Sprinkling sawdust over the top of the pile will eliminate fruit flies and probably hep with your c:n ratios. Just be aware that fine-cut sawdust can really pack together and hamper circulation. Straw or dead leaves also work well.
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Originally Posted by Piwoslaw
We're next to an empty lot so the family has been tossing grass and leaves over the fence for years. The owners don't seem to mind, when they move in one day they'll have some mighty good compost waiting for them...
Most of the material in our small compost bin are fruits and veggies, plus coffee grounds, so there is a lot of nitrogen. Hence: the smell. It's bad, especially after turning it. LOTS of worms and jurassic-looking rollie-pollies, plus fruit flies and snails. I tried pulling some compost out yesterday, but it was too wet (it's been raining here for the lat 2 months), plus the smell...
Nitrogen isn't that bad, in fact I read (I believe it was John Seymour's book "Blueprint for a Green Planet") that adding nitrogen (like peeing) to a starting compost pile helps to get it going.
We also have a lot of egg shells. They seem to take a few years to decompose, but supposedly they add calcium to the soil.
Maybe I should look around for some sawdust to add more carbon?
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