The volunteer tomato plant that has been growing out of my compost bin definitely looks healthy but given its rapid foliage growth and no fruit I guess I don’t need to do any soil tests to confirm my compost is high in nitrogen. Note to self, don’t grow tomatoes in pure compost.
There are many benefits to composting your household wastes like kitchen scraps, leaves, grass clippings and so on. One of the main benefits is that you can use the compost that you’ve created on your own garden or perhaps your lawn if you don’t have a garden.
Our plants and trees can gain much needed nutrients when we amend the soil around them with compost. . .
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to compost
on Aug 28, 2008, 10:16PM
Posted by Tricia Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-08-29, 05:47:34
Well, I'm back. I was going to take the rest of the summer off from blogging and focus on my career but my career is just too boring. The plan was to read a lot of programming books (I build corporate intranet sites for a living, you know IT stuff), take some training courses and update my certifications and get back into consulting but I that would have been a miserable summer.
I'm still going to update my skillset and look for consulting spots but I'm going to blog about compost while I'm doing it.
For those who enjoy satire, you might like to read this spoof article on gardening. Sometimes I wish I had a gardener instead of a garden.
But my main topic today is not satire, far from it. I am talking about composting, and a product that was sent to me by a representative of "Bag To Earth". These cellulose-lined brown paper bags can be used to collect wet kitchen scraps and then you can just throw them "as is" into the backyard composter. The thin cellulose lining ensures damp items don't soak through the paper, but yet is completely natural and will decompose quickly.
From the Kitchen Counter...
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to compost
Posted by Karen Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-07-07, 06:49:25
June brings the start of summer as children finish with school and the temperatures start to rise. June also brings the celebration of a tall glass of refreshing iced tea. June 1 to June 30 is National Iced Tea month. Iced tea was created in the U.S. at the St. Louis World Fair. Too hot to drink hot tea, a clever vendor added ice and created an American favorite. . .
The more it gets working, the more it begins to smell
Long periods of sitting around doing nothing are parenthesized by short bursts of activity
It devours seemingly non-edible foodstuffs with inanimate ease
Just when you think it looks HOT it lets off gas
It needs to be turned and prodded to get it working
It's preferred habitat is outdoors and within close proximity to the shed
Worms and bugs crawling all over it doesn't seem to bother it - in fact, it seems to attract them
No matter how much you water it, it still stinks!
If you spread it too thin it has very little benefit
However, it does keep getting better with age
For those who were looking for something a little more related to compost (ie. serious stuff!) then you could check out some of my past posts on how to compost, a review of the humble compost tumbler or how to make compost bins.
This was just a little fun. Hope you got a giggle from it...
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to compost whimsy
on Jun 2, 2008, 6:54PM
"Compost Happy"
This just in. This is also listed in the Flatbush Gardener Google Calendar in the sidebar.
Bike Tour to Explore Brooklyn's Composting Sites, Saturday May 31
Come one, come all to the Compost Tour de Brooklyn. It's free, fun and...
I saw this video about a magic compost bin on GroovyGreen today and I'm not quite sure how to describe it. I'll just let these lyrics speak for themselves.
When Granddad died from drinking gin, We put him in my compost bin. I can compost anything, In my Mama's compost bin.
reBlogged
to compost whimsy
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost, whimsy on 2008-05-28, 07:00:12
Compost tea is a treat for the garden. Not only is it easily used by garden plants, but it provides plenty of food for soil microbes, who are, undoubtedly, the...
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to compost
on May 17, 2008, 9:30AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-05-18, 04:23:50
Here's a quick peek inside my composter. There are layers of garden waste layered below the current level. I go on walks to find old leaves to add to the layers since most of my garden waste is green. . ..
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to compost
on Apr 10, 2008, 11:37AM
Posted by earlysnowdrop Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-04-11, 06:40:38
Used coffee grounds can easily be recycled, by mixing them into your compost pile. If you don't drink much coffee, maybe you'd like a free source of used coffee grounds....
reBlogged
to compost
on Apr 10, 2008, 3:43AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-04-11, 06:39:36
They say that there's no such thing as bad press but after reading this article at the BBC, I'm not so sure anymore.
I've always said that the more we hear about compost in the news, the better it is for everyone. You know, to get the word out that it's good for the environment and all. Well I may have to retract that statement now. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-04-10, 06:45:38
Several years ago my sweet brother made this double stalled compost bin for me. Pretty handy because its easy to turn the compost by just forking it from one side to the other. It is all screwed together; screws being the only way to go. The bins are 3' x 4' x 3' deep. The spacers on the slidy-slat front are wine corks. . . .
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to compost
Posted by weeder1 Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-04-08, 07:04:25
Wow! What can I say… There were over 5,000 entries for the composter giveaway and I think that I had a record number of comments on that post.
The Composter Giveaway is now closed and a winner has been selected. Robert Fantom from New York is the proud winner of the Urban Compost Bin Tumbler. He. . .
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to compost tools
on Apr 1, 2008, 8:46AM
Posted by Hanna Reblogged by Old Roses to compost, tools on 2008-04-02, 06:17:18
If you took a look in my Kitchen Compost Crock, no matter what day of the week it was, you'd probably find coffee grinds (with the filters) and egg shells. In fact you could even rename my crock, the coffee grind and egg shell holder and that would be okay with me. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-03-28, 18:14:49
I was looking over the Compost Bin stats the other day and noticed that lots of people who are searching for the keywords "Buy Compost New Jersey" wind up at my site. So it's probably a good idea to help those people out. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-03-26, 06:02:47
What I love about this article from Green-Talk.com on how to compost old coffee grounds is the way it captures a process that is played out again and again, wherever...
reBlogged
to compost
on Mar 11, 2008, 2:56AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-03-13, 00:02:11
In this video, Bentley “The Compost Guy†Christie is being interviewed by GreenerBusiness about compost. I recently discovered his blog and have been glued to his Bokashi updates. I've been meaning to try Bokashi for a while now but couldn't really find any good instructions until I found The Compost Guy blog.
