Let’s Start Building The Compost Pile!

1.   Old Hay

We have alot of hay bales and they break open or get wet and just generally get unusable, I take the old bales and break them up, soak them down real good with the water hose and then layer them in the pile, This makes up the main ingredient in my system.  You have to soak them good, otherwise it acts like a thatched roof and water just rolls right off of it!  Don’t put any hay that has been treated with herbicides into your compost pile, it will be bad news for any plants that you use that compost on.

2. Grass Clippings

Grass Clippings are the green component or nitrogen ingredient of this set up, I have about an acre and a half of “lawn” area and that provides plenty of grass clippings for 2 piles I use a Cub Cadet walk behind mower with bagger for harvesting the grass clippings, it works great !    P.S.  We also have a riding mower for the rest of the yard, I don’t push the bagger over the whole yard! :/ Grass clippings in your compost pile can get “gummy” make sure you mix it in good!

3.   Animal Manure

We have Cows, Chickens, Pigs, Goats and a Horse, there is no shortage of manure choices.  I usually us chicken litter for this component, it’s easy to get because the chickens roost in the same place every night, occasionally the odd cow pie will go in if I have the shovel handy  but I don’t go turd hunting for the most part! If you use manure in your compost pile, make sure it has plenty of time to break down. If you put fresh chicken litter on a plant it will burn due to the high nitrogen content, use caution.

These three items make up the main part of the compost pile, once I get the layers they pretty well sit for about a month, after about three days if everything is working, you can pull back the top layer and feel the heat that is building up… that means its working!

The Next two ingredients are stuff that just goes on the pile as they build up, they add that little extra boost hehehe.

4. Garden And Yard Waste

This is anything that I pull from the garden that doesn’t get eaten or fed to some animal, weeds, dead plant matter, well let me say naturally dead, not anything that was diseased, that’s a good way to ruin your garden!  And as above more grass clippings, shredded fall leaves… they too will make a waterproof mat if left whole!  They don’t have to be powder, just break em up a little.

5. Kitchen Waste

This can be just about anything but meat, dairy, or oils. I drink alot of coffee and all my used coffee grounds go into the compost pile, we put the egg shells in there the whole shooting match.  This makes up a small amount of the overall pile , but it adds alot of good stuff!

So there you go , this is what I have put in the compost piles I make. If You want to see the pile being built check Here.