A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 What did you feed your compost today?

Hey Francine I can't think of any reason why you couldn't compost apples - except you might get some apple tree seedlings if you put the seeds in the heap

Me either...

I know you can even compost rhubarb leaves
and nothing will happen either...

Well this morning I turned the compost bin and added about half a load of grass clippings. No suprise there I'm sure. My trees still aren't letting go of their leaves in any great numbers but I'm sure it isn't going to be to long now before they do. I'm taking a break after that chore. That's always such heavy work. Nice thing about it is that by next Sunday everything that was partially decomposed this time should be fully composed and I can add it all to the garden. What I gleaned today will fill the pots for the rest of the tomato cuttings.

Francine

Thank you so much, I did get the seeds. I was so excited, my sister in law was laughing at me. I had to even phone my Mother to tell her what I got LOL LOL. Thank you Thank you.

My compost got a good feed yesterday. There was a big meal served here...and it got all the cabbage leaves, onion peelings and such...celery and carrots too.

And coffee grounds GALORE!

Is too many coffee grounds good for it..as my parents own a small coffee shop...so I can get LOTS of grounds.

and we drink WAY too much coffee here too.

I think you can add as much as you like. I would probably drink to much coffee too if I had a close relative in the business. That's super cool.

Well yesterday I ran out of energy before I ran out of things to do. So I just finished sweeping up the area around the compost bin that I turned yesterday so it didn't look like a mess lol. And then I sweep half of the leaves that had fallen into the small compost pile. After this cup of coffee I'll go back out and sweep up the other half and put them in the big reserve pile and they see about getting those two piles mixed up. Neither are on palets so I don't expect much of them as far as decomposing. My thinking is that if they haven't decomposed by the time the bin is ready for another load of raw material then in it goes lol.

I love-a-love-a-love my garden.

My composter....got a big treat yesterday.

potato peelings
cauliflower (and leaves from)
carrot peelings
onion peelings
egg shells
coffee grounds
cardboard
some ripped up paper
leftover black coffee


I love this.

My composter is stinking though...and has alot of flies in there...is this normal??

smell and flies are a sign that you don't have enough brown in there. Weezie suggests 75% brown and 25% green and that is a really good mix in my limited experience. But I have stopped the stink with as little as 50% brown and 50% green.

Good luck with your composting.

dear sir
wht is the solution fr the wealy?

any body from gujarat ?

Woohoo almost the entire compost bin was finished or almost finished compost today. I couldn't put it all out today my elbow is still being a pain. But I got out about half of it and added some new from the reserve pile. Come Sunday or Monday depending again on the elbow I'll get the rest out and into the garden and add a complete load of leaves and grass. It sure is nice to have good weather for this and gardening so far into the fall. It was hard being stuck inside in the excessive heat this summer. I hope all the seeds I chose for next year will survive the heat and lack of water. I'm alittle concerned about all of that.

I fed my compost coffee, and the grounds, potatoes with the peels they were going bad, salad mix, beet peels and tops, carrots raw and with the greens, soda flat,grapes, rice, leaves brown plants and grass, cherry tomatoes that went bad, and more......... It's really getting clumpy and need to find a screen soon!!!!!

I think I finally have my mixture right...seems to be working ...YEAH!!!

tea bags
coffe grounds and filter
egg shells
banana peel
garlic paper
shredded junk mail
bread
vegtbles peelings
dry leaves
garden clippings

Well I've finally kicked the caffiene habit with help. So the compost bin got a big dollop of coffee lol. It also got a large dose of spinach, celery tops and other assorted things to help the dry grass clippings get going. I don't think I'm going to get out there to turn it today. I could suprise myself but I'm kind of tired already so I don't think so.

Hope you all have a great day.

Can I put the entire tomato plant in the compost pile or just the yucky, left over tomatoes?

Also, do you guys cover your garden areas (flower and vege) with compost for the winter? If you do what do you do in the spring when things start sprouting? How do you know it's not weeds or things you don't want?

"shredded bills and other junk "

Is there more than 1 Bill? Were they hurt in the process? Is it nice to refer to someone as "junk"

Sheri,
I don't put any tomato plants in mine,
but I have that disease in my soil....
So, I don't, cause it would keep it coming
back and be a really vicious cycle...

I do leave some tomatoes on the sides of
my beds... I like to get some volunteers and
give some plants away...

You can put your compost on your soil now, if
you have all of your plants out and can do that..
And/or have lot's to do that with...

How do you tell the stuff that's sprouting....
For me.... it's letting it go long enough to
learn and remember what the stuff is... as it
sprouts....I remember what the first leaves look like, and then what the first TRUE leaves look like, and soon, you'll reconize it right off....
Time and Patiences and willing to keep looking
at the seedlings...

And posting a picture here for fun of it, just
to make sure what it is...
YOU KNOW HOW WE LOVE GOOD MYSTERIES HERE!!!!!!!!

Ok..I am new to composting (never had a real place to actually do much until now), and after reading everything that can go into the compost bin...I have been throwing away ALOT of useful "stuff" that the compost bin should be getting. But I do have a question...We have wood heat, can I use "some" of the wood ashes in the compost bin????

YES, it is very good for your compost pile....
AS LONG AS IT'S JUST WOOD!!!

But don't put tooooooo much in...
It can be over done if you do....

*as when composts' are done, it is very
close to alkaline... and putting in the
wood ash would put it way over the end of
alkaline... like too much...

A good sprinklin' in between layers when
you do your green/browns.. you should be good to go...

****We used to use some of our wood ashes,
on our driveway in the winter time, so we wouldn't slip on it when the driveway would ice over..*we lived on a hill, so we needed something
to ruff up the slippery driveway!!!****

And another foot note, no coal ashes either....
Those are very icky for composts...

Ok..Thanks for the advice, I had planned to just sprinkle a little on the pile...I will have toooo much ash to use for anything, I do always save some for the ice storms we get...I sprinkle it on the gravel road in front of our house to remove the ice.

Ok here's a laugh for all of you composters...I am now going gung ho with composting, I was digging through the trash can today, I already separate all of my trash, so it wasn't too yucky...recycling everything useable for the compost bin. And I have already informed hubby that certain items goes into a different trash can for the compost pile. I do have another question: I have a 5 pound bag of flour that has weevils in it...can this be put in the pile???

I cant see why not...I know I would throw it in...but you may want to wait for someone else to answer your question. As I am new to this composting this too.

It is addicting I tell you! I LOVE it!

Good Luck with your new found hobby.

I will be sprinking in some ashes today too...and maybe turning it...dont know if I should be yet, but I just cant wait any longer..I have to see what is going on in there LMAO

I've been known to throw bad flour and cornmeal on the compost pile.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You...I am sure I will have more questions later on.