Hi All, I have read a lot of you compost and I am also considering giving it a try. I really don't know a thing about it though! I don't have a vegetable garden and I live in the 'burbs so it would be on a small scale. I would like to start a small garden next spring though. I figure I will get some good use out of all of the poo that is going to accumulate! I'm really worried about the smell though. The people that live behind me have a compost pile and sometimes it smells like a garbage dump! It really sucks on a nice summer day laying by the pool! Anyway, any suggestions, advice, and comments of pros and cons will be appreciated! Thanks in advanced!
If your neighbor's compost heap smelled like a garbage dump, they weren't building or maintaining it properly. Never add dog or cat droppings, do not add dairy, meat or animal fats. Water it if you don't get regular rain fall, turn it occasionally. Some people use additives, but we never have. These sites have lots of good information.... http://www.seattletilth.org/resources/articles/compostingchickenmanure http://www.ehow.com/how_3541_begin-compost-pile.html
i bought a compost tumbler that contains a drum that spins around by hand crank. You put all your clippings, kitchen waste but no animal fats or oils in my opinion b/c the smell is rancid. A lot of folks just build a circular loop out of wire and dump everything in there too and mix it ocassionaly. I like my tumbler b/c its easier to mix it well by a couple of cranks versus the old school pitch fork mixture method. My time is precious these days. Anyway i mix in some of my straw and poo in my composter tumbler as well as sidedress my garden with the mixture as well. The main reason i add the straw to my tumbler is b/c i usually need some carbon(straw) to mix in it to balance out all the greenery in the mix. But, i have read many posts about compost and their are numerous methods that i am sure work great besides the ones i mentioned. There are many knowledgable folks on this forum.
We have a pile in the woods for our compost but I think the tumbler is a great idea for beginners or ease of use. Composting is wonderful but if its hard to do, the habit will die hard. Good luck!
It sounds like your neighbors need to add some carbon materials to their pile. If you make a compost pile with just a bunch of wet garbage, it'll smell like a bunch of wet, rotting garbage. Or if you leave a bunch of wet garbage just laying on top, it'll smell, too. Maybe if you learn more about composting and they see how you manage yours, it'll help them manage theirs a little better. I'm such an optimist sometimes. I wonder if you could toss some black soldier fly larvae on top of their pile to eat that mess? It sounds like it would be right up their alley. Search on the forum and you'll find what I'm talking about.
I live an arid corner in your neck of the woods. There in SW WA, you probably get plenty of rain for your compost making but I like to get the pile down in the ground a little to help hold moisture. Digging down 8 inches or so, also gives me a handy pile of soil. I can apply soil to the surface of the pile as it grows. This helps seal in moisture and odors, as well as provide beneficial soil organisms to help break down the material into compost. If you use wood shavings, you may not have sufficient nitrogen-rich chicken manure when you clean the coop and pile the material into some kind of a bin. Horse owners especially have this problem when they have low-nitrogen horse poop mixed with wood shavings. They add about ¼ to ½ cup of ammonium sulfate to the wheelbarrow as they carry the material out of the stalls. North Carolina State University Steve
Quote:Unfortunately I don't really know them and their compost pile is too far from our fence to reach! The smell has actually gone away recently, but I remember last year we kept smelling a horrible smell, and this year we smelled it for awhile. We finally figured out what it was. Hopefully it doesn't come back!
Quote:You are soooo right! I know myself enough to know that if it becomes a pain in the #$%& then I probably will not keep at it! That's why I am doing a little homework before I jump in! Thanks!
Another reason for a smelly pile is too much lawn clippings... They flatten down to an impenetrable mat and go anaerobic and produce a lovely ammonia smell. Mixing an equalish amount of dry brown material with fresh cut green stuff wards that problem off.
