First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious gardening.
That said:

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?

Damaeus

On Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:48:19 -0500, Damaeus
wrote:

First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious gardening.

Welcome.

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.

Because bananas are high in potassium, and roses like potassium. Got
a 'nana that's gone to mush, and you don't feel up to making a batch
of 'nana muffins? Lob that sucker at the base of your roses.

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?

You could. Chances are, the strawberry cuttings aren't abundant in
any particular element enough to be particularly beneficial. There's
also the amount of effort, compared to placing them into a compost
bin, along with other vegetable waste, and letting things run their
course that way.

There is "trench composting" or similar - dig a trench, drop your
compostables into it and when full enough, backfill with soil. It'll
eventually break down, though not as fast as a properly set up compost
heap.

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.

Which is why, if you've got a PILE, it's not a bad idea to alternate
where it's located. If I mound up manure compost to let it finish
composting, then doze it into the garden to till it in, the spot where
it had been mounded is very fertile, tills very easily, and has
retained a lot of moisture.

Why not put a few things directly in the garden so the growing plants
get more of the nutrients?

Well, in part because the process of composting a balanced compost
(the typical 30:1 C:N ratio) in a pile or bin is intended to help the
compost "light off" with maximum aerobic levels, raising the
temperature, which helps to kill off weed seed and pathogens, and also
to break down the material into its component nutrients. Scatter a
few misc cuttings here and there, and more likely, you'll just be
inviting the worms to eat, which is fine, but won't kill seed or
pathogens (or bug eggs) in your food waste, unless a worm consumes
that part.

Damaeus wrote:
First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious
gardening. That said:

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?

You can do that. It would be more sensible to accumulate your vege scraps
for a day or two and then dispose of them together. It is not very uncommon
for people to not have a dedicated heap but to just bury vege scaps (and
othe useful material) in beds under preparation or next to existing plants.
Just leaving the scraps on the surface will be messy.

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.

Happens all the time. The grass downhill from the heap will be the best in
the yard.

Why not put a few
things directly in the garden so the growing plants get more of the
nutrients?


People use heaps because it is less work in many cases, it gives them
greater control of the product and where it is applied, because the
breakdown is quicker (especially in hot heap) and it concentrates the mess
in one place. If none of these are important to you then don't have a heap.

D

"Damaeus" wrote in message
...
First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious gardening.
That said:

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?

That's quite legitimate and can be done as either trench composting or as I
do it in a number of spots in the garden. I've cut the bottom out of very
large plastic pots, drilled very large holes around the sides of the pots,
(so worms can go in and out at will) submerged the pots almost to the rim in
the garden and put a lid on them with either upside down pot plant saucer or
old chrome hub caps. I've started seom fo them off with mature compost and
compost worms and then thrown in kitchen scraps and I've also started others
off with soild and a mix of compost worms and earth worms.

Damaeus wrote:

First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious gardening.
That said:

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?


it is better to compost them in a bin with worms
or to use a heap or trench. i've been worm composting
(using both the red wrigglers and other species of
worms) for several years now. very fun, educational
and makes people laugh. see my other posts on the
topic (for more verbiage ).

some people don't want strawberry plants sprouting in
their rosegarden beds.

they can attract bugs/pests or increase populations
of bugs/pests already around.

consider the case where you have the innards of a squash
or melon. there are a lot of seeds in there. most of them
will sprout if not composted in a hot pile. worm composting
only consumes some of them and takes quite some time (so
far i have seeds viable in the worm bins even after a year
and a half).

banana peels are great, worms love 'em. same with
melon peels, no pretreatment needed for them.

for potato peels, carrots, beets, lettuce, celery,
brocolli, and other hard vegetables or stalks it
helps to chop and dry them first before adding them
to the bins. this helps soften/destroy the cell
structure and then when added back to something moist
they plump back up and it is much softer and the worms
go through them quickly (as compared to months and
months -- i have bins now that still contain beet tops
from last fall's processing that i didn't bother to
chop and dry as a comparison test case).

