TIL my "quick" compost bin fix took 4 weekends to actually work

I built a simple compost bin last spring, but it never heated up right. Thought I just needed to add more greens, so I spent a Saturday dumping in grass clippings. That didn't work, so I tried turning it every day for two weekends straight. Finally figured out the bin was too small and had no airflow. Has anyone else dealt with a compost pile that just sits there for months?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley8607d ago

Read somewhere that airflow is more important than most people realize, like a pile needs to breathe or it just turns into a wet lump. A guy on YouTube said his bin was way too compacted and he had to drill holes all over it before anything happened. Made a huge difference for me after I added some PVC pipes with holes in them.

emmap167d ago

Yep, the "pile of sticks" bit hit home. I had a similar thing with my first attempt, I threw in a bunch of dried leaves and straw and just left it. After a few months it was still a big dry pile, not even warm. I finally dumped a whole garden hose on it and stirred it up. That's when I realized you can't just build it and forget it, you gotta babysit it like a weird science project.

sethb457d ago

Brother I spent three months flipping a pile of sticks before realizing it was just too dry.