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Old 22-08-2003, 07:04 AM
Allan Matthews
 
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Default New to composting

Last month I built a raised garden and after reading this ng decided
to make some compost. I went to a local business and got four
discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.
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Old 22-08-2003, 07:04 AM
Fito
 
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Default New to composting


"Allan Matthews" wrote in message
...
Last month I built a raised garden and after reading this ng decided
to make some compost. I went to a local business and got four
discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.


Go he http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/


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Old 22-08-2003, 01:12 PM
Pat Kiewicz
 
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Default New to composting

Allan Matthews said:

Last month I built a raised garden and after reading this ng decided
to make some compost. I went to a local business and got four
discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.


Uh -- that pile sounds like it is short of high-carbon material and will be
stinking soon. I'd knock down the pallets, then mix in some wood chips
and shredded paper right away. (Maybe 10% by volume wood chips,
10% paper.) Mix it up and *then* fork it into the bin. Layering is for
lasagna.

If you are interested, email me for instructions on hot, batch composting.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

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Old 22-08-2003, 02:22 PM
NS9G
 
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Default New to composting


"Allan Matthews" wrote in message
...
Last month I built a raised garden and after reading this ng decided
to make some compost. I went to a local business and got four
discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.


Sounds like a lot of work. I just use that sort of stuff as mulch. It will
compost itself.
--
73 de Bob NS9G


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Old 22-08-2003, 03:02 PM
Pat Meadows
 
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Default New to composting

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 18:34:11 -0400, Allan Matthews
wrote:

Last month I built a raised garden and after reading this ng decided
to make some compost. I went to a local business and got four
discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.


Add your (non-meat) kitchen scraps too.

Pat
--
"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry


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Old 22-08-2003, 05:02 PM
NS9G
 
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Default New to composting


"Allan Matthews" wrote in message
...
Last month I built a raised garden and after reading this ng decided
to make some compost. I went to a local business and got four
discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.


On the subject of Moldy (mouldy?) hay, I had 42 bales given to me a few
years ago.A friend gave me some seed potatoes that had already been cut up
so I dropped them on top of the ground across my garden and covered with
about 8 inches of hay. It was the best potato crop I have ever had.
--
73 de Bob NS9G


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Old 22-08-2003, 07:32 PM
dstvns
 
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Default New to composting

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 18:34:11 -0400, Allan Matthews
wrote:

discarded pallets, stood them upright and wired the corners so I have
a bin about 5 feet square and 3 1/2 feet high. Yesterday I got four
bales of moldy hay that was left in the field last year. Put about 6
inches in the bottom of the bin then started mowing lawn and bagging
clippings. I moistened the hay then layered grass clippings and moldy
hay until the bin was full. Grass was also moist..Appreciate any
suggestions.


That's a really ingenious and inexpensive way to make a compost bin.
Also use any vegetable or fruit kitchen scraps, plus eggshells and
even brown paper grocery bags. Perhaps you could pile it all up once
a week and run over / bag it with the lawn mower

When I first started composting it was great to see less going in the
garbage...I was able to cut the weekly garbage load in half just by
starting a compost bin...we are usually the only house with a
half-full SINGLE can on our street on garbage day. The compost
doesn't hang around for long, at least not in the warm
weather....sometimes it's gone within 2-3 weeks if dug under properly.
At an average of 10 lbs of scraps each week, in the past 4 years I
figure we've kept a full ton of scraps from going in the landfill and
staying in the garden.

Dan

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Old 23-08-2003, 01:02 AM
Bob
 
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Default New to composting


"dstvns" wrote in message
...

That's a really ingenious and inexpensive way to make a compost bin.
Also use any vegetable or fruit kitchen scraps, plus eggshells and
even brown paper grocery bags.


Animals spread eggshells from my neighbor's compost all over the place. I'd
skip that.

Bob


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Old 23-08-2003, 01:22 AM
Jan Flora
 
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Default New to composting

In article wcx1b.172055$cF.59391@rwcrnsc53, "Bob"
wrote:

"dstvns" wrote in message
...

That's a really ingenious and inexpensive way to make a compost bin.
Also use any vegetable or fruit kitchen scraps, plus eggshells and
even brown paper grocery bags.


Animals spread eggshells from my neighbor's compost all over the place. I'd
skip that.

Bob


If you crush the eggshells, the critters won't spread them. I always laugh
when I see a raven fly off with an eggshell in it's beak, out of my compost
pile. (Ravens are *huge* egg thieves -- they steal the eggs out of birds nests.
They also steal shiny things. My SO loses at least one wris****ch a year
to the ravens, when he takes one off to pull a calf that's having trouble
being born.)

Jan
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Old 23-08-2003, 04:12 AM
Pam Rudd
 
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Default New to composting

When last we left our heros, on Fri, 22 Aug 2003 15:20:33 -0800,
(Jan Flora) scribbled:

In article wcx1b.172055$cF.59391@rwcrnsc53, "Bob"
wrote:

"dstvns" wrote in message
...

