Who is composting?

Heck. I have a glass bowl. No smell there either

Found an ear of corn on my night table this morning :laugh:

I compost all vegetable matter and as well yard waste (leaves,ground up sticks, plant clippings, etc)...

I have a big pile in the back - some kind of squash or pumpkin is growing out of it now... I've gotten all sorts of good surprise plants over the years...

My lovely wife turned her nose up to my idea of making a bin of sorts with chicken wire. She'd have that same upturned nose with a 'pile' of yard junk. She has no problem with the ugly black box in the corner though. Go figure.

Definitely add in the ashes. You need to not have more ash than anything else but as long as you're putting in a lot of other stuff, the ashes are fine and even good for the compost pile.

nice website - liked your photos

mr toad

Funny. All the posts on here involving grown men being told by their wife what to do. Is it done. Is it safe. No you can't pile waste four feet high and allow it to decompose in a corner of the yard :laugh:

Hi Molly,
No meat,fish , no pet waste.
rinsed Eggshells,any veggie scraps,coffee grounds,banana peels are good, egg cartons, soaked in water with out the shiny paper.NO ASH FROM YOUR EGG! ,It would be okay back east but not in Colorado. Turn often and keep damp.
Layer brown ( dead leaves, plants) with green( veggies plant trimmings) for best results.
Here's a good link.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07212.html

Molly

We have been composting for years, nothing fancy just two piles in wire fencing. Leaves, weeds, old garden stuff, household scraps, coffee grounds. shredded paper etc. We occasionally ad a few buckets of fresh cow manure when we can get it. We don't collect grass clippings just let them compost on the lawn. I occasionally turn it or drive a large crowbar deeply into it. Have had no problems with animals.

I have the opposite problem: beaucoup live oak & water oak leaves make it into the pile. I am way over on the brown and need more green. To combat this, I toss in the occasional handful of fertilizer to get the brown stuff cooking.

RE: turning the pile....my pile is against the corner of chain-link fencing, about 8 feet long and 4 feet deep, piled at least 40 inches high. Too huge to turn by hand, so I run my little Honda 4-stroke tiller through it a couple times a year. Works like a charm...here's the tiller, a real gem: http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/models.aspx?page=models&section=P2TL&category=mtc
It weighs just 20 lbs, starts on a single pull, and has edging & double digging attachments.

Composting with an old and new pile. Add the normal compostables every few weeks by putting it in the tractor loader bucket, add to pile spread out and water than pile it back up. We use the old pile for growing new compostables. Works very well for us.




Old and new pile.





New compostables growing.

Thanks for looking.

Nice heap! I just got my boxes planted this week. Yours are looking good. I am trying to go organic this year.

If you live near a Starbucks, you can get all of the "green" you want for your pile. It is their corporate policy to give away the coffee grounds for people who want it for compost. I get a 30-40 pound bag every time I ask for it.