oops, actually, i don't have bins witd these any
longer as i put them all out in the gardens a few
days ago...

dehydrating also gives you more control over
moisture levels in the bins. the worms don't mind
it if it gets pretty wet, but the bins may go
into fermentation if you put too much wet soggy
stuff in all at once. which is why i like to
spread the melon rinds and innards out over a
few bins.

i avoid putting in a lot of raw onions, garlic or
citrus peels in all at once, if i have a lot of these i
bury them outside where they won't be disturbed. too
smelly or the worms don't seem to like them. we don't
eat a ton of citrus here so i haven't yet experimented
with drying and crumbling them gradually into the bins.
probably would make some difference. next time i have
enough to make a good experiment of it i will give it
a run...

your comment about the juices and good stuff leaching
out of a pile are fair. that is why i use bins/buckets
and worms, then all the nutrients are consumed or
retained until i put the worms/worm poo out in the
gardens and i put them down in the ground where the
roots are, not up on the surface. buried deeply enough
this will also help keep any seeds from sprouting and
also give the worms a cooler environment.

i do not separate the worms out from the poo as
once you get enough bins going you'll have plenty
of worms to use to start a new bin when you need
one. a few scoops and a bin is up and running. when
i put worms out in the gardens i take about 1/5-1/4
of a bin of soil from the garden to refurbish. this
is for the bins that have regular earthworms and not
all composting worms. this way i'm building up my
population of worms in all layers of the soil and
not just the composters of organic stuff near the
surface.


songbird

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.

"Damaeus" wrote in message
...
First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious gardening.
That said:

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?

Don't ever add strawberry plant parts to the tomato garden and vice versa.
They share some of the same diseases.


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?

Damaeus

In news:rec.gardens, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 posted on Sun, 03 Jun 2012
09:25:57 -0400 the following:

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.

I see you're not satisfied just trolling rec.food.cooking.

And I shower at least twice a day, plus as needed, thank you.

Damaeus

In news:rec.gardens, Sean Straw posted on
Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:11:13 -0700 the following:

Well, in part because the process of composting a balanced compost
(the typical 30:1 C:N ratio) in a pile or bin is intended to help the
compost "light off" with maximum aerobic levels, raising the
temperature, which helps to kill off weed seed and pathogens, and also
to break down the material into its component nutrients. Scatter a
few misc cuttings here and there, and more likely, you'll just be
inviting the worms to eat, which is fine, but won't kill seed or
pathogens (or bug eggs) in your food waste, unless a worm consumes
that part.

Thanks for the response. So far I haven't done anything for the plants I
have growing except water them, and aside from a few bugs munching on the
leaves of some red cabbage an jalapeno plants, so far everything appears
to be disease-free, but the plants are all still young since I was almost
too late planting.

Damaeus

In news:rec.gardens, "David Hare-Scott" posted on Sun,
3 Jun 2012 14:31:00 +1000 the following:

Damaeus wrote:

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?

You can do that. It would be more sensible to accumulate your vege
scraps for a day or two and then dispose of them together. It is not
very uncommon for people to not have a dedicated heap but to just bury
vege scaps (and othe useful material) in beds under preparation or next
to existing plants. Just leaving the scraps on the surface will be
messy.

Ah, yes. Well, I did intend to work them into the soil a bit. Maybe I'll
stick it all in the food processor while it's still fresh so it'll spread
around more easily.

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.

Happens all the time. The grass downhill from the heap will be the best
in the yard.

If I decide to do a compost pile, perhaps I'll do it under the pear tree.

Damaeus

In news:rec.gardens, "Farm1" posted on Sun, 3
Jun 2012 16:47:22 +1000 the following:

I've cut the bottom out of very large plastic pots, drilled very large
holes around the sides of the pots, (so worms can go in and out at will)
submerged the pots almost to the rim in the garden and put a lid on them
with either upside down pot plant saucer or old chrome hub caps. I've
started seom fo them off with mature compost and compost worms and then
thrown in kitchen scraps and I've also started others off with soild and
a mix of compost worms and earth worms.

