remains in a compost ben. It'll attract critters; it takes forever to break down.

/on edit/If finances allow, a shedder is handy. The smaller the pieces, the faster they break down.

[hunter]

5. here's a link...

http://www.compostguide.com

No dog poop.

I've always been very informal about compost. If you have room, you don't even need a box, it can be just a big pile. If you have hardly any room, say you grow stuff in boxes in a very small yard, then a tumbler sort of thing works well.

I really don't fuss all that much, which means I have to have some patience waiting for the finished compost. Fruit flys especially can be a pain if you don't bury melon rinds etc.

In places like Mexico City, where people in dense parts of the city can't even find dirt, they make their own dirt out of kitchen scraps, etc., and plant gardens out of all sorts of containers.

Just do it and eventually you'll get a good feel for what's going on in there, and what you should and shouldn't feed it.

[Blue-Jay]

11. Bookmarked. Thanks!

[Callalily]

6. You should

post this in the gardening group.

You don't need anything fancy for composting. If you want something real simply, just put the material you're composting in a pile, turn at least once a week. Don't forget to water. A simply bin made of chicken wire is sufficient too.

Any organic matter can be composted, but please don't use dog poop.

Here's a good reference book. http://www.amazon.com/Let-Rot-Composting-Down-Earth/dp/1580170234

[Blue-Jay]

12. I didn't know that there WAS a gardening group.

I HATE gardening. The compost heap is my wife's idea. I'm only interested because it means that I can build something. Plus, I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of flies when I'm trimming the lawn.

[Poiuyt]

7. The key is to have critical mass

You need to have enough organic material so that it gets hot enough to compost. It only smells if it doesn't get warm enough in the core of the pile. Keep it evenly moist, but not wet. Turn it with a pitch fork once in a while if you want to speed things up. It will still decompose if you don't, it just takes longer. You also want to have a combination of "green material" (like grass clippings) and "brown material" (like fallen leaves). Put earthworms in if you find them (I've heard of special worms you can buy that are especially good for this).

I built a cage with 2X4s and chicken wire. You want air circulation. Worked fine.

[zanne]

8. I have an accidental compost heap.

Years ago, I need a place to put weeds I had pulled up, dead plants, etc. so I started a small pile in an inconspicuous corner of the yard. As I started making new gardens, I had some soil to get rid of so I put it in the same heap. Long story short, I have a huge pile of compost. Doesn't smell, doesn't attract flies. All you need is plant material, soil and rain.

[texas1928]

9. My mother does a lot of composting.

she gets great results. They threw a watermelon rind with seeds out one year, and the next season, they had 60 pound watermelons growing out of their compost.

she gets a lot of ideas from here.
http://www.gardenweb.com/

[Blue-Jay]

13. Good link. Thanks!

[zanne]

14. That's an excellent website.

It's like talking to thousands of gardeners. If you ask a question, no matter what, somebody will have the answer for you.

[Arkansas Granny]

15. My method of composting is pretty relaxed.

I don't use a container for composting, I just make a pile of leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps (raw), weeds, egg shells etc. and keep adding to it until I need some compost. At that time I rake the top layer (which is pretty much uncomposted) off to one side to start a new pile. This turns your compost while allowing you to get to the good stuff at the bottom. I kind of sift the bottom layer using a wooden frame with 1/2" hardware cloth nailed to the bottom and anything that doesn't pass through gets thrown back on the pile.

You can get some really good tips here:

http://www.compostguide.com/index.html

[femmedem]

16. What Poiuyt said about critical mass is true.

You need a mass of 3 cubic feet or more in order for the compost to really heat up in the middle. You'll get compost faster and the heat will help kill weed seeds.

[XemaSab]

17. Build a box with a lid

Put everything in it except meat and dog shit.

If you have a LOT of brown leaves every fall, stack them next to the bins and cut them in gradually, otherwise the carbon will overwhelm the system and/or the thing will get too dry.

Better yet, build two boxes.... that way one can "ripen" while the other one is active.

It's really basic and you'd have to be a total doofus to mess it up.

[Omphaloskepsis]

18. You could try to build something like this.

http://www.composters.com/docs/bins_p1.html#bo

You just roll it around every couple of days. I remember seeing something similar suggested on Ask This Old House. It would be a fun project.

[trof]

19. Wire fencing for compost bin.

I had a leftover piece of 4' wire fencing.
It's the plastic coated stuff with openings about 2" X 4".

I cut it in half lengthwise down the middle so I had two 2' high strips. Joined the ends with some wire so I had two circles about 10' across.

They work great. I turn the compost occasionally with a hay fork.
The 'bins' are light enough to move from place to place when empty.

I put in all grass clippings, organic kitchen waste, etc. I read somewhere that you shouldn't use dog poop, but don't remember why not.
The heap just has kind of an earthy smell. Not unpleasant at all.

Oh yeah...if 'past it' tomatoes are part of the pile you may get some volunteer tomato plants as a bonus.

[frogcycle]

22. dog poop is a nono

there are some diseases that can cross over

if the composting is complete, though, there's no worries on that - even human poop is ok ("Milorganite" has been sold for decades - from the Milwaukee sewage plant)
about the only risky thing that can survive full-cycle composting is heavy metals

[Orsino]

21. Oh, I think Gonzales will be allowed to retire quietly...

...and he's smart enough not to open his trap.

[philosophie_en_rose]

23. I fenced in a small plot of land, and drop in anything plant-based.

Dog droppings will ruin your compost, so I wouldn't go there.

I'd also watch the compost bin, because dogs (at least my three hyper terriers) adore rolling in the compost bin to remove the stink of clean.