RE: CG composting

D* H* M* S*

Susan,

     In addition to Adam's suggestions, you might try encouraging
gardeners to add some finished compost or garden soil between each
nitrogenous/carboniferous layering.  It also helps to wet each layer as it
goes in.  In an infrequently turned heap a somewhat water-resistant shell
may develop as the outside of the heap drys, making it difficult to
achieve desired moisture content on the inside.

Michael

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
H. Michael Simmons, Ph,D.
Administrator
Community Gardening Program
Bloomington Parks and Recreation
(812) 349-3737 FAX: (812) 349-3705

On Thu, 22 Mar 2001, Honigman, Adam wrote:

> Susan,
>
> I'm gonna give you some links and all, but I think you should give a hollar
> over to John Vernin at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for some
> pointers on your compost problems. Reading below, I think your issue is
> balancing the reds and the greens. Call John, read the links, go to the
> library for recipes and I think you'll be able to get your compost pile
> going in a few weeks. You might want to call up the Penn State University
> Cooperative Extension - they might even have some goodies for you:
>
> 1) This Ohio State site is pretty good:
>
> http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/hyg-fact/1000/1189.html
>
> 2) University of Missouri on building a compost bin:
>
> http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06957.htm
>
> 3) A lengthy article from Mississippi State University's Ag Extension with
> internal links:
>
> http://msucares.com/pubs/pub1782.htm
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Adam Honigman
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	susan hauck [SMTP:haucks@about.com]
> > Sent:	Thursday, March 22, 2001 9:20 AM
> > To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
> > Subject:	[cg] CG composting
> >
> > Hello folks,
> >
> > I have a question about fairly large-scale composting.  We are a 2
> > year old community garden in Phila.  We made a compost bin last year
> >  from old shipping pallets and started filling it up with green stuff
> >  from our plots, and leaves hauled in from around the neighborhood.
> > What we had by the fall last year was a big, very dry (despite all
> > the rain) pile of stuff.  Virtually nothing had composted.  When we
> > tried to turn it, we discovered that it *had* become the home of a
> > large swarm of yellow jackets.  Luckily, no one was bit!
> >
> > My husband and I compost in our little "yard" at home and get good
> > stuff.  He insists on chopping every green bit into small pieces.
> > While I don't disagree this helps in breaking the stuff down, with
> > the volume at the CG it just doesn't seem practical to ask
> > everyone/someone to do this.  How do other CG handle composting?
> > Without seeing the compost bin, does anyone have ideas on how the
> > design might be improved?  I tried frequent watering at the end of
> > the summer season and it didn't seem to help.  suggestions welcome.
> >
> > -sue
> > the Brewery Garden
> > http://members.tripod.com/brewery_garden/
> >
> > Sign up for a free About Email account at http://About.com
> >
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