More on compost

yes even in January you can compost.

I just took the last batch straight from the house-coffee grounds and egg shell mainly, spread that and some lime where I want to grow asparagus. then I took cardboard ( it's not trash it's gold!)and covered it all up. I used fresh cardboard first and old rotten cardboard ( I stack it, in the woods, to let it get thoroughly wet and perhaps give a home to more earthworms) on top to hold it down. it doesn;t need to move for 3 or 4 months; and though dry cardboard will blow away; you could use a few bricks, etc to hold it if need be.I can pull this up and add it to the garden paths, back in the woods or, if rotten enough,to the big compost pile.

hopefully the sod will be killed, and biological activity fired up enough, to dig my trench, plant my asparagus, and that;s that.What;s left of the trench sod will also go in the cmpost-as we'll be adding layers as the asparagus grows.I add all my seed starting material to the pile as well.

We did berries last year; layered cardboard, leaves, grass trimmings, and some compost. they are doing very well!holes were easy to dig. they'll need a new bed of mulch this year. straw probably. if the scythe ever gets here, I'll cut it myself!

Sod cut and stacked and allowed to rot-is loam. talk about a perfect growing medium or compost.

Maybe I have made my point. Nothing that was organic is really trash!it's nature;s way to rot stuff-and let the soil organisms and later the plants eat it.

Leaves are easiest to use if chopped up first. so let's mow leaves not grass? I kind of like that.

You don;t have enough stuff for compost? what about buying a bag of alfalfa meal or pellets at your co-op or feed store, and layering that with straw, leaves, etc. Alfalfa is wonderful stuff.( think nitrogen) a bag of fifty lbs ought to have you making compost for a while.Mine gets-processed through the goats in the winter.A better diet for them means a better manure for the gardens.They browse in the summer helping us keep down weeds and getting fat and happy.and the trees get fed as they browse!

even poop isn;t wasteful!

Speaking of which; a bag of cheap dog food ( you want corn and soy in it!) will also help fire up a compost pile.Pet manure is not considered safe for compost nor are meat scraps and the like. but you can still reduce your household trash a great deal by composting.you Could pressure cook your chicken bones, etc and add the ground up mess to the compost; I just haven;t done that in a while ( it;s a great additive for homemade dog food)

I even take the bird;s papers and poops and put it in the compost. feathers-yes that too.

And lest we forget...Starbucks will supposedly give away their used grounds. Coffee grounds are wonderful sources for the compost pile, and don;t worry about the filters. they rot too.

I understand those with mostly cotton clothing can even add the lint to their piles!

Non kitchen type refuse ( garden plants leaves straw etc) are perfectly OK in an open pile., I do keep kitchen scraps in a bin; I have dogs. enough said. I add the bin product to the big pile 4 or 5 times a year.

and if you are using minerals-add it to the compost every few weeks. it will boost that activity and be ready for the garden without having to use amendments all the time.

Compost is an easy way to fertilize your grass. let a bucket or two dry for a day or so; put it in your spreader and off you go. no chemicals on the lawn and happy grass.I also use the wood ashes on the lawn, have on the garden too but we need more oomph and so are back to lime.

one more thought-if you take all those sticks and twigs you had to cut last fall, layer them thickly, a foot or 2 is not too much, you can throw some soil and compost on it and grow things! try a pile like this for potatoes.

there is no reason for us to throw away our refuse, and then buy fertilizer, etc. What a waste of resources and money. Let's use nature;s way!