i should add as well, the term mulching. Is that the result of composting?

there's a thread on here about a really easy bin made out of a rubber maid tub. Composting is one of those things that can sound very difficult, because some people are very precise about it. It sounds like the pile you have is already compost.

Compost is basically carbons, also called browns, plus nitrogens, also called greens. So, browns would be dead leaves, paper, sawdust. Greens are food leavings, coffee grounds, manure, grass clippings.

I have a tumbler, but right now I also have a bin made from wooden pallets. But a pile works fine too. I add horse manure, and grass clippings, and coffee grounds, plus whatever the household produces. I put in my junk mail after I tear out the little plastic windows. This is a good time to collect other people's yard waste, b/c it is grass mixed with fallen leaves, which is a perfect combination.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: easy homemade bin

You don't need a bin, put it in a pile, GREENS - manure, grass, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps. BROWNS - leaves, paper, cardboard, woodchips. Mix it up a little and it will break down faster.

THANK YOU!!!!

If you have a big enough yard,you can get pallets free in many places to form some kind of 3 sided bin.
I have also seen the plastic portable bins (I have one of these and a tumbler I got at the dump for $5) at the dump. We have Recycletown at our dump where you can find all sorts of re-use stuff.
You can also look up Lasagne composting which is just layering all your yard waste, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds etc where you are going to have your garden next year.
I'm going to do this this year in the spaces that I am adding garden beds in the spring.
I'm doing all of the above and adding goat poop from next door, newspaper to stop weeds and grass clippings if I can find them.
If you can find goat, rabbit,sheep manure, you can add it right into the gaden or the pile. It isn't "hot"
If you use horse, chicken or cow manure, set it aside for several months and mix it with some straw or something cause it is "hot" and will burn your plants.
HTH Nancy

Composting can take one of 2 broad forms.

The first form requires paying attention to things like nitrogen(greens) and carbons (browns), moisture levels, internal temperatures, turning frequency and other factors.

This form will produce a hot compost capable of killing nearly any pathogen and will result in finished compost in the shortest possible time.

The other form of composting is the 'let it rot' form. With this form things do take longer to become compost, but there is no need to pay attention to anything and you don't have to turn over any pile unless you want to. Heck, you don't even need a pile. You can just toss the compostable stuff onto the gardens and let it rot in place.

I think there are merits to both approaches, the important thing is to simply stop wasting organic materials that most consider garbage. Save the landfills and feed your garden at the same time.

To me the ultimate silliness is throwing away kitchen scraps, newspapers and the like and then going to the store and spending money on a bag of compost.

nicolenanette, mulching is just putting material on top of the soil to conserve moisture and keep down the weeds, some examples are wood chips, bark, etc. The mulch will eventually break down to compost.

Composting does not require a bin, many of us use a bin to contain the material (neat freaks) or maybe to keep the wildlife around us for being too inquisitive. The link below will take you to a very good composting web site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida's Online Composting

I just graduated from a 5 gallon bucket to a large garbage pail. Not a name brand one; really, really cheap. My boys drilled holes for drainage and air, and I don't even turn it, just kind of shake it a bit. Working out really well.
Nancy

You guys...... i mean people are terrific!
I throw daily my eggshells, lettuce, all the kitchen scraps out under my plants. The birds love it, but i have found out we have mice. My teenage son is taking care of that. I do feed the birds as well as have a desert tortoise, so i guess i do mulch and the birds love it, for that is how they find the bugs i watch them catch.
I have a pond and when i clean it, i throw that under my bushes (hibiscus, salvia, hollyhocks, pyracantha, mallow, etc.......... and let it rot. A scrub jay buried a few peanuts that i feed them, and now i have a small crop of peanut plants. That was cool to watch mature. ok, now that i have been taught some other ways, i think i will get a pile going somewhere and see what i can do! Look out neighbors, its fall and i want you leaves....
sincerely thank you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Nicoles Website

Kimmsr ironic the link you provided is "FLORIDA'S" online composting, in that they claim to support environmental waste reduction, but don't offer subsitized bins like the Biostack I hear everyone on hear getting on here for $35.

They even have a place (I think there is a link off of that link you posted) called the Florida House, where everything is green or environmentally correct (xeriscaping, reusing rainwater collection, composting, trees for shading and cooling, special greywater for irrigation etc.) ways of saving the environment, yet they don't offer bins or even a source for these bins for those like us that WANT to save the environment. Kind of hypocrytical that they pose this house as an ideal house for Florida to show how we should be more environmentally conscious, but then not providing the resources to implement them in our own houses, or at the very least provide sources to where we cqan obtain these under some sort of subsity.

There is nothing hypocriticla about them not offering any kind of bins since what they are about is getting people to compost and there is no need for a bin of any kind to compost, no bin, none. Simply pile your material up in about the right mixture with just the right amount of moisture and the bacteria will go to work and digest that material. All a bin does is confines that material, and maybe hides it a bit, and can make it difficult to turn the pile when it needs to be turned.
If people are constantly told they need to buy, or obtain, some kind of container to compost they may not ever try it, but the chances that someone will try if they understand they can compost without spending any money they may just do that.

Kimmsr, I have to frankly disagree with what you are saying. Not that compost wont happen without a bin, but for the new composter without a bin, they are likely to wind up with an anaerobic mess and THAT will turn them away from composting unless they are obsessive about like I was when I was starting out. I never had a bin and it took 3 years of trial and error before I got compost to heat up. Im sorry but I don't see people as being as patient as I was.

I have had a bin for years, and mine seldom heats up. The exception is in the summer when I can occasionally successfully nag my husband enough to bag some grass clippings- then it gets hot. I'm a lazy composter, the stuff is usually cold, but it does compost. Granted, I don't get much of it, but it does rot. I truly admire those who make tons of it each year. It's one of my goals after retirement.

So, bottom line, a bin doesn't heat up compost by itself, but rather by the human input. It may help the ambitious composter but even us "lazies" can compost, with or without a bin.

Karen

people who compost need to evaluate how much materials they will have and how much willingness they have to manage the pile. This will guide them to a compost "design". An easy way to start is to use an old garbage can (I use 30 gal ones, with holes & lids) add leaves to 1/2 to 3/4 full. This gives you a place to dump the daily greens. When the last can is full then decide where to create the pile. can pour the materials into an empty can, back and forth to mix, but be forewarned that if it has got wet and /or compacted then it may be heavy. While building pile check for moisture content, sprinkle water if needed ( garden hose can dump way too much water quickly, so use a bucket or watering can. visit pile in spring. repeat as necessary.

nicolenanette, have you read the FAQs at all? Not a bad place to begin.

pikapak, I completely disagree that you need a bin to get started. I guess a bin can help if you are very invested in doing things a certain way. However, on the IALBTC line of thinking you can pretty much just pile it up (or bury it) and let it rot and that works fine if you're not all worried about the exact temperature in the middle of the pile.

If I manage things and add stinky N sources I can get a fair bit of heat in my little pile, but if I just add stuff as it happens into my life I still get about two nice batches of compost per summer and keep a fair bit of stuff out of the trash.

I got an Earth Machine free from my town on earth day. I'm using it now because it's getting cold out and I don't want to manage the pile at all so I'll just dump kitchen scraps in there until springtime. It probably won't deter bears but they're not around so much right now.

Yes, i have read all the postings. NO not the FAQ's. It turns out all that you are posting, i know how to do. I was thinking i was doing it all wrong. But i now see there is several ways to do it. THANK ALL OF YOU..... : = )

Regina: you are a brave lady! I don't think I'd compost at all if I had to face bears in the process!

Karen