Down Under On The Bucket Farm wrote in message . ..
Hi there...

I have recently started small-scale composting. I
took a 20-litre (5-gal) bucket, cut out the
bottom, and sunk it several cm.s in the soil
outside. It is getting all of my kitchen scraps,
plus some grass clippings, and a bit of paper. It
is also getting some urine (yes, from me...)

I am guessing that the volume is too small to ever
have "hot" composting going on.

The two questions a

1. About how long will it take for the materials
to break down to be appropriate for applying to my
(just-starting) garden?

2. Would adding some worms help? If so, what
type, and how many?

3. Any caveats regarding the urine (esp. regarding
excess salt, and overdoing the nitrogen input.)


Thanks in advance for your help...

.

I think you would do better to bury your compostables directly into
the soil and lose the bucket. To keep animals out a scrap of plywood
or sheet metal and a rock on top would work. For hot compost few
things under 1cu yd work well. On a western diet urine will contain
about 1oz or urea at 46% nitrogen per day, this works out to 10.5 lbs
a year. Excess salts will only be a problem in places of low rainfall.
In the soil worms will find their own way in. Compost is considered
finished when the original ingredients are no longer recognized.
It's all about returning nutrients to the soil. Everything else about
composting is secondary.