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> Homemade compost is really hard This has not been my experience at all. Yes to get optimal compost at an optimal speed you have to carefully manage the ratio

> Homemade compost is really hard This has not been my experience at all. Yes to get optimal compost at an optimal speed you have to carefully manage the ratios of browns to greens, moisture content, turning it, etc. But if you don't care about speed, you can just throw stuff in a bin (or a pile) and it will eventually compost. I never do anything to mine except turn it as I'm taking the finished compist out once or twice a year and I make great compost. I use the geobin compost bin. $30 and it has lasted my mom for over two decades now. Another trick to increase the volume is to go around and pick up all your neighbor's leaf bags and throw them in your compost bin.

ssl-3 2y ago
Indeed. I've had very productive compost piles that were very easy. I didn't even use a bin; I just piled on organic stuff (from the yard, or from the kitchen, or whatever) in a convenient spot that wasn't in the way of anything.. I spent almost as little time on it as possible. Every now and then, if I felt like it, I'd give it a bit of a toss with a shovel or a pitchfork. If it had been very hot and dry, I'd water it a bit. It wasn't fast, but by the time I wanted compost for the garden in the spring there was always plenty of it for me to use. As I understand it, this method is called cold composting. The idea is to provide an environment that worms and insects like to hang out and do their stuff in, which is easy enough to imagine and simple to accomplish satisfactorily with minimum effort. They just want a place that is damp, full of food, and not too hot (they leave if it gets too hot). This is in contrast to hot composting, which is a more intense method -- both in the effort that goes into it, and the speed of production. Hot composting has huge advantages in speed and the materials that can be composted (PLA plastic can disappear in a hot compost pile that is working), but I don't feel like I want to spend that much effort on it and the lazy method gets results that I like.

ssl-3 2y ago

Indeed. I've had very productive compost piles that were very easy. I didn't even use a bin; I just piled on organic stuff (from the yard, or from the kitchen, or whatever) in a convenient spot that wasn't in the way of anything.. I spent almost as little time on it as possible. Every now and then, if I felt like it, I'd give it a bit of a toss with a shovel or a pitchfork. If it had been very hot and dry, I'd water it a bit. It wasn't fast, but by the time I wanted compost for the garden in the spring there was always plenty of it for me to use. As I understand it, this method is called cold composting. The idea is to provide an environment that worms and insects like to hang out and do their stuff in, which is easy enough to imagine and simple to accomplish satisfactorily with minimum effort. They just want a place that is damp, full of food, and not too hot (they leave if it gets too hot). This is in contrast to hot composting, which is a more intense method -- both in the effort that goes into it, and the speed of production. Hot composting has huge advantages in speed and the materials that can be composted (PLA plastic can disappear in a hot compost pile that is working), but I don't feel like I want to spend that much effort on it and the lazy method gets results that I like.