Despite 3 boys and some effort, I have not been able to convince anybody to pee in the garden. "But Moooom, whyyy?" (sigh) Still, the littlest still uses a toddler potty, and I take full advantage, emptying it in the garden at every opportunity. If the weather is not cooperative, I keep a large watering can in the bathtub for that purpose.
I lied, our current place only averages 65" rain/yr ;) Still, between that and the subtropics, it's just as you say, intense biological activity + leaching robs everything-- all compost must go directly into the garden, if you're to get any use from it at all. So I try to tuck charcoal and other carbon mass into the pits. They are small pits- I dig one or two a day, just to not have a gross compost bowl on the counter, accumulating flies-- just spread them through the garden, between plants, working from one end to the other and then starting over. This past spring I picked up at least 6 huge leaf bags and tucked the whole little garden to bed under 4-6" of leaf mulch. It was mostly gone as of last month, with bare soil visible in several places. Have since added 3 more bags, and looking for more. Mostly what it does is keep the soil from getting hot in the sun, and help retain moisture.
aminopyralids: my mom lost her whole garden to a contaminated load of mushroom compost one year. That was like 6 years ago, and she's only just started being able to grow some stuff again. I'm super paranoid about that now. Even potting soil, I test by planting some seeds in it, in a pot, first-- if it passes, then I can use it for stuff I care about.
Re: Pit composting
I lied, our current place only averages 65" rain/yr ;) Still, between that and the subtropics, it's just as you say, intense biological activity + leaching robs everything-- all compost must go directly into the garden, if you're to get any use from it at all. So I try to tuck charcoal and other carbon mass into the pits. They are small pits- I dig one or two a day, just to not have a gross compost bowl on the counter, accumulating flies-- just spread them through the garden, between plants, working from one end to the other and then starting over. This past spring I picked up at least 6 huge leaf bags and tucked the whole little garden to bed under 4-6" of leaf mulch. It was mostly gone as of last month, with bare soil visible in several places. Have since added 3 more bags, and looking for more. Mostly what it does is keep the soil from getting hot in the sun, and help retain moisture.
aminopyralids: my mom lost her whole garden to a contaminated load of mushroom compost one year. That was like 6 years ago, and she's only just started being able to grow some stuff again. I'm super paranoid about that now. Even potting soil, I test by planting some seeds in it, in a pot, first-- if it passes, then I can use it for stuff I care about.