My questions are:
– Will this even compost?
– What can i change/add to speed it up/ make it possible?
I am a complete beginner (besides my little worm compost that i keep indoors that works fine) with composting.
Moved house and am setting up a vegetable/permaculture/flower garden atm. So i am removing a lot of plant matter, Roots, Weeds, Gras.
I tried to build this compost by layering:
Sticks on the bottom
then alternated between:
the stuff i took out of the garden
cardboard as much as i had
some finished compost
some food scraps
coffe grounds
nettles
i also showered it with my piss… nope just kidding i am not there yet haha showered it with a yeast sugar mixture and worm compost tea
its covered with a semipermiable black fabric but after the heavy rain yesterday it looks like none of the water made it through. dont know if this is good or bad.
this is what i think i can improve:
– more brown stuff, cardboard
– smaller layers so there is more airflow
– make it broader not build higher
thanks for all your feedback, i am really enjoying this sub and cant wait to learn more about composting! 💚
by Exact_Implement2598
3 Comments
Pee and rotate weekly. You can see a lot of set ups in past post. If you add some aeration tubes it will help. Looks kinda close to a building for my taste.
Don’t see why not !
Your ingredients are great. Keep adding your scraps and browns.
Shredded cardboard is magic. It captures the moisture the pile needs, acts as a layer to keep air flow, insulates the pile, provides the carbon the process needs. If you can run plain brown boxes through a paper shredder you’ll see your process pick up.
Leave it uncovered, let the environment do its thing unless you’re getting zero rain and want to trap the moisture after you water it.
The sugar yeast is fine, but entirely unnecessary.
Pile it up into one heap instead of the windrow. Mass is key to the process, it self insulates, holds its own moisture, creates its own layers. And move it further from the building, things live in compost piles and like to live in houses nearby.
Lastly, don’t overthink or over engineer piles. Keep them contained, turn them, add water if necessary, throw in organics and carbon materials, leave it alone. Time and nature do their job.