Building Your Home Compost Pile

Text Transcript with Description of Visuals

Audio	Video
[Music]	On screen text. Washington State University Extension presents Building Your Home Compost Pile.
Composting is a natural way to turn garden debris and food scraps into a beneficial soil amendment for your landscape and garden.	A person dumps a bucket of food scraps into an outdoor compost bin. Then, rakes compost over soil. Plant cuttings and food scraps are in a square wooden bin. A person holds a handful of dark brown dirt.
Composting recycles organic material and reduces the amount entering our solid waste system.	Montage of still images of compost bins and a person holding a handful of compost.
And it's easy. If you need information or plans for building a compost bin, check out our website or the first video in this series.	Montage of still images from the PDF document that describes the steps to build a compost bin. Text on screen of a URL: https://extension.wsu.edu/spokane/the-essentials-of-composting/ Still image of the title of the first video: How to Build a 3-bin Compost System
Compost piles work best when they're at least 3 feet tall, wide, and deep, but no larger than 5 feet tall, wide, and deep.	View of a wooden compost bin with wooden slat walls and a pile of organic material.
Save up enough organic material to build a pile in that size range, but what kind of material should you save?	Series of video shots and still images of compost bins of various sizes. Two side by side mounds of organic material such as dirt, straw, and other plant material in three walled square areas.
You'll need materials higher in carbon, like browns or bulking agents, as well as materials with nitrogen, greens or energy material.	Still image from a 3D animation of a 3-bin compost unit. Text on screen: High in Carbon - Browns or bulking agents High in Nitrogen - Greens or energy materials
Many of the higher carbon materials, the browns, can be found in the garden.	A raised bed garden.
These include leaves and stalks from plants.	Then, a gardner sprinkles brown leaves over green plant material on a compost bin.
Garden mulch, like pine needles, straw, and wood chips, are also high in carbon. You can even use corrugated cardboard, newspaper, or office paper.	Small thumbnail images of pine cones, piles of leaves, cardboard, and newspapers are superimposed over the background video.
Some nitrogen sources, the greens, can also be found in the garden or the landscape.	Aerial view of a garden.
Fresh weeds that have not bloomed or gone to seed can be composted.	Still image of a wheelbarrow full of weeds Dandelion leaves with no flower growing out of a sidewalk.
Vegetable trimmings, grass clippings, and fruit waste are great sources of nitrogen for the pile.	A person dumps a bag of food waste such as carrot and banana peels in a compost bin.
Fresh manure from cows, horses, sheep, or poultry can be very high in nitrogen, as can coffee grounds and certain types of food waste.	A background still image of a pile of dark compost. Over the background image, a series of smaller thumbnail sized video clips are superimposed. The images show cows, horses, sheep, and chickens. Coffee grounds are dumped into a compost bin.
We'll also need water in the pile to keep our microorganisms hydrated.	A person sprays their compost pile with a water hose.
Some organic material should not be included in the compost pile. Any food waste with dairy products, meat, oils, or fats should be avoided as they may attract pest animals like rodents.	A person shows the oily inside of a compostable to-go container, and places it in a green collection bin.
If you have a green yard waste bin, these materials should be sent to commercial composters. Commercial composting gets much hotter and can break this down.	A person watches as a large earth moving machine dumps compost into a pile at a commercial compost facility. Steam rises from the brown pile of organic material.
Avoid cat, dog, pig, or human feces as they may contain harmful parasites that can survive composting. Don't put these kind of materials in your yard waste bin either.	A person places a bag of feces into a brown collection bin.
And lastly, steer clear of materials treated with pesticides as some of these may cause plant damage even after being composted. Better safe than sorry.	A person uses a yellow bottle to spray plants in a yard.
The smaller the materials, the faster composting can happen.	A compost bin is opened to show dried leaves and other materials broken down into small pieces.
For example, shredded office paper breaks down faster than whole pieces.	Still images of shredded paper and a waste basket filled with whole pieces of paper are superimposed over an image of compost.
If you can run over the leaves, pine needles, or plant stalks with a lawnmower, it will speed up composting, but this isn't a required step.	Piles of compost inside a bin that have been broken down into small pieces.
