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Old 09-04-2003, 05:56 AM
cat daddy
 
Posts: n/a
Default quick composting question.......

My new secret is a 5 lb. /$2.50 bag of rabbit food from Callahan's. I
fill the bag with water to soak and sprinkle in the mush. I've never had my
compost get so hot. I inverted a plastic kiddie pool on top to capture the
steam.
Now, I can mulch mow and not have to empty the bag.

"Betsy" wrote in message
...
snip
FYI - alfalfa and cottonseed meal is SOO much cheaper if you buy it in a

big
bag at the feedstore, rather than in fussy little bags at the garden

store.
I bought a 40 lb. sack of cottonseed meal at Buck Moore Feed for less than
ten dollars, enough to feed your garden and supplement your compost pile

for
a couple of years.

"GATR" wrote in message
...

If you have a mower with a bag, cut your grass and add one or two bags

of
grass clippings. The nitrogen in the grass will cause the pile to heat

up.
I
did this about three weeks ago, several days before a cold spell. I

walked
out one morning when the temp was around 40 and stuck my rake in the

pile
to
turn it. The heat from the pile hit the cold air causing it to condense

so
much that I thought the durn thing was on fire. I cut my grass Sunday

and
did the same thing. I checked on it awhile ago and it was heating

nicely.
No
need for any other means of combustion.

I also read a tip in the paper some time ago that said you could add

small
pieces of paper. It occurred to me that I could add the bills I shred to

the
pile. I'm going to start doing that as well. (Not for combust the pile,
though.) I don't know about colored paper so I'll probably just use

white
paper that doesn't have a lot of colored ink in it. My compost does not

go
on vegetables so it shouldn't matter.

The earlier poster (animaux?) was right about keeping it wet. The grass

has
really helped break up the cantas that I had put in there some months

ago.