That's a really ingenious and inexpensive way to make a compost bin.
Also use any vegetable or fruit kitchen scraps, plus eggshells and
even brown paper grocery bags.


Animals spread eggshells from my neighbor's compost all over the place. I'd
skip that.

Bob


If you crush the eggshells, the critters won't spread them. I always laugh
when I see a raven fly off with an eggshell in it's beak, out of my compost
pile.


In the spring I crush and spread my egg shells like bread crumbs
for the birds. Everything from the robins to the wrens get some.



(Ravens are *huge* egg thieves -- they steal the eggs out of birds nests.
They also steal shiny things. My SO loses at least one wris****ch a year
to the ravens, when he takes one off to pull a calf that's having trouble
being born.)


Heh, the crows were I used to live were bad about picking up
shiny bits of garbage from around the city and leaving them in
my yard. I had a scuppernong arbor they liked to congregate
in. One day I saw a crow drop something shiny, and went to
pick up the "garbage". It was a shiny...quarter.

I still have it, it's my lucky quarter.

Pam



---

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
--Benjamin Franklin


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Old 23-08-2003, 04:12 PM
Pam Rudd
 
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Default New to composting

When last we left our heros, on Sat, 23 Aug 2003 11:11:05 GMT,
"Compostman" scribbled:




"Pam Rudd" wrote in message
.. .

In the spring I crush and spread my egg shells like bread crumbs
for the birds. Everything from the robins to the wrens get some.


That's better than putting them in compost. Egg shells are not organic and
don't breakdown very well.


shrug It all breaks down, maybe not on our schedule; but it all
breaks down. What the birds don't eat gets worked into the soil
or buried under mulch. It may not be available next year, but it
will be sometime.


I put them in the oven after it's been used to
dry them out, then when I have a lot of them, I pulverize them in a blender
and put them around plants that need a higher pH (my soil is a little acid),
such as asparagus, hostas, tomatoes. (Any plant that you'd add lime to the
soil.)


I dry mine in the oven, too. No sense in giving the cockroaches
'round here any encouragement. Damn Palmetto bugs will fly in
with the birds!

Pam



---

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
--Benjamin Franklin
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Old 25-08-2003, 03:22 PM
Frogleg
 
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Default New to composting

On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 11:11:05 GMT, "Compostman"
wrote:

"Pam Rudd" wrote


In the spring I crush and spread my egg shells like bread crumbs
for the birds. Everything from the robins to the wrens get some.


That's better than putting them in compost. Egg shells are not organic


?? What are they? Polystyrene? Aluminum foil?

don't breakdown very well.


I hate to argue with someone named Compostman, but I've been rinsing,
crushing, and adding the few eggshells I have to compost for years and
they seem to be absorbed into the mass. Or maybe the birds got them.
While I tend to lean away from folkloric recipes, crushed eggshells
are often recommended as a calcium source for both roses, where a long
decomposition time wouldn't be crucial, and tomatoes -- an annual for
which they'd be no use at all if their calcium didn't become rather
quickly available to the plant.
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Old 26-08-2003, 12:12 PM
Jan Flora
 
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Default New to composting

In article , Frogleg
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 11:11:05 GMT, "Compostman"
wrote:

"Pam Rudd" wrote


In the spring I crush and spread my egg shells like bread crumbs
for the birds. Everything from the robins to the wrens get some.


That's better than putting them in compost. Egg shells are not organic


?? What are they? Polystyrene? Aluminum foil?

don't breakdown very well.


I hate to argue with someone named Compostman, but I've been rinsing,
crushing, and adding the few eggshells I have to compost for years and
they seem to be absorbed into the mass. Or maybe the birds got them.
While I tend to lean away from folkloric recipes, crushed eggshells
are often recommended as a calcium source for both roses, where a long
decomposition time wouldn't be crucial, and tomatoes -- an annual for
which they'd be no use at all if their calcium didn't become rather
quickly available to the plant.


I've been trying to figure out how a chicken (or any bird) could produce an
inorganic shell out of her body. Eggshells are calcium and whatever else,
but they're by-god organic, compostman. Get a grip, dude!

Jan
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Old 26-08-2003, 06:02 PM
Emmet Cummings
 
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Default New to composting

I've been trying to figure out how a chicken (or any bird) could produce
an
inorganic shell out of her body. Eggshells are calcium and whatever else,
but they're by-god organic, compostman. Get a grip, dude!

Jan


Well, from a chemistry viewpoint 'organic' refers to anything deriving from
carbon compounds. I suppose eggshells are more like rocks i.e. through
erosion its properties leach into the soil. However, the dictionary states:
"Of, relating to, or derived from living organisms." So it all depends on
what viewpoint you grip onto.



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