How long until compost is ready to use?
A compost that is made of grass clippings and kitchen scraps. Also, aside from meat and dairy products, what are some unacceptable things in a compost?
I live in Phoenix if the locale makes a difference.
How long it takes to finish a compost depends on your ingredients (the ratio of greens-nitrogen and browns-carbon and coarse plant materials take longer to break down), moisture, temperature and the amount of care it gets. Compost can finish in a couple of months or can take up to a year. Most people use two piles, adding to one for a time, then starting another one to prevent the continual addition of new materials to the first. Meat, fish, dairy (crushed eggshells being the exception if you consider them dairy products), pet litter or feces, and in-organics are about the only things that shouldn’t go into a compost. There is not a thing wrong with a few citrus peels, in fact a bit of acid can aid the decomposition process, is good for alkaline soils, and will not hurt the earthworms.
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Meat and dairy scraps are a bad idea because they attract vermin. However, if you cover them with a good layer of fresh grass clippings, the smell of the decomposing grass clippings overpowers the odour of the decomposing meat. I have put a few birds in my compost pile and covered them with plenty of fresh clippings. My declawed cat was a hunter!
Obviously, you only want things that decompose. Don`t bother with the cedar trimmings. They take years to break down. Almost anything else organic – and not plastic will serve. Wrap your potato peelings in newspaper, next year there`s no sign of them.
How long it takes depends on how much you baby your pile. Turn it regularly, make sure it`s moist and it`s ready in a month or two. I operated year to year without much attention. I did try to add a little soil on the top from time to time, often pieces of sod I`d weeded.
The stuff at the top of the pile usually didn`t really rot. When you turn it into your garden, it doesn`t matter. It becomes one with the soil. It takes years to build up really good soil, adding compost yearly. The result is magnificent!
Other little things you can do: If you have a quantity of organic material you want to get rid of or will smell really bad, dig a hole, at least a foot deep, dump it and cover it with at least a foot of soil. My brother-in-law showed up with a feed of lobster one spring. After we`d eaten, I dug a hole and dumped in the garbage. I filled in the hole and planted a tomato over it. Good tomatoes from that plant! Same thing in the fall with leaves. Bury them at least six inches deep. Plant right over them next year.
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I also do not add citrus peels to my compost, this prevents and kills the earth worms living there and they are very good to have in your compost.
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To decompose the compost bin/heap needs to be in the sun to get the heat to help with the decomposition. You can add almost everything e.g. eggshells, teabags, toiletroll holders, shredded newspaper, lawnclippings, vege peelings, leaves and garden clippings, but just a little hint, only put in there what you want to grow in your garden, by that I mean if you don’t want weeds to grow then don’t put the weeds that you are removing now from your garden in there.
I throw almost everything in there but not weeds,dairy or meat. I have also added some garden worms from different parts of my garden. How long before it is ready really depends on what you put in there and how big it is when you put it there. So if you trim plants in your garden then cut them into smaller pieces so they don’t take so long to decompose. Good luck I hope you get great compost.
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I am a keen gardener.
How long it takes to finish a compost depends on your ingredients (the ratio of greens-nitrogen and browns-carbon and coarse plant materials take longer to break down), moisture, temperature and the amount of care it gets. Compost can finish in a couple of months or can take up to a year. Most people use two piles, adding to one for a time, then starting another one to prevent the continual addition of new materials to the first. Meat, fish, dairy (crushed eggshells being the exception if you consider them dairy products), pet litter or feces, and in-organics are about the only things that shouldn’t go into a compost. There is not a thing wrong with a few citrus peels, in fact a bit of acid can aid the decomposition process, is good for alkaline soils, and will not hurt the earthworms.
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