RE: composting

Hi, Michelle:

The green material is high in nitrogen. Nitrogen is rich in amino acid and
is important to the critters breaking down the material into compost. The
browns are high in carbon and are really long chains of sugar molecules
linked together. Most of us have a lot more brown material than green, but
that's okay.

According to several sources, the ratio of green to brown material for
composting should be 25 parts of brown to 1 part of green!

Therefore, you should be okay without a lot of green material. Still, be
sure to completely moisten the dry, brown stuff to facilitate converstion.

David Soper
Adventures in Gardening
www.gardenguy.com


----------
From: 	Wade & Michelle Peterson[SMTP:wdpmap@lse.fullfeed.com]
Sent: 	Saturday, April 18, 1998 5:11 PM
To: 	perennials@mallorn.com
Subject: 	composting

I just started my very first compost pile!  I have a few questions.

I had five bags of leaves from last fall sitting around waiting for me
to start my compost pile, so I dumped all of that in.  I don't have much
for green to add to it, does that matter?  If I keep adding stuff to it,
like from my kitchen and my yard, when can I use the copost?  If I add
stuff all this year can I use it next year?  Or should I get another one
going to add to instead of adding to the one I just started?

Michelle

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Our experience with composting is that you can easily use it after one year.
I then seive it and put it on my perennial beds.  This year I had about 10
wheelbarrow loads.

We have two fenced-in areas side by side and after I have cleaned out one,
we start refilling it.  This way we have a new pile every year.  All our
weeds, kitchen and vegetable garden refuse goes in it, with the exception of
corn stalks--they don't even break down in a year.

Jean, Zone 7, Md
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