Check the ph on the compost. If it is 6 or 7 its will be perfect. If it is
above 8 it may be a bit high and you should probably mix it with soil and
let its it for a bit (1 month) then retest the ph before planting.

Generally no too much compost is never a bad thing. Most (but not all)
plants will love it. It will save you having to water, it will encourage
worms, it will improve the existing soil etc etc.

You can 'make' compost however you like. The main aim is to keep the compost
as warm as possible, so it breaks down quickly. You can pile up a heap of
manure,leaves, grass clippings etc and put a plastic tarp over it and let it
sit. The real key to good compost is to include a variety of ingredients or
roughly equal quantities, and make sure there is manure. (any type will do
really)

When I make a compost pile I gather all the 'ingredients' together and mix
them all up together and add water and cover. I give it a bit of a turn,
roughly every 2/3 weeks (sometimes)

What I don't do is continue adding more matter to this decomposing compost.
I start up a new pile instead. Otherwise the compost would never fully
decompose.

"nutNhoney" wrote in message
...
We haven't composted for quite some time so I bought a truck load for
the reased beds. I have a couple of questions. Is too much compost a
bad thing? I mean, can I use too much compost for the raised beds? I
would like to start composting again. When we composted we had a
special black bin thing. Could I set up a a compost pile without the
special bin? If so, how difficult to maintain would this set up be? TIA