imported_Pat

sunny

Remembering that if you put good stuff into the soil and environment...you'll get good stuff out. Patience and persistance are key virtues.
Compost--turn your yard waste and kitchen scraps into organic fertilizer! Use only organic soil amendments and earth friendly insect and weed control. Try companion planting and planting things that attract beneficial insects.
For your gardening supplies..look for companies that specializes in organic gardening products, composting and earthy friendly insect control, like Worm's Way.
Remember---You will have a healthier garden, family and pets when you get away from using harmful chemicals and go organic!

imported_carol

Sunny is right in all she says. I've been organic gardening for years and my plants are very healthy. I always grow lots of plants for bees and butterflies. During the summer the place is just humming with the sound of bees.

davlyn

I have to say I didn't save stuff last yr. for the compost pile. Bad girl... Mine doesn't seem to break done that fast. Hubby put together 3 pallets that I use for the compost pile. The space between the boards I can use to hold, poles ian rakes, stakes .. I got the idea from some one on the GG sight. But I get weeds growing up. I don't seem to have the luck others do. I am a beginner , even tho I have been gardening for some yrs. I like the idea of organic, always have. I surely wouldn't mind any tips & ideas from U pros...

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Linda*:) aka Davlyn

upstateponygirl

I'd like to share a helpful hint for getting a compost pile to decompose - even if yours is in a partly shaded location, covering the top with a dark tarp helps a LOT! Throughout the winter (in upstate NY), our cover captured the sunlight and kept the pile relatively warm, hastening decomposition, and allowing air flow. Every so often, I pulled it back (our cover is a black rubber sheet leftover from a roofing job) and plunged the pitchfork in to aerate it. I dumped rainwater and leftover water from the animal trough, wood ash, kitchen scraps & manure and sawdust all winter long from the horses - it was a HUGE pile 8' X 4' X 4' by winters end! Once spring came and the temps warmed a bit, the decomposition really got going, by late June, it was reduced by about 75%, and by August was ready to use. So, keep it covered to preserve its warmth, keep it aerated and most of all, be patient!

Ziggywigs

Making compost is like making a big cake....add all organic waste to your pile (don't use meats, cheese or cooked foodstuffs otherwise you'll attract vermin). If you use grass clippings make sure you mix this with paper or straw or other green stuff otherwise it will just be a smelly slimy mess. Water the compost and then mix well. Leave to compost. There are two ways to make a compost a hot heap and a cold heap. A hot heap is where you collect everything together and fill up you compost bin, a cold heap is where you slowly add stuff over the season. If you turn your compost every couple of weeks it would rot down quicker as it starts the heating process up again until all the organic waste is rotted down. Oh and a good activator is human urine, most allotment holders are known to pee on their compost heaps and apparently it improves the compost no end and no it doesn't smell.

Don't put leaves or sawdust on the heap as this takes ages to rot down....make a seperate cage for this and leave open to rot down with the elements for leaf mould but this can take a year or two. Again this needs to be watered when you add the stuff as it's a fungus that breaks this down.

Here's a link about making compost which is helpful....

http://www.organicgardening.org.uk/organicgardening/compost_1.php

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Ziggy
Ross-shire, Highland, UK (Zone 8b)

http://ziggywigs.blogspot.com/

Newt_

Ziggywigs, good advice though you said,
I think you meant to say to mix with other brown stuff.

Newt

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When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

Ziggywigs

I often mix other green stuff with the grass clippings and it works fine...as long as the other green stuff you mix is more coarse than the fine grass clippings so that they allow air in and stop it becoming a slimy mess. For example i recently mixed shredded strawberry leaves with the grass clippings and they have heated up and composted down quite quickly.

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Ziggy
Ross-shire, Highland, UK (Zone 8b)

http://ziggywigs.blogspot.com/

mellonmellow

A very good reply. The concept of "what goes in is what comes out" applies pretty much to everything in life.

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"Everything happens for a reason"