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Post by desertwoman on Oct 22, 2022 20:04:46 GMT -5
Do you compost everything from the veggie garden or are there certain things you bag up for trash collection?
I'm a bit cautious about what I add to the compost pile from the veggie garden since I am a cold composter. (or maybe that's a lazy composter). I got to wondering if I am being too cautious. For me, chile plants-yes; tomato plants -no. Pumpkin and squash- sometimes. Beans- sometimes. Greens- only if they stayed aphid free.
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Post by binnylou on Oct 22, 2022 20:50:38 GMT -5
Tomatoes usually go to the burn pile, but the Juliet and Beefy Boy plants stayed so healthy, they will be going to the compost. Other varieties will be burned because they were less than healthy.
My pole bean vines will be chopped and incorporated in to my pole bean growing spot.
Peppers were healthy so to the compost they go. Cucumber/squash/ melon/pumpkin vines will go to the burn pile.
Celery roots go to the compost, as do the “trees” from the collards.
I get a guilt trip about some garden debris being burned and wasting all those nutrients that were pulled from the beds, but I just don’t want to recycle the problem children. And since my compost pile never gets hot…not even warm… I think it’s best for me to be selective about what goes to the pile.
Almost forgot…potato peelings from purchased potatoes always go to the garbage container.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 22, 2022 21:45:49 GMT -5
My composting is about like yours, desertwoman, with those tomatoes, and any others that can be getting disease, or with bugs, going to the trash. Unfortunately, there's a lot of them like that!
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Post by datgirl on Oct 24, 2022 12:55:46 GMT -5
It all depends on the health of the plant. Tomatoes never, beans sometimes, peppers usually..Leafy stuff,kale, cabbage,melons go to the chickens.
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Post by breezygardener on Oct 24, 2022 17:23:08 GMT -5
I used to have a rip-roaring compost-bin system back in New York made out of old wooden pallets. It was terrific! Old chicken bedding/manure, all sorts of kitchen & garden scraps, & an occasional seeding of fresh horse manure from where I was boarding my equine at the time.
However, here in Virginia I don't have a compost pile apart from just plain horse manure. Way, WAY too many critters to make it comfortably feasible.
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Post by pondgardener on Oct 25, 2022 9:02:38 GMT -5
Since we are getting a hard freeze on Thursday, I will be having a pile of water hyacinth plants to chop up and add to the compost pile. Along with saved kitchen scraps, leaves, mule manure, unripe vegetables and grass clippings. Add a few gallons of accumulated fish waste from the biological filter. And covered with a few wheelbarrows of garden soil loaded with red wigglers.
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Post by binnylou on Oct 25, 2022 9:47:11 GMT -5
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Post by pondgardener on Oct 25, 2022 12:36:07 GMT -5
binnylou, A close friend stables his mule and he collects the manure in used feed bags for me. And I trade him fresh tomatoes and cucumbers throughout the growing season.
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Post by Latitude33 on Dec 5, 2022 21:18:18 GMT -5
What I don't add is any of the nightshade family, mint or toher invasives, infested plant material, and local grass clippings.
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Post by raphanus on Dec 10, 2022 9:09:56 GMT -5
I used to be almost as crazy as David Goodman who wrote the “Compost Everything” book, he even composts cooked food and meat, yuk. Maybe that’s ok if you have acres and acres, but I’m unfortunately in the city and there’s already a rat issue because of nearby restaurants leaving dumpsters open and normie neighbors putting out birdseed regularly. Now I try to only compost garden scraps, not kitchen scraps. I compost all of my garden plants, usually a cold lazy compost method where all the vegetable plants and oak branches and leaves just get layered in a raised bed and eventually covered with soil when the bed is full. I have about 16 raised beds, so each year I designate a different one as the compost pile and keep alternating. I don’t worry a bit about insect pests or diseases because my system is highly biodiverse, I usually pick resistant varieties, and I’m almost religious about crop rotation. I feel guilty when I throw kitchen scraps in the trash can, but it’s better than attracting rats. I also drink 10-15 cups of coffee a day, and coffee grounds are the best compost ever, full of nitrogen and doesn’t attract pests.
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Post by robertsilver on Jan 10, 2023 4:27:26 GMT -5
Hahaha, I'm a cold composter too. Lazy or not I find it an easier process. Anyways, I usually leave out anything with the potential of hurting my garden such as tomatoes and meats. The likes of chilis, pumpkins, beans, and even egg shells all go to the compost. I usually leave the composting for as long as I can (at a dug-up corner of the garden) until I see its heap becoming a little larger. That's when I set a day aside to spread on my garden. But I don't leave it too long that critters start causing trouble.
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Post by gardendmpls on Jan 10, 2023 9:00:51 GMT -5
leave out anything with the potential of hurting my garden such as tomatoes and meats Meat composts well and would not hurt the garden. The problem with adding it to the compost is that it will attracts rodents. Can't see a problem with composting tomatoes. Even if they have a component you don't like, it will be broken down by the micro-herd (invertebrates, bacteria and fungi). Cold compost heats up at least once, even if not turned, and that can kill diseases.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Jan 22, 2023 9:42:17 GMT -5
I will not compost meats but if I was better at it then I am maybe I would. I will put most in the compost but I got a list from the local community compost station; It lists bread and pasta can be added as well. I always believed these drew mice as well. So I have not put either of these in. The thought of critters going it there really grosses me out
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Post by gardendmpls on Jan 22, 2023 11:01:45 GMT -5
bread and pasta can be added as well. I would, but those are relished by the chickens. Meat, too, but not chicken. They might be shocked that they taste like chicken.
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