me and mum wanna start a compost pile. i read the post submitted by acorn and now i know what to add to it and when to turn it and that egg cartons and worms are a good mix!! my question is how the heck do i start it? i dont think i want it in the ground though, i want it in a container... do worms go in there if its propped off the ground? or do i have to buy worms? lol please someone help!! Clarissa
QUESTION : i went to that site VERY helpful. now tell me if i do the paper one.. the one where i have to put worms in, does that heap become soil? see i dont understand the whole compost thing from paper? is soil just worm poo? ps sorry for the oh-so-huge signature
The most important thing with composting is the balance of wet and dry materials. I can't be botherered looking at the website so Ill just tell you what I've learnt (as I am studying Horticulture) Most peoples home composts are way too wet and full of smelly food scraps n stuff. You have to make sure your adding dry materials like straw, grass cuttings etc and also make sure you turn it regularly to let the air through so it doesnt get smelly. Its better if you can have it in the sun too cos then it heats up better which is really important. Worms are also really good for the whole air thing cos they can do it naturally for you, but you still need to turn it every week or so. goodluck, im about to start one myself!
I think that you're discussing the worm compost? I've had one of these. It's basicaly just a pile of worms that chews through plant matter at an amazing rate. Yes, soil is worm poo. Although it's really more like worm poo is part of soil. The really good part. The worm compost is suposed to be incredibly difficult to balance. But it isn't. When I started mine, I basicaly just scooped up a bunch of worms from my existing compost heap, wth some compost, and kept on adding plant matter, mostly vegetable scraps. To keep the microbes balanced, every once and a while I tossed in another shot of half-finnished compost. You're not really going to understand it until you do it. Or at least see it done. Something that might help is to go and examine the floor of a forest whose leaves fall. Dig it up a bit at a time, and look at it in layers. The deaper you go, the more composted the leaves are. There's not really a dividing line between rotting leaves and soil. There are several things that make up soil. The majority is clay and sand, and there are all sorts of discussions of what the ideal ratio between clay and sand is. But the really good stuff, that makes all the plants grow real fast and healthy, is called organic matter. It's basicaly old dead stuff that bacteria have eaten. Making that is what composting is all about. And the process is really as simple as letting bacteria eat old dead stuff. Does that make a little more sense to you now? Now where worms come in is that a worm's intestines (a worm is mostly intestines) is filled with all sorts of wonderfull bacteria that eat up old dead stuff real fast. So a worm is a small, very efficient compost container. Also, the worm eating it breaks it up, increasing its surface area and allowing more bacteria to get at it at a time. That's why some people blend their compost, which is much more time consuming and expensive than tossing it in a bucket of worms. Anyway, just start your compost pile. It's not that hard. Just put a bunch of vegetable scraps and leaves in a heap. If you want to use a container, do it. Almost any container will do. A cheap and easy way to do it is to get 3 or 4 pallets. Make a box out of them with two sides and a back. No front, maybe a top. This is a decent compost container. Turn your compost every week or so to let air get into the center of it. Bacteria need oxygen to do their thing well. If it's in contact with the earth, worms should get in there on their own. Certainly if it's not in contact with the earth, and just to speed things along if it is, you can add some worms once the pile has started looking a bit less like vegetable scraps and a bit more like something a worm would eat. Don't buy them. Dig them up. If you're composting, you're probably turning soil to start a garden. That soil will probably have some worms that you'll notice in it. Just use those.
Our county held a free composting seminar today which I found extremely informative. They especially had tips for those of us whom live in the desert which is nice. Composting is a fine balance of green/brown/water/air to create rich material to add to the soil. We purchased two compost bins but you can make your own (plans are all over the web). As our soil propably has been heavily fertilized for years by the previous owner I wanted a more natural, earth friendly way to replenish the land w/o having to use any bagged don't know what's in it non eco friendly compost. With over 1/4 an acre, several trees, bushes and other veggie material we have all the makings for a good composting pile. I'm glad we do have this program mandated to reduce the amount of green stuff going in to the land fills. Now if we can just reduce the crap that isn't compostable in to the land fill.
