Sorry to be posting on this older thread but I've been testing out my greenhouse compost hot beds for the past few days and things are going pretty well. My greenhouse is 10'x12' with 6mil clear plastic. We're in Cda zone 6a (US zond 5a). Dirt floor. I wanted to make hotbeds in the greenhouse to help with overall temperature (to reduce the need for electric heat on really cold nights) but also to get an early crop of lettuce, and to provide bottom heat for seed germination (I'm running out of room indoors). Here are some pictures on my Flickr page: photo of hotbed. This shows the 18"x36" hotbed with the hoops. On the left I put trays and flats for overnight warmth. The right has the lettuce planted in the six inches of triple mix on top of the hot compost. At night the hotbed is covered with plastic to form a mini hoophouse. photo of compost portion of hotbed. I left one side of the hotbed uncovered, so I could use it as a source for bottom heat as well as the heat source for the mini hoophouse-within-the-greenhouse. compost in bin in greenhouse. I had some extra compostables, so I made this bin out of a big metal container. I filled it half full with the soil removed for the hotbed trench, wet it thoroughly (wet soil is better thermal mass than dry) and topped it with 8" of wet compost feedstock. The temperature is about 50c but it goes even higher with more moisture and regular stirring. This bin is useful as a base for trays of seeds or seedlings. Using a clear dome creates a greenhouse-within-a-greenhouse for added insulation. So far so good. Plants on the hotbed and bin have come through minus 7 C nights with no problem. The rest of the greenhouse frosts up but everything over the hotbeds is just fine. I worry that the lettuce seedlings will be too warm at the root level. But they're growing quickly, so who knows. The compost underneath will slowly cool (it is impossible to stir it) so eventually I won't need to worry about cooking the lettuce.

Drayven asks: "What is the fastest way to compost?" Learn as much about the process as you can, then use that knowledge to your advantage. If one knows how "compost happens", one can make it happen at the most productive rate. "How can I achieve the 5 week turnaround time?" See above "What is the difference between remixing and restacking?" None, the key to the question is the "re". All one is doing is making the pile again using the same material. "And why is it that there seem to be so many different ratio guides?" Because there are so many different things (ingredients) that can be composted. And too, the combination of these materials combined will give a different "ratio" unless the same materials are used each time. "What is the advantage/disadvantage of using a bin?" Neatness and control of the pile. "If I have grass clippings from the winter, meaning the clippings were already brown and dead when they were collected, does this count as carbon or nitrogen?" They are still a "green", just to a lesser degree due to loss of nitrogen. "How do all of you measure the weight? Do you just do it by feel or are scales involved?" By feel (eyeball). I have never heard of anyone weighing his or her materials (but it could happen). There are three phases organic matter goes through to becoming compost. a.) Heating b.) Cooling c.) Maturing/Aging Heat is caused by bacteria working. To get more heat, get more bacteria working. Cooling is the domain of fungi. To compost faster during this phase get more fungi working. There is nothing one can do to mature faster, only time. This is the only phase nothing can be done, save "wait". There are many good techniques offered in this thread. One should keep in mind that these techniques work for the person and environment composting is taking place. There was no one question that was asked to acquire the shared technique; the member had to put in their time to know what they know. IMO, the best suggestion offered in this thread to get fast compost is: "On further thought, if I needed compost right away, like tomorrow, I probably would go buy It." Other than that, one is going to have to do ones time Blutranes

I bought a very nice pottery compost crock at Gardener's Supply. Quite decorative for the counter. But I agree with a lot of the above. Even if they compost, I don't think that would be a good idea for a wedding present. If they have a yard and are interested in gardening, a couple books on the subject of gardening and composting might be welcomed. Or a compost bin might be more appropriate as a housewarming present. But I've spent my life getting presents from my mother (and anyone else she could convince) that were what she thought I should have wanted in the first place rather than what I actually did want, such as the most expensive doll in the store when I'd never been into dolls, or a pink, polka-dot ruffly house dress for when I do dusting that wouldn't even look good on Ethyl Mertz (and it's 1978, I wear jeans, and I rarely dust). Ah, but that's another story. What they said. If the happy couple wants china, get them china.

Like trancegemini said, I can't get all the nay-saying husbands listed here. My husband still calls me princess, but when he sees me deal with compost -- he says "filthy princess" ;-) And to habitatgardener -- yes, mine hates the thought of touching anything that might have bacteria, but I am the one who cleans our bathrooms, and he is the one who eats rotten blue cheese. Although recently he started to volunteer once in a while and cleans master bath, don't know what to think of it all. I have to chime in, although you guys pretty much covered all the aspects and why we all should compost AND recycle. Recycle -- we take our trash to county dumpster and pay per pound (unless the scale brakes -- then they eye-ball your truck and charge you according to a rate table). Wonderpets -- tell your hubby - does he not know that all those glass bottles and cans, carton papers from every package you buy and junk mail you get daily make up 80 percent of our trash by volume and weight? The other 10 percent is vegetable and fruits waste that gives a rotten smell in YOUR HOUSE by the time the garbage bin gets full enough to take it out. I hated the whiff of smell I would get every time I had to tie the bag. I now have a blender under my kitchen herb table (yeah! No more buying herbs at the store and watch them go bad before you use them) that I use to blend all things before I put them into the pile outside (I know that's optional, but that blender has not been used in years so I put it to a very good use). So now when hubby goes to dumpster he picks up friend's trash too (out of being nice) and we only pay 5 bucks a month for trash and feel good. Can you beat that? They may call us crazy, but so do some people call crazy people like my husband who buy old used cars, rebuild engines and do their own repairs and oil changes, instead of buying new car every two years and pay triple charges at the repair shops!! They also called crazy the lady who in 1970s thought that dogs can be trained to assist people with disabilities! Seriously, I am reading this book about dog's healing power and helping abilities and she was outright discouraged by every so-called god expert in those days. The notion was that dogs can only be used for defense, had to be handled on the leash only and their aggression cannot be turned off. Can you believe those people? Me -- two years ago if someone told me I would be doing what I am doing now, I would laugh at them and called them crazy. But look at me now -- I get wood pallets from my office's supply room (they bring crates of paper and I can get one pallet a week). Now that I have this 4x4x4 structure in the yard, turns out my own kitchen waste was not big enough to keep the ratio right, so I asked office kitchen (that cooks breakfast and lunch) to give me their waste -- I got two containers that I now leave with them on rotating basis and they give me a load of kitchen scraps. I also have a neighbor with three horses and huge old trees that shade her entire yard -- can anyone say "fresh manure and bags of leaves"? Now to the smell and bugs problem -- it does not smell as long as you keep the ratio correct and follow all the other problem solving suggestions you can find on the internet. Bugs -- I dumped a load of manure the other day and forgot to add anything else. Sure thing, next day there were tiny gnats around the pile. The fix -- a bag of those leaves from the neighbor and they are gone! If you don't have enough leaves -- any paper, straw, as they said above. Recycled Bottles/cans -- juice, milk, water, sauces, soups, -- rinse, not need to dishwash, and that's all there is to it. I have three bins for recycle in the kitchen and we only go to dumpster once a month (read above -- there is not enough trash to drive the truck more often) and there are no, zero, bugs anywhere. So, wonderpets, I really hope your husband wakes up and let you mind your business. My hubby helps me with setting up the pallets, shoveling manure, etc. but mostly he lets me enjoy it.