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RE: Backyard Homesteading Adventures (Garden Update, Mid-April 2017)
Any advice on starting a compost pile? I tried one last year with little success. I'd really like to get one going properly to dispose of our kitchen and garden scraps, and I know areas of our soil could really use the help.
I just followed you -- looking forward to more gardening posts. :-)
You need a pile of about 3ft square; and the basic idea is to find a balance of carbon and nitrogen to break each other down into soil. Fallen leaves work especially well-- that's what my last year's compost was made primarily from in addition to lawn clippings (let them dry in the sun a bit before adding) and kitchen waste. If you have hens, then their used bedding with manure should feed the compost pile, too. Highly recommend the website forums at Permies.com -- lots of folk discussing what works/doesn't work for them. Here's a bookmarked thread on how to get a pile going (balance of carbon and nitrogen to get the bacteria going) https://permies.com/t/18557/twigs-fast-composting
Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen. Worms LOVE coffee grounds. If you have a Starbucks nearby, they often have a bucket near the door with bags of used coffee grounds just so gardeners can make the most of their waste. Best thing is that the used grounds are free. If you layer yard waste and kitchen waste in an area and leave it, odds are that it'll attract worms. And they will do most of the composting for you, if your pile doesn't heat up enough to compost via bacteria. Vermicompsting (using red wiggler worms) is another way to change waste into garden gold. http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/guide-to-vermicomposting-zmaz83jazshe
Here's a post I wrote about soil building. https://steemit.com/gardening/@mandireiserra/backyard-homesteading-adventures-soil-building-and-health
Thanks for following!