On Nov 4, 4:33 am, "SteveB" wrote:
We recently moved out in the country. Nothing to do but we had to make a
compost pile. I admit, it's a handy place for garbage we would usually put
in the can for a week. Yech!

Does it work? How much work is it? How often are you supposed to turn it?
Do you keep it wet? Do you get enough compost to justify the work?

TIA

Steve

I simply pile the leaves up in three piles, and add discarded
vegetable, and occasionally add bagged grass clippings in it (in case
the grass is too long to be mulched). I just pile them up. I don't
use any barrel or cage or anything.

I used to turn the compost piles and water them whenever I was done
with mowing the lawn. This means I used to turn them every week or
so. Now, I only turn them during fall when I add a lot quantity of
leaves into the piles, and once in summer (to check their status).
Otherwise, I don't turn them or water them at all. And the result is
just as good. Yes, this takes 8 to 9 months to compose them. This is
OK because I am not in a hurry. Basically, I just let the nature to
take its course.

I mainly use the compost in the vegetable garden because the soil in
there is very sandy. I need the compost to improve the soil texture.
The soil in there is definitely getting quite well after I have added
compost in there year after year for the past 7 years.

One possible problem that I can think of is that I can compose the
leaves in less than one year because I use a garden vacuum to gather
the leaves, and the garden vacuum grounds the leaves to small pieces,
and that helps the composing to go fast. If the leaves were not
grounded, the composing likely would take longer.

I could have used the free compost from the local government. But
that would make my car dirty. If I had a pickup truck, I might have
used the free compost from the local government.

By the way, I live in northern New Jersey.

Jay Chan