How to make Compost?
Question:I am starting to grow some fruits and vegetables, and started to through some waste in a bucket (no drainage in the bucket). Things like eggshells, avocado skin, rotten fruits and vegetables, etc. I have left it for about a week. Do I need to do something different? Do I need drainage, or should I leave the compost in the ground apose to a bucket, how long does it take? should I mix it with the dirt?, do i need to water it? when do i know when the compost is ready (color, texture)? Thanks, sorry about the extensive questions? (I'm a first time gardener)
Answers:
It will need a little bit of water and will need aerated or turned. For most compost piles about half the pile is filled with leaves (you need about an equal mixture of green and brown in your pile for it to get started and produce heat). Mix a little corn syrup, regular (non-lite) beer, and ammonia house cleaner (or a little fertilizer) together with some water in a milk jug and label it compost starter. And pour that on your compost to slightly wet each layer.
The corn syrup gives sugars to help many biological decomposition processes and the fermenting ability of beer also helps in decomposition processes, and the nitrogen from the ammonia or fertilizer gives food to help it get going.
You on the right path, but there are several steps to making a compost bin. Read this:
http://www.plowhearth.com/magazine/compo...
Alex, you are already finding that composting is a pain in the neck, time and labor consuming, and mainly unneeded.
Most Counties have, by mandate, a community compost site. Check your phone book or County Extension Agent for the location. It is free and readily available.
Your formula isn't compost, it is garbage. Compost is going to require Organic Material aside from leftovers from your kitchen. You will also need, when the Organic is collected, to add an agent to begin the decomposition of the material. Weekly you will have to trudge to the pile (in an onground container) and rotate/stir the mixture for air and to combat spontaneous combustion (Center of pile gets exceedingly hot). After two years you will have a viable material.
Sounds like fun, eh? Let your fingers do the work. Use the phone book and not your time or back.
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