Damaeus Landfill Punk wrote:

I was cutting the tops off strawberries this morning while thinking about
something I heard on a gardening show that plays on the radio here. A
lady called in, said she cut up banana peels into dime-sized pieces,
worked them into the soil around her roses, and the rose bushes took off
and made roses like crazy. So my question is: why can't I just take the
fresh strawberry scraps, chop them up a bit, then sprinkle them around the
tomatoes, the bell peppers, corn, and whatever else I have growing out
there? I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here. I know why people
compost in a pile, but it seems like a lot of the nutrients from
composting would also wash directly into the soil where the compost pile
is located. Why not put a few things directly in the garden so the
growing plants get more of the nutrients?

I'm sure glad you're not my neighbor. You've worse than the lowest of
the low trailer trash mentalities... I bet you never bathe. Sounds
like a case of chronic laziness and cheap ******* disease. Placing
uncomposted foods/GARBAGE directly into your garden soil is a great
way to attract pests/vermin and introduce plant diseases. Farmers
till in silage but only at the onset of fallow periods so that there's
time for composting to occur before planting... what you're suggesting
is simply back asswards wrong. Start a compost bin and save yourself
a lot of grief. And plants don't need nor do they take much nutrition
from the soil (most people over fertilize), plants receive like 98% of
their energy from sunlight. Compost is primarilly a soil conditioner,
not a fertilizer. And very few plants have digestive systems...
plants don't absorb nutrients directly from organic matter, not until
the microbes have at it first.