Things everyone should know about compost but probably don't

Hello
I dont think that hot composting is compulsory at all. I do my compost directly on my garden beds only with stockfree materials. The worms and the mushrooms do the job and integrate it very well in the soil. I grow Stuff straight away.

If i'd use animal or Human manure, i will wait at least 6 months before to grow anything. Pathogens are disapearing Very quickly even if it s cold composting (see Jenkins Analysis)

Doing a pile a compost is not efficient for me (more work, loss of nutrients, bad integration, doesn't really feed or improve the life in your beds and that's not what you want I think! )
Regards.
Julien, a veganic permaculturist

Found this while browsing and wanted to add my two cents. Has anyone tried adding biochar to their compost along with the soil? I've heard it might help even further with carbon retention and moisture regulation. Would love to hear about any experiences or insights.

Many, many people add biochar to their compost. I think it's mostly done as a way of charging the biochar, so it will be ready to contribute to the soil, instead of sucking in all of the nutrients for a couple of years.

John S
PDX OR

If you ever find yourself stripping off sod to clear grass out, the sod is great in a compost pile. Put a few layers in between your greens and browns, and top with a layer of sod.

The sod always goes grass side down, unless you want more grass.

Nowdays, I'm too smart (aka: old) to strip sod when cardboard can do it for me. But when we bought our place about 40 years ago, I wanted to plant wildflowers in the front ditch, and the best way I knew to create some kind of seed bed was to rent a sodstripper. That mountain of sod created many compost piles.

All that said, the best compost I've ever made was by piling dead sticks (picked up before mowing) inside a six foot diameter circle of fencing, then layers of alternating woodchips and horsemanure. Over several years, it became the place for plant stems that were too coarse for my regular piles.

After several years, and after pulling off the creeping charlie that mounded over it, it is just pure, black, fine grained goodness full of fungal strands.