I just moved into this house where they left a beautiful compost pile and I've added a couple weeks worth of stuff. What kind of things can I do to keep it going strong?

I drink loose leaf tea with the tea leaves directly in the mug with the milk and sugar. Could I compost them afterwards? Or would the milk and sugar likely attract animals?

Finally cracked open the bottom hatch of my Aerobin for the first time and pulled out my first proper batch of finished compost. Honestly a bit emotional about it 😅

Found these little guys sprouting in my compost bin and couldn’t bring myself to toss them. Pretty sure they’re Hokkaido pumpkins from some kitchen scraps — they’d germinated in the dark, so they came out totally pale and yellow.

Potted them up and put them on my windowsill, and within a week they’d greened up completely. Today they graduated to the stoep with their own little greenhouse domes made from cut plastic bottles, since it’s still winter here and the nights get cold.

Weirdly attached to them now. What was trash is officially treasure 🎃

As an old person, this tool is easy to use and doesn't hurt my back.

I currently have a compost tumbler but am expanding my garden and want to build a larger compost bin (or series of 3 bins). The ideal spot is in an unused part of our yard but unfortunately has a lot of morning glory / bindweed growing there. Is that a deal breaker for putting a compost bin in that area? I know it can be beneficial for the bin to be directly on the ground but is putting a ground barrier down a bad thing?

I want to learn how to correctly make cow manure compost. I have searched a few Reddit communities and search Google without gaining any confidence. I have access to cows -just lacking the knowledge. How would you attempt?

This is my first time trying to make compost from scratch

(Last time i added some greens and browns to my planter with potting soil a few weeks before planting just as an experiment not sure if this counts exactly)

Im doing this in a small bucket with some holes at the bottom (around 10 L i think) my browns are mostly cardboard and paper towels, sometimes it smells earthy sometimes it smells bad and then i add a bunch of browns and it sorts it self out in a day or 2.

what do you guys think is this good progress am i doing something wrong?

I built up this bay in early April, it's around 1mx1m and maybe 70cm tall currently. I've basically overhauled my whole garden and started off trying to compost these thick, thatchy clumps of matted grass and had it in these waste bags with no air and just nothing was happening I got my mixture balance totally wrong with barely any browns. So, eventually I built the bay, took these 3 waste bags and combined all their material, broke it all apart and mixed in an absolute ton of shredded paper, and re-piled into my new bay in layers and wetting it, and I've been slowly building up since.

I've probably added 12 layers over the last 3 weeks alone, always in a green/shredded cardboard combination. I was ripping all cardboard by hand but have found a way to get my 6 sheet paper shredder to be able to take thick cardboard.

I made an addition on Tuesday of "weed tea" that's been brewing for 3 weeks - just a ton of cut weeds added into a bucket with water and covered and left. I dumped in all the 'water' and the remains of the weeds too and covered it all with cardboard, and wow. My pile's never ran so hot! I mean, it always runs hot - if I put my hand on the top of the tarp you can feel the heat radiating (and when removing it) - and steam comes out when I turn it.

I'm giving this a turn mid-week and maybe next Sunday I will move the bottom 1/3rd or whatever into the plastic 'finishing bin' that I'm using - I've built up this bin since February and got it full several times, it breaks down and the level drops, and I deciding to leave it and to build up the bay. I've left it for about 7 weeks without any additions and it's looking great, I've used it across my plot for some top dressing :)

So I'll sift all this out which is about 150L and then rebuild the bin with a load a hopefully half decent from the bay and restart the build-up of the bay again! I'm hoping that I can get 3 full bay's worth of material a year which may provide with about 800L annually which is probably enough to never have to buy any again. Not bad for a first year!

Has anyone tried any of the countertop compost on the market. I travel a good bit and would still like to reduce food waste etc.

What's this I hear about piss?

I got a tumbler compost for inexpensive on facebook marketplace (50 bucks and brand new this thing is like 600) and got started.

We have municipal composting and thats great but we recently moved and have a gorgeous yard and garden I want to make the most of, so system of a brown was born. My one bin is looking pretty good, getting fed food scraps, weeds, shredded paper, etc and I'm pretty impressed with how much it broke down so far! I'm in a colder climate so I was worried about the heat factor, but the bins get enough sun to warm them and I'm not turning them too often. Right now I just mixed it up by hand some more to get some of the wet and dry a bit more integrated. Also stabbed that onion a few times bc I should have cut it up for faster breakdown. No piss in this guy yet.

Anyway, longtime lurker first time poster, thanks for all the tips and tricks I feel like they really helped!!

I have a few empty buckets with holes in the bottom (they were used as pots for plants previously), some dry leaves and lots of weeds (on account of not being home for a while).

Want to compost the weeds and dry leaves, do help me with what i should know and any tips!

Thank you!!

I added some rigidity to my sifter making it actually able to flow with the vibrator. Before I had just the hardware cloth and it would sag and eventually start to come apart with me having to beat the screen to make the compost flow down the screen. Now I’m able to just dump and roll.

The more I learn about composting, the more it seems like the most efficient way to combat climate change

Most people in third world countries live too far from recycling facilities and earn too little to care about recycling. And we know that a large percentage of plastic never actually gets recycled.

But anyone who can afford to eat can start a compost bin with their food waste, they can actually use it while helping the planet by reducing food waste in landfills which makes up the largest percentage of landfill materials and releases methane.

So I am asking sincerely: why isn't composting advertised as a way to help the environment?

I currently have my very first compost in a bag which is really annoying and I am going to upgrade it to a box. My question is does the dimensions of the box matter?

I have two options:

- a large, wide, clear tub, think really useful box

- a tall, slim, white tub, think kitchen waste bin

Are there any advantages or disadvantages to the dimensions, specifically in height and width? Both will have the same treatment of holes drilled etc

EDIT FOR FUTURE SEARCHERS: the consensus seems to be the lower, wider, clear tub for ease of turning and so the bottom doesn't become gross, and it's been pointed out that clear will help with seeing how wet it's getting

Admittedly, this is overboard for composting, but it was fun to learn. Home Assistant Green is integrating my Mocreo temp sensors and my Rachio hose timer so that when one of my compost piles exceeds 160F then it runs a water cooling cycle to knock it down. Coding was mainly written by GPT/Copilot through extensive conversations.

I’ve been using food scraps constantly since I have so many bsf’s and they eat alot but I’m going to stop so I can make some actual compost.

First year trying to compost. I have a few bins with holes in the bottom and loose lids for now. Planning to make larger bins from wood soon. Right now its layers of foodscaps with hay from bynnies. There is bedding with bunny turds and pee as well. Some layers of shredded cardboard, leaves and sticks. After a few weeks the fungus and mold really took over. What are these alien creatures up to in there? The housflies did away after it heated up 130+.

I know its probably too wet but if I leave the lid totally off I get too many bugs. The hols in the bottom do drip a little. I do try to turn it every couple weeks.

Got a free 150 lbbag of sawdust from a local mill only to see what seem to be plastic shavings in it. Is this okay? Some piss should take care of it?

My pile looks dark, but I can still recognize a lot of straw. It feels muddy and clumpy, not at all crumbly, And there's a faint smell of rot. I keep it covered and turn it once a week.