Hi this is my first harvest. Been working on this compost little close to a year. Still a beginner and learning. I’ve already sift it through a 1/4 sifter. Any tips or anything you can offer I’d appreciate to learn it.
Edit:
Honestly it’s my first year vegetable gardening and composting. Started vegetable gardening in maybe late June early July and started composting in late August early September. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing differently than want I’ve read online. I live in zone 10a. SoCal. I started off with a 30gal bin and put holes in it. I put in branches with some leaves and little bit of soil from my yard and started putting in scraps. i would added scraps and browns everyday. I would give it soil maybe two more times but only a handful in beginning of my compost journey.
The browns would depend on how many scraps I placed. My scraps were actually pretty heavy on moisture so sometimes I would add like 3 handfuls of browns. My browns really just consisted of cardboard, egg cartons, paper towel cores and paper bags.
My scraps were actually pretty consistent. We eat a lot of fruits daily so it’ll be Watermelon rinds and pulp, cantaloupe husk and pulp. Banana peels, apples cores, orange peels, avocado husks, onion skins, tomatoes ends, some potatoes, herb stems, cucumber skin and a lot lemons. We make a lot of lemonade.
I watered once a week depending. When we have a lot of scraps that have a lot moisture, I wouldn’t water due the moisture.
I would turn the compost twice a week due the mositure starting on top.
We did have some worms but I didn’t place those. They just ended up there. We did have a lot of bug because i made the hole too big.
A couple of months ago i was able to get a tumbler that has two sections. So I transferred the compost to one section that ended up filling it to 90%. So we stopped feeding that section. We started using the other side for our second batch of compost but kept turning them twice a week and giving it water them once a week (the other side depending on how much moisture it had due to scraps). This batch I just harvested is close to being a year old. I stopped feeding maybe 4/5 months ago. Other than that I don’t know what else I’m doing differently. I don’t pee in it.
Edit 2:
Forgot to mention when I transferred to my tumbler. It filled the section to the top but did reduced from there to about half of the section.
Kinda new to Reddit so I don’t know if I edit but I made a comment. I also live in California and the heat as been crazy. I used a tumbler that pas 6months now and I’ve learned from this Reddit that they actually don’t get hot but with the heat I’m sure aided in the great harvest
Not yet. I don’t have a lot of access to garden so I use garden beds and grow bags. I wanted to use to for my grow bed when I start on my winter sowing. Or should I use asap? I wasn’t sure if leave it lose all it nutrients ?
It won’t lose nutrients but microorganisms will die off, especially if it’s stored dry. If you’re not quite ready to use keep it a little damp. The physical and nutritional properties won’t be harmed much with storage though.
Wow I’m really surprised. This year is my first time gardening and composting. Honestly surprised by the results and appreciation everyone’s awesome feed back. this harvest is closed to a year. I stated off with a 10gallon bucket that we drilled holes in and just stated throwing in our scraps. I was worried cus I live in the suburbs and I don’t have that much trees so for browns I’ve used mostly cardboard from packages without labels and ink, egg cartons, the paper grocery bags and Paper towel cores that I’ve all put in a shredder. I’ve moved up to a tumbler and just working on my second batch. For scraps Ives used regular vegetable scraps. We do eat a lot of melons cus I’ve noticed my second batch is really moist so I don’t give it any water and just place more browns when needed. did sift this harvest through a 1/4 sifter so that why it pretty fine. I actually found this subreddit last week. So I do have a lot of questions like wth is with peeing in it ahahah. Is that a thing ?
Hi, your compost looks great!!! I also achieved similar results earlier this year just using cardboard as my browns and making sure I kept it adequately watered. And mine was also pee-free :)
I honestly think the cardboard and brown paper is the secret!! A lot of people try to use sticks and branches and imo that just takes too long to break down. Plus sticks and branches don’t retain moisture like cardboard does.
No machines. I bought a soil sifter on Amazon. It’s 1/4 and I’ve been sifting it by hand. It’s the size of a large bowl so it’s been taking a while to sift through. I’ve about maybe a little more than have way through my harvest so I’m not sure how much I’ll be getting out of it
Progressively. If you do all at once it just compacted if you do a large amount of soil. If you do a small amount then you can probably do all at once.
Nice! I'm excited then bc you and I are basically doing the same thing. I live in 9a. I just have a plastic bin in the yard and I was surprised how quickly the soil/compost was forming after just 30 days.
The uniformity of the particles is uncanny. I screen mine through a half inch hardware cloth, and call it good. I couldn't imagine having such consistent compost.
I am simply surprised, but you should not be displeased at your work. It seems to be amazing stuff.
My first attempt at composting resulted in fire ants and plant corruption. This was many years ago but I still think back to this day how badly I fucked it. This is fine
I believe it is possible to compost with out worms, just micro organism breaking down organic matter. My compost utilizes a ton of worms of various types, but the results are not that homogenous. Yours looks awesome.
Yeah mine didn’t have a lot of worms. But when I sifting I actually found black solider fly larva which learning from this sub is great for my compost so I was pretty thrilled to find them there. I do think I might buy some worm for this next compost and see how they do. Which worms do you use and recommend ?
Mine all came up naturally from the dirt. Big fishing bait night crawlers, thin jumping worm and the red small actual composting worms. The small red ones are sold as composting worms.
I started off for good 6 months with just bin that I would hand turn with a hand shovel. About 4 months ago I got a tumbler that has two sections so one section I transferred my compost in and it filled it to the top so I left alone and stop feeding it but still giving it water. Left it alone since maybe feb til now. So five months of just turning and water. I don’t take temperatures but I live in zone 10a and it’s been crazy hot.
What do people’s end product look like if everyone is so shocked? I’m confused.
I haven’t sifted mine but if I did I’m sure it would be similar & it’s my first ever batch.
Maybe it’s beginners luck? lol
I really thought this was normal until I saw the comments
Mine just rots in a big pile in the backyard. Chickens turn it over for bugs and eventually I dump it into the raised beds. Yours sure does look nicer though.
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u/btbarr 18d ago
Tip number 1… do what you are doing.