Compost piles....what do think of them?

my friends family has a friking huge one in the woods in their yard (well their entire yard is woods but ya) it smells like crap but i think its a good idea.

im thinking of starting my own smaller one, what do you all think about them, and do u have one?

 

well, they're great... what else do you want to know? it's natural, as opposed to throwing your fruit skins into the landfills....

 

I've got one and it's great!! I have to ask the neighbors for some "greens" to mix in with the fruits/vegs but other then that it's a great way to save money (we get charged for garbage pick up according to how much garbage they actually have to pick up), and it's great for my gardens!!

 

Ummm, but technically a landfill is a very big compost heap. You get plenty of methane gas from it that's for sure. I guess the difference is that once composted however, the landfill stays there - whereas you can then use some of your composted material for farming or horticultural means.

The smell isn't much of a problem if you've milled around farming areas for any length of time. If you're using the material for vegetable growing or somesuch just be careful what goes in the compost heap, as ultimatly you'll probably be eating that again in one form or another!

 

But they put things in landfills that aren't biodegradable right?? Like plastic/rubber/glass/metal??

 

you are totally correct... but i thought it odd that somebody should say "it's natural, as opposed to throwing your fruit skins into the landfills...." which is also natural, if it were all fruit skins!

as for the other materials, yup - they will all break down within a couple hundreds years or so though, except for plastics which take nearer 10,000yrs (some plastics actually breakdown a LOT quicker if you leave them in the sun to be exposed to UV light - it seems wrong to bury them!)

i don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with landfill, it's just the volume and type of stuff we throw away

i actually have visions of us digging up the landfill again in perhaps 100yrs time when we've ran out of oil, so we can recycle some of the plastics we have foolishly discarded!!!

 

Right on

 

if you mix in old straw it realy helps with the smell, when i was a kid we were told not to eat the vegtables that grew around it, because they were posionus, not sure how true that is though

 

Harvest the methane and sell it as propellent

 

I love compost heaps!!!! I used to have one in my yard when I still lived with my mum. However, now I live with my girlfriend and her family, and we can't have a compost heap in the backyard, because of their dog. Which sucks, because I really love to have compost heaps.

 

what is the issue with the dog? or do they tend to climb in it???

 

does anyone have a foundation pit for it or do just pile your stuff?

 

Just that he's very likely to rummage through it, and strew stuff about the entire yard. I've left a banana peel out there once, went inside, remembered and came back out and he was out there, tearing it to shreds. haha.

 

I would love to have a compost pile in my backyard but I can't in my neck of the woods... not with all the bears we have. there's already a problem with them getting into our garbage cans so....

 

In germany, composts are very common. Almost everyone who has a garden has a compost pile. Those who don't have a garden usually still seperate their green garbage from other stuff (hell every garbage has to be separated, recycled in germany, by law) and the city collects it, and puts it on a huge city compost, which is used to produce methane, and electricity is made from it. (At least in my citiy)


So composts are nothing new or strange to me, they have always been around and very popular. I still like the idea thoug. My family even had compost piles when we did not live in germany, but in countries where people care shit about their trash and environment....

 

We have a huge box type thing for it. Everything goes in there... veggie peels, apple cores, coffee grounds... It's definitely a good thing because it's so great for the garden.

We also have a "bird habitat" with all the sticks and branches my dad has had to trim over the years and some strawberry plants that we don't pick.

 

We've got a huge compost heap in the corner of the yard.. It has cyclone fencing around it, so the dogs don't eat all our corn husks and banana peels.. heh. The thing consists of mostly leaves and grass collected from the fall. Very rich soil after a few years.

 

if it stinks then is unbalanced or too wet. some leaves, hay, shreded paper, sawdust or other carbon-rich material must be added. a lot of info on web or here in garden forum how to make a good compost heap.

composting is holy canon of environmentalism

 

I don't have one yet myself, but if we move to a home with more land I am most DEFINITELY having a compost heap. I think it's an awesome idea.

 

Well to be honest, then it is quite popular in estonia and finland as well.. it is good idea of getting rid of the waist biologically.. like the waste will become humus and if ya mix it with peat ya get good fertilizer to yer garden.. The problem with the smell comes up, if the compost process is doing wrong..
To avoid the smell yer have to mix it sometimes.. so the air will help ya and the composting will be working normally again. adding some much into the done humus before ya put it to yer plants, is even better..

Pluss, I was translating one EU project about drytoilets and to be honest, yer can mix yer exrements there as well, but the criteria about the time limits (to let it compost) is about 1 year or so .. before ya can use it to yer plants.. urine prolly had to stay only for a month or 2 .. so anyway .. composting is good idea always..

By the way .. it has to be porous.. and to quarantee it ya can put in there some plants that are bigger or.. some brances or so ..

anyway this is really good idea, go for it