I live in a small city, but on a double lot, so I have a lot of grass clippings and leaves in the fall. I mulch the grass back into the lawn most of the year, but in the fall I chop up the leaves with the lawn mower first to reduce the bulk, then mow again with a bag to pick everything up. I know enough to add some dirt to the pile as I build it, to accelerate the decomposition. Is there anything else I should be doing? I've tried adding kitchen scraps (no meat, of course), but there were signs that rats were getting attracted. How do I avoid that? Just keep to lawn clippings and garden waste?
2006-10-29 11:03:29 · 7 answers · asked by displacedyankee 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
Compost is literally liquid gold. It's absolutely fantastic for your garden. I found the following article from HGTV to be really helpful... good luck!
2006-10-29 13:24:00 · answer #1 · answered by Lucy365 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gardeners consider compost "Black Gold". Rodents are unable to get at the compost when you use a plastic composter which has a bottom with small holes, sides with slits for airation and a tight fitting lid.Fill this composter with layers of green matter, leaves, kitchen scraps and soil.Compost is definately worth making. This way you replenish the soil in your garden instead of having your garden trimmings taken to the landfill.
Keep the compost moist and turn when possible.Once in a while plunge a heavy stick into the pile and wiggle it around to add oxygen. Worms, which can enter from the bottom, will help in the composting process.
2006-10-29 13:20:07 · answer #2 · answered by hildegard r 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have a pretty big city lot, and i have lots of grass too...
When i started my pile, it was just grass and when it was rainy, i could see the steam rising from the pile and it STUNK...now that its cold, it has apples and leaves from my trees in it.
I don't put any meat or food products in it..other than the apples
no problem with rats
Its only been a few months so i will have to let you know how it does
Now that the leaves have fallen, i mulched them all up with the lawnmower, and left them there....i dont feel like raking leaves
2006-10-29 13:48:45 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Compost is ABSOLUTELY worth making. Black gold. I keep compost going all year.I add a good mix of organic matter. Yes, I do use kitchen scraps--coffee grounds, eggshells, vegetable peels,even paper towels. Right now animals are starting to look for winter shelter & compost is hot, so they are attracted to it. Keep turning & watering the compost. That will deter them (and cook the compost faster as well).
2006-10-29 11:11:38 · answer #4 · answered by tvlscat@flash.net 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a wormry they are exellent comporters.
2006-10-29 11:05:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Things you can compost:
Paper napkins
Freezer-burned vegetables
Burlap coffee bags
Pet hair
Potash rock
Post-it notes
Freezer-burned fruit
Wood chips
Bee droppings
Lint from behind refrigerator
Hay
Popcorn
Freezer-burned fish
Old spices
Pine needles
Leaves
Matches
Seaweed and kelp
Hops
Chicken manure
Leather dust
Old herbs
Bird cage cleanings
Paper towels
Brewery wastes
Grass clippings
Hoof and horn meal
Molasses residue
Potato peelings
Unpaid bills
Gin trash (wastes from cotton plants)
Weeds
Rabbit manure
Hair clippings from the barber
Stale bread
Coffee grounds
Wood ashes
Sawdust
Tea bags and grounds
Shredded newspapers
Egg shells
Cow manure
Alfalfa
Winter rye
Grapefruit rinds
Pea vines
Houseplant trimmings
Old pasta
Grape wastes
Garden soil
Powdered/ground phosphate rock
Corncobs
Jell-o
Blood meal
Winery wastes
Spanish moss
Limestone
Fish meal
Aquarium plants
Beet wastes
Sunday comics
Harbor mud
Felt waste
Wheat straw
Peat moss
Kleenex tissues
Milk (in small amounts)
Soy milk
Tree bark
Starfish (dead ones!)
Melted ice cream
Flower petals
Pumpkin seeds
Q-tips (cotton swabs)
Expired flower arrangements
Elmer's glue
BBQ'd fish skin
Bone meal
Citrus wastes
Stale potato chips
Rhubarb stems
Old leather gardening gloves
Tobacco wastes
Bird guano
Hog manure
Dried jellyfish
Wheat bran
Guinea pig cage cleanings
Nutshells
Cattail reeds
Clover
Granite dust
Moldy cheese
Greensand
Straw
Shredded cardboard
Dolomite lime
Cover crops
Rapeseed meal
Bat guano
Fish scraps
Tea bags (black and herbal)
Apple cores
Electric razor trimmings
Kitchen wastes
Outdated yogurt
Toenail clippings
Shrimp shells
Crab shells
Lobster shells
Pie crust
Leather wallets
Onion skins
Bagasse (sugar cane residue)
Watermelon rinds
Date pits
Goat manure
Olive pits
Peanut shells
Burned oatmeal (sorry, Mom)
Dryer lint
Bread crusts
Cooked rice
River mud
Wine gone bad (what a waste!)
Banana peels
Fingernail clippings
Chocolate cookies
Wood toothpicks
Moss from last year's hanging baskets
Stale breakfast cereal
Pickles
"Dust bunnies" from under the bed
Pencil shavings
Wool socks
Artichoke leaves
Leather watch bands
Fruit salad
Tossed salad (now THERE's tossing it!)
Brown paper bags
Soggy Cheerios
Theater tickets
Lees from making wine
Burned toast
Feathers
Animal fur
Horse manure
Vacuum cleaner bag contents
Coconut hull fiber
Old or outdated seeds
Macaroni and cheese
Liquid from canned vegetables
Liquid from canned fruit
Old beer
Wedding bouquets
Greeting card envelopes
Snow
Dead bees and flies
Horse hair
Peanut butter sandwiches
Dirt from soles of shoes, boots
Fish bones
Ivory soap scraps
Spoiled can food items
Produce trimmings from grocery store
Cardboard cereal boxes (shredded)
Grocery receipts
2006-10-29 11:07:03 · answer #6 · answered by suchaprettyface11 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
any bio-degradable materials. cant keep the animals away.
2006-10-29 11:10:00 · answer #7 · answered by blue_eagle74 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