Lazy Composting: Does it work to pile it and forget it?

nice!! I do this too.😊

I use last fall's leaves and this years grass clippings for most of my compost. I do 5 foot diameter fence rings and lasagna layer the grass clippings with leaves and partially finished compost. I'll unwrap the ring from my compost muffins and use the unfinished outside layer on the next pile. I then grind the pile core with an electric tiller and use it. I keep one separate pile for garden waste and fall perennial cut back and use more mature compost to layer with that type of fibrous material as it breaks it down faster. I find that segregating the fibrous stuff into just one pile to be easiest way to deal with it. That pile will be the last one opened up next year. Any wood yard waste is fire pit kindling. I quench my bonfires to make charcoal and throw that charcoal with the ash into the compost mix as well. The grass clippings/leaf mix I get off the lawn in early fall is perfect as is for covering my kitchen garden. I'm going to collect and pile more leaves this fall as I ran out of carbon early this year and was forced to use mature compost to layer with my grass clippings. I'll have 4 muffins of about 1.5 - 2 cubic yards each unwrapped and finishing over winter and I'll use at least 6 rings to collect this fall's leaves. The electric tiller and a manure fork work great for working my piles and like you I don't sift finished compost or cover piles anymore. An organized lazy compost is what I would call my operation. My composting gets lazier with a better finished compost product year on year. Funny story, I bought a matched pair of nice used compost tumblers off of Craigslist some years back and It only took one year for me to sell them and move on to the pile it up and let it rot method. One other tip I'd add is capping your built and settled piles with a layer of finished compost makes an uncovered pile heat up and finish up faster.

In gardening and in life you have to choose your battles

Good to see. I havent turned my compost since the lockdown started. I actually had spare I used in 2020 and 2021 . I pray to find something nice as yours when I finally turn

I am soooo thankful I found this channel! We just bought a new home and we have been killing ourselves trying to boost our soil to start planting next year! I LOVE your realistic method, especially since God has an amazing way of helping the circle of life in the garden! Thank you 😊

What cover crop are you using?

Last fall I got a Craigslist 8 hp mulcher/chipper and it's fast to mulch lots of leaves and mixed up with compose from my garden have 3/4 cubic yard and plan to run it all again as soon as weather permits by mid April hopefully it'll be great for tomatoes and peppers and if I add manure even better.
My mulcher on Craigslist was almost a give away, only need a ($15) carburetor and sharpening blades .,8 hp can be a investment.
Thanks I've just subscribed and liked, Enjoy your video and I'm also learning to be a better Stewart

Milorganite is Milwaukee sewage.

looking good,,, now just chop that stuff with the lawn mower and throw it in the pile,, add some water to each layer and it will be composted in about 8 months. i start my pile in spring along with the garden, about the time you start cutting your grass, i try and layer greens and browns, but,, what ever i have, always run over with the mower, i'll turn it once b4 fall, then add fall leaves which are probably 70% of the pile, and maybe turn it one more time b4 spring. the compost is ready by fall and i add it to my beds and cover the beds with chopped fall leaves. ive learned that turning is not really necessary but i will turn it maybe twice in 8 or 9 months.

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Aunty, I have no method. I dig a hole. I put stuff in the hole. I cover the hole. Then add more stuff. It becomes a mound. I don't care what they call it. Hot compost. Cold compost. Worm compost. I guess sometimes, it heats up, depending on what's in there. There are worms. It's more or less systemic. I dig the next hole, next to the 1st hole. Repeat the process. Yard scraps. Kitchen scraps. Dead raccoons. Dead skunks. If I have boxes, they go right in the hole. It works. If I start on the left side of the yard, and go to the right side, then go back to the beginning again - Beautiful rich compost, read to grow vegetables.

Awesome to know! Ya made my day!

I totally agree on your perception of composting. Composting can be a very specific scientific endeavor, or as you just demonstrated let nature do it's own thing.
The only comment I have is to be careful when it comes to trying to lazy compost a lot of nitrogen rich materials. Last fall I tried saving a bin of grass clippings and kitchen waste to use in my winter compost pile, well by the time I went to use it it turned into an anaerobic stinking, vile mess. I ended up spreading it out over some crappy soil over the winter to kill of the anaerobic bacteria.
No matter how you decide to compost I believe it is a huge benefit for our soils and the environment.

Do you ever have a problem with ant/animals? I want to place mine next the garden but worried about both.