Some composters put their material on a tarp so they make sure they are well mixed before putting them in the pile. This can require multiple people. You can also put materials directly into the bin or pile, making sure to add two parts brown for every one part green. [ Music ]	A person dumps several materials such as ripped paper, yard clippings, flower heads, and coffee grounds into a pile on a blue tarp. They rake and mix the items on the tarp.
Sprinkle water into the pile so the materials are evenly damp.	Next, a person sprays the pile with a garden hose.
If you pick up a handful of material and it feels like a wrung-out sponge and only drips a little, it's probably the right amount of water.	A person grabs a handful of compost from the pile. The material is wet but not dripping water.
If it drips a lot and feels more wet than damp, it's probably too much water. Add more dry material to the pile.	A person grabs a handful of very wet compost from the pile and squeezes it until water drips out.
If a handful of the pile still feels dry after mixing and watering, add a little more water to it.	Close-up video footage of damp compost on a blue tarp.
Most compost piles in Eastern Washington don't need to be covered like they might be in areas with heavier rainfall.	Views of various compost bins includes square ones constructed of wooden pallets, square ones with brick walls fronted with wooden slats, and round ones made of plastic with air holes.
You might want to cover the pile if there's lots of animals in the area that might be attracted to it, or if you're in a community garden and you don't want people to add new material to the pile.	Views of compost bins with lids. These include corrugated metal and plastic roofs or wooden tops.
If you don't want to cover it, you can use something as simple as a sheet of cardboard or build a cover with a frame and a screen on it. Remember that compost needs air circulation, so don't try to seal the pile.	Montage of several compost bins with different types of covers and lids.
Check the compost every few days.	A person pulls back a layer of compost from a pile and feels the air above the exposed compost with their bare hand.
You can check with a compost thermometer or just feel, but be careful. Compost regularly runs between 120 and 150 degrees, so don't burn yourself.	A thermometer with a long metal stake and a round gauge on top is inserted into a compost pile. Text on screen: 120 degrees to 150 degrees.
When the pile starts to cool, turn or remix the pile. This will bring the materials from the outside in towards the center of the pile where microbes can break them down.	A person rakes the compost pile and turns the material.
Check the moisture content, and add water if necessary.	A person picks up a handful of the compost and squeezes it. They add water from a plastic watering can.
Turn an additional three to four times.	They rake again.
If you have any problems with your compost pile, check out our video on troubleshooting compost problems.	Text on screen: Troubleshooting your garden compost pile
When the pile has shrunk to about half the original size, it doesn't heat up when turned, and the material looks dark and crumbles easily, it's time to let it cure.	An animation of a pile of light brown leaves in a compost bin reducing in size and becoming a fine black dirt. A person with a gloved hand picks up a pile of the dry compost.
Let it sit for an additional two to four weeks before using it.	Animation of a calendar with two weeks of red check marks and two weeks of green check marks.
If you use it too soon, it won't have all the benefits of the finished compost, and may actually damage seedlings if you use with potting mix.	A sign on a bin reads: Compost in Progress. Not Ready for Use. A gardener pots a purple flower with the compost.
Finished compost will be dark in color, and you won't be able to recognize original materials.	A person picks up a handful of dark compost that has finished curing.
If you do recognize some parts, you can add them to your next batch of compost or put them out in the garden and they will continue to break down.	Close up footage of compost.
[Music]	Aerial footage of a large garden.
[Music]	Text on screen: For more information. Spokane County Master Gardeners. Extension dot W S U dot E D U slash Spokane slash M G slash. The Essentials of Composting. Extension dot W S U dot E D U slash Spokane slash the dash essentials dash of dash composting. A Q R code in the center bottom of the screen.
[Music]	Text on screen: Credits. Produced by C A H N R S Communications, Washington State University. Executive Producers, Tammy Wilson, Tim Kohlhauff, W S U Extension, Spokane County. Thanks to W S U Extension Master Gardener Volunteers, Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County, Master Composters/Recyclers. Funding provided by Washington State Department of Ecology. This material is funded through a Public Participant Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology. Ecology reviewed the content for grant consistency but does not necessarily endorse it. Washington State University Extension.