Blowmonkey
Bluelight Crew
I thought it'd be a nice idea for a thread, especially for the broke ass growers amongst us.. 
First off, not for the compost heap, but a home-made extract of willow twigs.
Great site, also another suggestion on there is to use aspirins to prevent disease, see the site for more details on that.
On to the composting.
It's pretty simple if you get everything right. I'll sum up the basics. You'll need a spot out of the direct sun, a bit shaded and sheltered, but if you live in a cold climate a bit of sun will do good. Try to keep it on the lawn and not on concrete or something, else you'll exclude the worms and microbes that help to decompose the pile. Oh, and don't set the pile up too close to your neighbours, they probably won't like it.
A compost heap consists out of greens and browns, the greens containing nitrogen, the browns containing carbon, ideally you want your compost heap to contain approximately 25:1 in carbon:nitrogen, so 25 parts brown, 1 part green. Greens are usually living plants (such as grass), or scraps from the household (such as coffee), browns are dried up and brittle plants (such as hay). Make sure you've got a wide range of materials to use, if you use too little materials it won't work as good, shredding everything to smaller pieces also helps significantly. The other essential ingredients are air and water. You want the compost to be moist to the touch, but not wet, too wet is just as bad as too dry, so keep an eye on that. The compost should also be aerated sufficiently, as to speed up the process, so turn it around regularly.
I'll list a couple of common materials to use in a compost heap:
Greens:
Grass clippings and other plants high in nitrogen (such as stinging nettles or alfalfa)
Seaweed (rinse it first though)
Animal manure (no manure from carnivores, keep it to chickens, rodents or cows, also make sure this ferments for at least 4 months to kill of dangerous pathogens)
Coffee and other household scraps (vegetables, fruits,
Browns:
Hay or straw (preferably straw as it contains no seeds and weeds which can grow in the compost)
Leaves
Pine needles
Sugars (such as molasses or syrups)
Saw dust or wood chips (not from processed or painted wood)
Cardboard or paper
Other valuable additives could be egg shells or wood ash. Be careful adding meat, bones, fish, dairy products or greasy foods, it will attract vermin. Also don't add diseased plants, dead animals or manure from carnivores, you don't want to spread disease. That's pretty much it, not much to it really. Please add additional information if you feel it's beneficial, I made this pretty fast so I'm sure I've left some stuff out.
First off, not for the compost heap, but a home-made extract of willow twigs.
http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-article1.htm
Great site, also another suggestion on there is to use aspirins to prevent disease, see the site for more details on that.
On to the composting.
It's pretty simple if you get everything right. I'll sum up the basics. You'll need a spot out of the direct sun, a bit shaded and sheltered, but if you live in a cold climate a bit of sun will do good. Try to keep it on the lawn and not on concrete or something, else you'll exclude the worms and microbes that help to decompose the pile. Oh, and don't set the pile up too close to your neighbours, they probably won't like it.
A compost heap consists out of greens and browns, the greens containing nitrogen, the browns containing carbon, ideally you want your compost heap to contain approximately 25:1 in carbon:nitrogen, so 25 parts brown, 1 part green. Greens are usually living plants (such as grass), or scraps from the household (such as coffee), browns are dried up and brittle plants (such as hay). Make sure you've got a wide range of materials to use, if you use too little materials it won't work as good, shredding everything to smaller pieces also helps significantly. The other essential ingredients are air and water. You want the compost to be moist to the touch, but not wet, too wet is just as bad as too dry, so keep an eye on that. The compost should also be aerated sufficiently, as to speed up the process, so turn it around regularly.
I'll list a couple of common materials to use in a compost heap:
Greens:
Grass clippings and other plants high in nitrogen (such as stinging nettles or alfalfa)
Seaweed (rinse it first though)
Animal manure (no manure from carnivores, keep it to chickens, rodents or cows, also make sure this ferments for at least 4 months to kill of dangerous pathogens)
Coffee and other household scraps (vegetables, fruits,
Browns:
Hay or straw (preferably straw as it contains no seeds and weeds which can grow in the compost)
Leaves
Pine needles
Sugars (such as molasses or syrups)
Saw dust or wood chips (not from processed or painted wood)
Cardboard or paper
Other valuable additives could be egg shells or wood ash. Be careful adding meat, bones, fish, dairy products or greasy foods, it will attract vermin. Also don't add diseased plants, dead animals or manure from carnivores, you don't want to spread disease. That's pretty much it, not much to it really. Please add additional information if you feel it's beneficial, I made this pretty fast so I'm sure I've left some stuff out.