In the video he discusses starting compost, worm composting and Bokashi. If you're like me and starved for any form of gardening and sick of the cold weather and snow, then it's definitely worth a view.
reBlogged
to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-03-07, 06:21:46
One of the coolest things about being a garden blogger is that I get free stuff. Which sometimes doesn’t seem quite right. I get free stuff just for fretting and philosophizing about plants online. When did the world get that cool? The Scottish part of me is just in free heaven.
Sometimes, I get free stuff. . .
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to compost
on Mar 4, 2008, 9:01PM
Posted by Hanna Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-03-06, 05:48:18
Here's a cool composting project that my wife would never let me try in a million years.
What's that honey? You ran out of hot water in the shower? Okay, let me go throw some coffee grinds on the compost pile and that'll get it cooking again. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-03-04, 17:58:27
The other day I was wandering around Costco during my lunch break, enjoying a nice buffet of free samples, when I saw something that almost made me drop my Swedish meatball. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-02-29, 18:04:53
As a coffee lover, I was delighted when I first learned coffee grounds could be used in the garden. There was a while there when "they" were saying that...
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to compost
on Feb 16, 2008, 8:01PM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-02-18, 19:31:45
Whenever the authorities come knocking on my door, I quickly grab my secret documents and start shredding them. Oh wait, that's not me, I think that was in a movie that I saw recently. That's right, I'm just the guy that shreds paper for the compost bin. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-02-12, 19:03:03
After a recent Gardening Australia episode informed me that compost was NOT suitable as a mulch, I was faced with a new reality requiring a paradigm shift from my current thinking.
Or did I?
Are GA reporters infallible and can their advice be trusted without question? Hmmm... it was time to think this one through a little more. . . .
reBlogged
to compost mulch
on Jan 20, 2008, 4:05PM
Posted by Stuart Reblogged by Old Roses to compost, mulch on 2008-01-22, 18:55:24
Now here's a good idea that's almost ready for prime time. You may have heard that they can now make biodegradable plastic using corn. So the whole supermarket paper or plastic argument may be going away sometime soon. But did you know your next picnic or BBQ could become more green too? All you need is some compostable cutlery. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-01-21, 18:13:30
Using compost in caring for landscape plants is still touted in magazines and newspapers. What bothers me is the assumption in many of these articles that lots and lots of folks still make their own compost. In fact, the opposite is true -- few people make their own compost anymore, and few use compost in their yards.
Backyard composting came into its own in the 1970s along with recycling, exploding fuel prices and communes. Back then, I was sucked into the wonderfulness of making your own compost. Being obsessive in most activities, I made lots and lots of compost each year -- enough to more than fill a large pickup truck. . . .
Here's an awesome quote that I just found while going over the articles Google sent me. You find a lot of interesting things in the news when you have a Google Alert for Compost. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-01-17, 17:55:46
Let's face it, compost needs a makeover. The only press that compost gets is when there's a neighborhood battle over a stinky compost bin. You don't hear teens at the mall saying things like, "Dude, compost is the awesome!" Even Al Gore really didn't mention much about compost during his many speeches and events that helped him earn a Nobel Prize. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-01-16, 05:51:30
(To paraphrase UB40 ...) Some months ago I was working on the plot when I heard a rustling coming from the compost heap. I am not one of those people who jumps on a chair at the merest hint of a mouse, but my skin crawled at the sight of a rat crawling through my kitchen and garden waste. I left the rat to it, hoping that it would fall prey to the regular baiting programme in place on my allotment site to deal with the pest problem. But this week I was reminded of the issue of rats on...
reBlogged
to compost pests
on Jan 14, 2008, 3:05PM
I have been off today. It was a day of cleaning up the Alley that runs behind the garden.The neighbours two doors away had decimated the hedge but left the shredded branches and leaves along the path (except for their own bit if alley). I collected the woody bits and big stemmed branches and moved them into the sanctuary behind the Wall. This strip is a buffer zone between the building site and the alley way alongside the houses. . . .
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to compost
Posted by snappy Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2008-01-10, 18:26:44
Just found this blog, dedicated to news from the world (and yes, it is a world) of composting toilets. If you want to have your very own composting toilet, perhaps in the garden to save those "tramping in the house with muddy boots" moments, you can even build your own, as volunteers at Oxford Community Garden did. There's also more links and resources at Scietch blog. Let's just say this is - unfortunately - way, way down my to-do list, languishing with things I'd love to do in my dreams, like building my own log cabin in the wilderness, that...
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to blogs compost
on Dec 20, 2007, 9:44AM
Now this compost bin may look like almost identical to the other one but it's contents are very different. The big bin is 100% leaves. No grass, no coffee grinds, no plants, no boat, no life, no motorcar. Now this smaller compost bin is a completely different animal. It starts with a generous base layer of leaves, then the core is almost completely vegetable garden waste, and I top it off with more leaves. Sort of a end of the season garden sandwich. And that's a great way to make compost. . . .
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to compost
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost on 2007-12-13, 00:28:32
via Country Gardener on 1969-12-31, 19:00:00
This isn’t going well. 
