While doing some googling on composting I happened to run across this thread. I have been studying expansive clay soils for the past 20 years. I thought I may be able to contribute a little. First off compost is expansive. You want to remove all organic material from any proposed building site. If you intend on building a new home hire an engineer. No one type of foundation will work on all soils. If you have ever had to have a foundation repaired you know that the expense if hiring the engineer is money well spent. After the home is built drainage is very important (Keep this in mind when determining the elevation of the foundation.) The dehydrated soil you are building on is currently shrunk due to our present drought. It can expand if drainage is not adequate. If you have an existing home adding compost will help only because it helps to retain moisture. The secret is to have moisture consistency. So if the home was built on dry ground then keep it dry. If the home was build on moist ground then keep it that way. I do not like soaker hoses. They tend to put out more water at the low points and less at the high points. A regulated drip system is my preference. If you take care of the upper layers of dirt it will help prevent moisture loss from the lower layers. Tree roots are the biggest problem. It takes several hundred gallons of water per day to maintain them. They will inevitable travel under the house for moisture, way past the drip line. Termites. All the ground in Texas is infested with termites. Foundations should have 6" of foundation exposure. All homes should have a regular program of termite control.

Wear gloves & a disposable mask as sold in the hardware department. Dig it all out & spread it to be mulch. The mixing of it by removing it from the bin and spreading might be enough to balance it out when spread on your soil, so you won't have a residual mold there, but biologically active soil organisms at work. If not you could mix it in your existing soil where you don't currently have plants growing. Should be old & cold enough that you can plant right away. I wouldn't hesitate to use it now. Then shower & launder your clothes including gloves. I've read cautions about moldy hay, so that's what I do when we have some from our friends who raise horses. I think musty smelling and visible mold are the same hazard. Don't bother rinsing out the bin. If you move the bin be sure to put a shovelful of the bottom of that bin back in to the new spot to innoculate the new pile. Turning speeds things up, but letting it pile up it eventually makes compost. What works for us is to use the compost bins as collection locations then 2x a year spring & fall dump contents and combine to be the greater than 3x3x3 foot pile moist like a sponge. When I've had the energy I've also mixed additional ingredients to make a long pile 3x3x whatever length it became. Cover, turn or not. I like how the enclosed compost bin keeps things tidy in the garden space and composts my kitchen waste without wildlife strewing it around. I can steal some finished compost out the bottom if I like. This spring we moved the backyard bin out front to the vegetable garden to grow potatoes. We've kept the other bin in place near the vegetable garden, though I don't usually have much vegetable waste to put in it with chickens to eat it up. Mostly coffee grounds, onions, orange peel, melon seeds, waste paper, and rinds that the chickens don't eat. When I've used our veg/fruit juicer that pulp goes to the bins because the chickens don't really eat it up. Great part about compost is that it exists and works for you in the garden whether finished or not. Chunky is mulch, finished & screened can be mixed in soil prior to planting. I hope that calms your fears about it. You're not eating it after all. You'll probably feel better about your own bin waste once you start putting it in there. I just lift the lid & dump. I try not to think about individual contents rotting, moldy, etc. I agree it's a bit gross, but I'm fine with it when I don't think about it. Corrine

No need to add N, but pee is great, since it is essentially wasted down the sewer. Watch out you don't overload it - if you're in a dry climate and try to make up all the moisture needs with pee, it's a losing battle and you'll end up with salty compost. I assume you're adding all your kitchen scraps, they have good moisture and N. Most of us will kinda look at you funny if you propose adding any kind of purchased fertilizer to a compost pile. The idea is to recycle wastes to make free compost, and the env. and $ benefits are lost (or at least reduced) if you buy manufactured products to put in. It does work in a pinch, but this does not seem like that kind of situation. grossepointe: Definitely compost your plants at the end of the season! You don't have to chop them if you don't want to, but tougher ones will compost faster. Snip into 6" pieces with clippers, or cut them down with a hedge trimmer taking 6" whacks. Or if you have a lot, get an old stump and a $10 garden machete (military surplus is a great place to find them), and whack away. Also, feel free to post your questions as a new thread, it gets more attention that way.

It it was ALIVE, and is now DEAD (or harvested/excreted) it CAN be composted. Period. How depends on the method being used. Hot aerobic, cold aerobic, or anaerobic. If aerobic, also depends on how often the material is turned/screened (re-aerated) and percentage of water and how well the pile is insulated. Bones and shells take longer than plant tissue and flesh. Fiberous material takes longer than less-fiberous. Small pieces compost faster than large pieces (a matter of surface area in contact with microbes). I recommend using a blender on kitchen & table scraps with a bit of water as a matter of convenience. Hatchet, machete, shovel and shredding machine are all of value to a serious composter. How fast also depends mainly on the C:N ratio remaining in the material (temperature), pH and moisture content. Test - don't guess. And also the microbe diversity in the material and whether small 'decomposers' (such as insects) are at work in the material yet. I do not recommend putting any raw items into a pile that you are attempting to finish for use (1 month before using the compost, is generally safe via aerobic method) - BUT recommend 1/2" x 1/2" sifting before use (returning all non-graded material back into a pile). Particularly using the material for raising vegetable root crops. SoilGuy