Yeah. That's Right. Compost Your Old Leather Gardening Gloves (!).

A few fun things that you can toss into the heap. Who knew?!

Paper napkins
Pet hair
Post-it notes
Lint from behind the refrigerator
Jell-o
Wool socks
Leather wallets
Toenail clippings
Outdated yogurt
Lobster shells
Kleenex tissues
Felt waste
Unpaid bills
Ivory soap scraps
Dust bunnies
Theater tickets
BBQ'd fish skin
Elmer's glue
Burlap coffee bags
Milk (in small amounts)
Dead bees and flies
Dirt from soles of shoes or boots

Excerpted from Small Town Living's Feb 09- March 09 issue.

Much Ado in the Garden - Autumn 2008

Without the urgency of spring's pace, I have always loved the mellower tone of autumn in the garden. So much of my to-do list can be done gradually - over the next two months. And that suits me just fine these days.

1. Clean out the container garden. Compost plants-past-their-prime.
2. Move a compost container to the back porch - so running out in the winter to a far away compost bin is eliminated. As is the stink fest that results from neglected compost piling up in the kitchen.
3. Shred leaves for the compost bin. For leaf mold.
4. For the *new* front yard - plant that saucer magnolia (for Willa!) and the hedge line of glossy abelia.
5. Put plastic mulch down over raised beds - to prep them for spring planting.
6. Harvest and dry rosemary, sage and oregano from the herb garden.
7. Clean out gardening supplies and post give-aways to local friends.
8. Start forced hyacinth bulbs.
9. Plant bulbs in front beds and more naturalizing daffodils along the wood's edge.
10. Revisit my winter reading: The Herb Quarterly, plant and seed catalogs galore, Second Nature, Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Healing for Women.

*Bonus wish list item* - A cold frame. After asking me what I wanted for my birthday, I told Corey that I would really love a cold frame - so we could have greens all-winter-long. He paused, looked up and said, "How 'bout cash?" He is stretched thin these days. The cold frame can happen. Or not. There's always next year.

And, what is your favorite fall garden chore?

In Which I Daydream About Worm Poo

Is it super-strange that I dreamily think about this suped-up worm compost palace-slash-factory for my birthday wish list? Note the spout at the bottom. That is a pipeline to compost tea, my friends.

The value of worm castings has hit the front of my brain - since I started feeding my houseplants with TerraCycle liquified worm poop. More gold than gross, my plants are totally the better for it. It also seems that the worm casting products go unnoticed by the three snouts of our hound-y, scent-driven doggies. Chalk another one up for this form of organic fertilizer.

More soon on vermiculture and the worm compost quest. A terrific winter gardening project.

Losing My Mind (And Finding It In The Vortex)

Five years of house construction has me starting to unravel. But we are in the homestretch - complimented by complete insanity. I won't bore you with the details. Let's say that yesterday's highlight was having the electrician's assistant swaggering around in our basement (the last live-able space) calling around looking for the bathroom and accidentally storming into our bedroom as I struggled to get dressed for the day.

My left eye has since developed a twitch.

So, knowing that getting outside always-always-always makes me feel better, I decided to mulch leaves this morning. Last year, I bought a leaf mulcher. It made composting the highlight of my winter - as leaf mulch and the resulting leaf mold is a great base for those compost 'browns' you always hear about. Then, you just add your kitchen scraps and coffee grounds (the compost 'greens') all winter-long. 'Round springtime, you have nice, fluffy compost.


My Black and Decker leaf mulcher has two parts. The Vortex (suction). And The Hog (shredder). I love them both equally. The Hog component has an unexpected illustration of, I think, a wild boar gnashing its teeth - ready to munch and mulch. I filled four compost/garbage cans with the leaves by lunchtime.

I felt better almost immediately. All blog readers are invited to the Hollow for some therapeutic leaf mulching if you need to get outside, get away or get lost in the beauty of either The Vortex or The Hog.

Confessions of a Compost Hoarder

"Hi. My name is Tracey. I collect and covet bags of leaves for my compost bin."

"Hi Tracey." (Blog readers respond - all in unison.)

"I scope out potential hotbeds of leaf raking and bagging activity during the day."

"Uh-huh." (Again, in unison.)

"And, then, I plan return trips to these spots. Under the cover of dark. With a pick-up truck. It is all I think about during my days in the autumn. Amassing as many bags as possible. To shred for my compost bin. My heart races. My palms get sweaty. I may even . . . . duke it out with another gardener for these leaves."

(Audible gasp from around the world.)

"I see I have shared too much."

********

Decomposing leaves are the backbone of some of the best compost around. You can speed up this process by shredding them (either with a leaf mulcher or by running your lawnmower over a pile). Then, combine with some 'greens' - kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, grass clippings. Mix all the goods in a compost bin (here are some of my cheap and easy compost bin ideas). Turn the pile, if and when you can.

By spring, you will have the Mac Daddy of compost. Dark. Rich. Smelling great. Red clay? Doesn't stand a chance.

The Inept, Lazy Composter

I only recently started to show a real interest in compost and the art of composting. Short on time and materials - I would just throw what-ever into the compost garbage bin and ignore it for a year or so. My compost mantra was 'Some greens; some browns.'

So, I devoted time this past winter to learning more about the science of compost. But, with an office job from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. - I still need things to happen while I'm plugging away at the computer.

So here are my thoughts for the newbie or hands-off, wait-and-see composter. From one incredibly lazy composter to another - I hope this speaks to you.

Location, Location, Location. I learned very quickly that if I had to walk any farther than my back door - (compost) things weren't going to happen. The compost bin has to be within fuzzy-slipper distance. I know my gardening limitations. This is an obvious one for me.

Enter: The Humble Garbage Can. It doesn't need to be expensive. I would even put a call out on Freecycle if you have one in your area. You may want to find a rounder can (more on that shortly). A tight-fitting lid is also helpful - keeps critters out.

The Browns - Leaves, straw. Last fall, I indulged in a leaf mulcher - to speed up the process (smaller compost ingredients = faster compost). You can also mulch the browns with a mulching lawnmower or by putting the leaves in an empty garbage can and 'blending' them with your weed whacker.

The Greens - Grass clippings and kitchen scraps. If you can cut your scraps up before-hand, great. I read something recently about a 3"-4" of green materials to 4"-8" browns. This description for the amounts of materials seems to work better than the typical ratio approach - in my brain, at least.

Air and Water - Adding a bit of water occasionally will go a long way in helping things happen in your bin. But the most important, more physical part of composting is getting air to the materials. Here's a look at what I am testing out.

• The light blue bin at the top left has holes drilled around the sides. Because it is rounded, I am able to roll it around the yard, too. For 10 minutes - tops. Once-a-week.
• The center, green can is the original, very neglected bin. I just recently drilled more holes in the sides. Then, I plan to ignore it for several months.
• These are my newest creations (center and right photos). Holes have been drilled in the sides; but I also drilled holes in a bit of PVC pipe and fitted that through a hole in the container's lid. This will help more air get to the center of the pile.

I hope this helps take a little of the mystery out of composting. It doesn't need to involve expensive, cedar compost bins and the mind of an engineer or an alchemist. Just the love of using what nature provides, some ingenuity and, last but not least, the realistic desire to keep things simple.