composting ?

mrsdan2009

Ok this may be a stupid question but if i have a regular compost bin and am turning it and constantly adding to it... how does the new compost dirt not get completely mixed in with my new kitchen scraps. also how do i get the wonderful compost out. I hope that makes sense.

thanks. 

Lisa78

I stop adding new scraps at a certain point to let the compost rest and get all broken down. Then I take it all out and either use it or keep it in a storage bin. Many people have two piles so that they can continually add to one and let the other rest. 

HTH! 

pixieprincss

Lisa78:

I stop adding new scraps at a certain point to let the compost rest and get all broken down. Then I take it all out and either use it or keep it in a storage bin. Many people have two piles so that they can continually add to one and let the other rest. 

HTH! 

This is our plan. We'll move the "baking" one away from the house and put the new one as close and convenient at the current one is.

SuperGreen

We only have one bin.  We continually add things year round, and don't mix super throughly, so the new scraps generally end up in the top 2/3 of the bin or so.  The last 1/3 is awesome, decomposed compost.  Our bin is just a square, some bins have a door at the bottom near the ground but ours doesn't.  I take the front of the bin off, and use a trowel to dig into the bottom 1/3 of the material and take our as much compost as I need.  Yes, there may be some stuff in there that's not fully decomposed, but that will happen in my flower/veggie beds.  I replace the front of the bin and stir everything back up.  Works great!

santacruz2009

We also have one bin that we stir the top of, and it has a little door at the bottom so you can just take what's fully composted out of the little door.  I just started a separate yard waste compost pile, mostly because we have more than our one bin can handle, but I will probably stir that entire pile up for a while until it seems like it's composting. 

 If you toss some composting worms (red wigglers I think they are called) into your bin with the food you can speed the process up too. 

juno

We also only have one bin that I turn periodically.  When I need some compost, the best stuff is usually near the bottom, so I scrape the top over to the side and scoop some out.  When I'm finished I spread it all out again.  If there's anything in there that's not finished it can compost in place in the garden.  If there are any particularly large or woody chunks, I remove them by hand and toss them back in the pile.