I'm a lazy composter as well! I use mostly grass clippings and shredded paper, and we add our kitchen scraps, too. This last fall and winter, I've had the best compost I've ever had, and all I did was add a cheap blue tarp (like $3 from Harbor Freight) on top of my piles. The materials broke down quickly with no turning or watering on my part, and I found a ton of worms in my piles this time, too!

Have you tried putting a layer of cardboard at the bottom of your compost pile to minimize leaching?

Thank you for sharing helpful videos!

I noticed that potting mix from planters around the house got put in the compost bin will this hurt anything?

Good video! Last year i tried mowing over everything that had not broken down, it made more of a mess than anything.

Very nice.

I rake up all of my sheep shit into a pile, cover it with dirt, and spray it with water every once In a while. I'm proud of my shit pile and don't want to break into it. Love your videos

Even lazier - - I just take the debris (stalks, leaves, plant debris) and lay it down fresh, in between rows or where ever the ground looks like it could use help. No need to move it to a bin and then move it back! I give the more woody material a twist to start the breakdown. The only thing I don't put down are the weed seed heads or prickly vines (blackberry). Immature weeds and even grasses are fine. Voila - composting in the garden on the spot. My neighbors have learned to donate their debris too. No bins, no turning, no sifting, no moving. I have done this for 10 years and its great. The soil loves it. At first it is just mulch and as it dries it becomes a fairly attractive brown layer protecting growing plants. Over the winter its worm and microbe food. By next spring it is mostly gone but the soil where it was is wonderful. Anything left after the winter I rake into a new row of mulch. Compost in place. No work! The few weeds that make it through are very easy to pull up . . . and lay back down for more compost in place.

The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes, but only the bottom/inner half of the pile composts quickly. So pile it high before you start piling it wide if you want to speed things up.

Thats horrible compost,i wouldnt put that on my garden,my compost is beautiful,soft and black

Great video. I have been a lazy man composter for, wow, since 1978. Nature will do its course. I would try to have it where you can give a little water once in a while. God‘s best

If you put 3. 4 inch pipe whit 1 inch holes for added ventilation it will break down faster.

Looks more like mulch. 🤔

Boo yes butt...boo know

Boo make love in the garden

I compost my old underwear, not my t-shirts.

Real people composting ❤️ nobody has time for that stuff... Thank you!

How did u make this composting bin.

No you don't need to be perfect but...you need water on your piles. it's to dry on the side.

I'm sooo lazy I don't even garden much..😎😃

I’m so glad you did this!! I feel bad sometimes that I don’t turn or water my piles. (It’s hard to turn!!) I’ve just decided that I’ll wait on it to break down, because like you say, everything breaks down eventually. My hubby did make me 3 bins this year, so this is so much better than my old water troughs that I’d used for years. I do need to be better at chopping up the debris as I know that would make turning easier if I did decide to turn. Again, thanks so much for this excellent video!!

I need to buy forks. What do you use

I am a lazy composter.i have one i built feom wood pallets and that one mostly i tumble since its easy access to me close to my chicken coop.the rest.bin i have its never been flip.i just pile and pile and pile.🤣 eveything is from garden and yard and kitchen scraps..

Time is the biggest compost commodity. If you've got it, save the sweat for other things like making more beds, pergolas, trellises, chicken coops, beehives, etc, etc. Life's way too short to turn compost religiously.

I had chicken munere catch on fire twice

Yep I completely agree. It works for me

I do the same thing. It is really easy and and fast composting process because it gives better aeration. You just dump and leave.

Amen !

We have a compost tumbler that is just too difficult for me to turn. Last fall I started a compost pile in a wire cage with every intention of doing it “right.” That worked for about a month. It sat untouched all winter and spring. A month ago we pulled the cage off and it had turned into nice compost. Now I have several cages set up for passive composting. 👍

I have 12 piles. Made out of recycled hog wire 10 ft on diameter. To much to turn. Mix cotton seed meal in with leaves to give a nitrogen boost to break down carbon.

Nature will find a way.

I am also a lazy composter. I keep a compost pail in the kitchen. After emptying it in the compost pit, I put about 1/4 cup of Bokashi in the pail. Since I started using Bokashi I have noticed that my two big compost bins are breaking down much faster. They are now half the height they were in June,, even with regular contributions.

“Eventually” being the key word. :)

Double win……by composting you have soil to feed your garden and you don’t have to go to the gym….✅