I just read your post out loud to my husband and commented, "See, I could be worse." ;-) Thanks for sharing.

It's good to have steam! Welcome to the world of compost enthusiasts!

Lloyd

P.S. Hi Sprouts, if you are reading this forum, it's only a matter of time! Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated! Tell your husband he'd best climb on board as well 'cause he's going for the ride anyways.

Turbodogg, you could have worse addictions. Composting doesn't cost anything and doesn't get you arrested but does give you exercise and stress relief while helping the planet. I threw some coffee on a leaf pile today and felt a nice sense of satisfaction without harming anyone or anything.

i'm happy to brag about my pile too,we've had snow and temp's in the mid 20's and i dug in my pile and it was very warm, it does a lil something for your self esteem, also i have an attraction for making something out of nothing (it'll pay off w/ vegetables and fruits), being environmentally concious also makes people feel better bout themselves.

who'da thought that the old timers with their 'crazy' biodynamic ways had it right the first time....gardening is one of those things that ,as we enter a 'green' era, has gone back to the primitive so to speak.
It is fairly complicated, but that's only if you look into how it works, but overall the simplicity was the best policy.

Steam, water vapor, from a compost pile is a good sign. Smoke, the products of combustion, from a compost pile is a bad sign.

Turbodogg, "120 pounds of UCGs about every week"? How large is your pile(s)? Pictures, please.

Cathy

Yesterday was such a GREAT day! The old pile....got very spread out, was exceedingly untidy; we added to it regularly throughout the year. Its bottom layers became perfectly fine compost. The process was easy, required no thought, and, with time, gave us beautiful crumbly stuff for the garden. With time....the two key words.

But I've so many new beds a-makin' here that I want and need lots more compost than that method can produce.

So with the new pile, I've been trying to do a better job of following the advice and info on this forum. I haven't measured, but I'm estimating this pile is about 5 - 6 feet long, about 3 - 4 feet wide and maybe 2 - 3 feet high. It's got several large bags of leaves, many bags of coffee grounds, many, many rotting pumpkins, compost bucket contents, shrimp shells, old cat food, shredded paper grocery bags & paper towel & toilet paper rolls, bags of tissues & paper towels & paper plates & paper cups, bags of biodegradable cat litter with cat urine, crumbled bark and broken pieces of twigs and small branches, broken-up stems from sunflowers and (ugh) cleomes, some old compost (not to mention the multi-gallon bucket of rotted fish). And I've laid thick sheets of newspapers and cardboard loosely on the top and sides....

I added large amounts of everything at a time. Very messy to keep piles of stuff lying around, but so worth it....

And turned it.

Yesterday's late afternoon temps down in the 30s I think, but the middle of the pile was WARM! That completely made my day!

So exciting that I think I'll celebrate by starting a new pile next to it! They can keep each other company LOL.

lynxe, if you're starting a lot of beds you might consider assembling a compost pile on top of the bed itself over the winter, and planting into or through it in the spring. The worms will till it in for you and it's less work that way.

good idea, i wish i woulda done that!

toxcrusadr, thanks for the advice. In a way, I'll be doing that with the lasagna type composting in newly made beds. Problem is, I doubt I can do it all: create all the new beds that way plus have compost piles for compost for all beds, new + old. No way I can collect enough material.

In fact, you've touched on a question I have: which is preferable, CP or lasagna type beds? (I should start a new discussion on that one.)

Also, I do plan to plant where the first pile currently is. Will remove & use much of the old compost first; then use what's left to plant in.