Compost Pile Advice

 Hi everyone.  I am a novice gardener and first time homeowner who has
a question about composting.  I have a corner in my backyard that I
have used to dump grass clipping, leaves, and small twigs for the
better part of the year.  Now that spring has sprung, I walked to that
corner of the yard expecting to find some black gold that I can use on
my rose and vegetable garden.  But what I found instead, was a bunch
of stinky wet leaves that were blackened, but not fully decomposed.
Now I figure that everything is in the process of decomposing, but I
thought that I would have had more by now.  So here are my questions:

1.  I am generally lazy, so will the compost pile still decompose if I
don't go out and turn it?  Or is turning it a must?
2.  Are there any additives I can add that will naturally speed the
decomposition process?  I remember hearing on TV that bone meal can be
sprinkled on the pile in between layers, but I wasn't sure if that did
anything.
3.  Are grass and leaves enough variety to get a good pile going?
Again, I am lazy, so saving and bringing food scraps out to the back
of the yard is really a bummer.  :)

Thanks for your input!

 In article



More air quickens the process as does particle size which is the same
thing.  Time.


  
 Nitrogen,   Blood,    Manures some are expensive some are thrown away
go with the latter.  Time again.


 You are not composting you are rotting.  Still you are not trashing
things that were once alive.

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9780878579914-0


 Bill who thinks improving your soil is good for you and future folks.

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

 On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:54:35 -0700 (PDT),


http://journeytoforever.org/compost.html

http://www.howtocompost.org/cat_generalinfo.asp

http://www.compostguide.com/

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/kleberg/Composting.html

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/Composting_homepage.html

http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach.html

http://www.homestead.org/Gardening/Ruth%20Stout%20-%20The%20No-Dig%20Duchess.htm

Should tell ya' what ya' need to know.

Care
Charlie

 


Nope! I don't want you and Don all over me butt about this! :-)  I just
figgered that since the OP seemed to be ...something....about their
laziness, I sure as hell wasn't gonna spoonfeed 'em.  They can learn a
little about what they need to know by ...... study!  Gardening, even
minimalist methods sometimes require a bit of sweat equity.   Maybe
someone else will get some good out of the links I've collected, and
discovered, here in the last year or so.

I got's lots of opinions..but on this, I don't know.  Don't most
anthelmintics work systemically?  Or do they act directly in the gut
upon the parasites?

If the latter is the case, then I would wonder also about doing damage
in the worm farm.

We'll await ideas from Lee.

Sliocht sleachta ar shliocht bhur sleachta
Charlie

 Charlie wrote in


most are systemic, even the ones given orally. i give the
llamas & goats the shots though, mostly because that way they
get *into* the animal instead if all over me (and i'm more
worried about menengial worms in the brain/spinal cord than
gut worms).
 i'm not sure if they would affect earthworms anyway.
did you know that there are no native earthworms in the US?
they're all imported.
lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.