Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[pete <pete.rout@virgin.net>]

Hi Mark
Your pile is too low to generate and keep heat.  It is better to be a 
square base of 4'x4' and build up.
 Don't worry about the heat, microbes will break down and devour 
most pathogens and if any weed seeds do survive then they will start 
the next compost heap.  I usually have 4 or 5 4'x4' bins.  They 
rarely get turned, sometimes the build up is too slow to generate a 
lot of heat,no worries.  Sieve them out when I need them and throw 
the larger not completely broken down material into the next bin.  I 
notice on these lists and forums that people make too much fuss over 
a natural process and buy equipment that is totally unnecessary.
With a lot of grass mowings it will hot up, just layer it with 
crumpled newspaper and cardboard.  6" grass and 2
2 paper/card.
Pete



> The pellets did get mushed up; had plenty of rain after adding them.  This was
> over a month ago.
>
> My problem is that this pile started out almost entirely from grass clippings
> (hey, this is a rental, them's the cards I was dealt with).  There were a few
> leaves underneath in black plastic bags which I liberated into the 
> pile.  Other
> than the alfalfa pellets I've only been adding food scraps, coffee grounds and
> other compost-able stuff in the normal course of day-to-day.
>
> I turned the pile a few months ago, though this doesn't do an awful lot with
> such a high concentration of carbons.  And that was before the 
> potatoes started
> popping up.  The potatoes add a complexity to the issue of turning.
>
> The pile is roughly (L) 7' x (W) 3' x (H) 2'.
>
>
> -Mark Nagel
> Everett, WA


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