That sounds like a nice idea... The pot would act as a partial barrier
(except where the holes are) so you get a "slow-release" fertilizer.

Damaeus

On Sun, 3 Jun 2012 06:38:00 -0400, songbird
wrote:

consider the case where you have the innards of a squash
or melon. there are a lot of seeds in there. most of them
will sprout if not composted in a hot pile.

The 95% solution: feed such scraps to chickens, who will ravenously
consume them. out of the MANY squash seeds (from the "guts" I've fed
my chickens), I've had just four volunteers crop up this year in prior
locations of my chicken tractor. Of course, if the chickens were
still situated where they'd been fed the seeds, they'd have consumed
the sprout as it emerged, so survivors are merely a function of my own
process. I just dig 'em up with a post hole digger and transplant
them anyway...

banana peels are great, worms love 'em. same with
melon peels, no pretreatment needed for them.

Also, both are excellent sources of moisture, which the worm bin needs
(in balance).

from last fall's processing that i didn't bother to
chop and dry as a comparison test case).

taking some partially composted material and sending it through a
chipper-shreader with straw (from a straw bale) works wonders. Small
bits = more surface area, and therefore more surface for bacteria to
break them down.

Don't ever add strawberry plant parts to the tomato garden and vice
versa.
They share some of the same diseases.
Out of curiosity, what diseases? mildew?

Verticillium wilt, most notably.

Sean Straw wrote:
songbird wrote:

consider the case where you have the innards of a squash
or melon. there are a lot of seeds in there. most of them
will sprout if not composted in a hot pile.

The 95% solution: feed such scraps to chickens, who will ravenously
consume them. out of the MANY squash seeds (from the "guts" I've fed
my chickens), I've had just four volunteers crop up this year in prior
locations of my chicken tractor. Of course, if the chickens were
still situated where they'd been fed the seeds, they'd have consumed
the sprout as it emerged, so survivors are merely a function of my own
process. I just dig 'em up with a post hole digger and transplant
them anyway...

some of us don't want to keep other animals
(or can't because of limited space or abilities).
for me keeping worms is enough.

right now i'm snipping them off when they sprout
in a garden where i don't want them to grow.
instant green manure.


banana peels are great, worms love 'em. same with
melon peels, no pretreatment needed for them.

Also, both are excellent sources of moisture, which the worm bin needs
(in balance).

heh, i just put out many lbs of very soggy
worms and they were very healthy. short of
swimming they are fine. heavier to move though.
and not recommended until there are enough worms
to keep it oxygenated. a bin with only a few
worms and a lot of veggie scraps will likely
ferment or get into other kinds of rot that
don't smell good. a wet soggy bin on the good
side of things smells like the bottom of a ditch
or swamp.


from last fall's processing that i didn't bother to
chop and dry as a comparison test case).

taking some partially composted material and sending it through a
chipper-shreader with straw (from a straw bale) works wonders. Small
bits = more surface area, and therefore more surface for bacteria to
break them down.

we wouldn't get enough use out of a chipper/shredder
to make it worth owning one. i did get a medium duty
paper shredder as that freed up more space than it took
up. that was my concession last year to gadgetry. it
has turned out very well as all the cardboard, cardstock
and paper now gets recycled for garden use (via the
worm bins or used as mulch). the worms really like
shredded cardboard (the secret is the glue and all those
spaces it has in it, plus it holds moisture well).

any pieces of wood that we have that we don't use as
an edge gets buried, the critters and fungi break them
down eventually.


songbird

Damaeus wrote:

First of all, this is my first year doing any type of serious gardening.

Mine too. In the past, I've only grown Habenero peppers. This year it's
Habeneros, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Lettuce, Zuchine, and Rosemary.

That said
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? ...

How much stock can be put into this instant reaction rose bush scenario?

Are there any vegetables that thrive on peels or rinds?