North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Thomas Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hello,

If you want the compost to move fast make layers of debris, sprinkle a 
little lime on them, thin layer of soil, and a small shake of fertilizer
ont top of that.

                         Soil
                       ---------
                        fertilizer
                       ---------
                        lime
                      ----------
                        debris
                      ----------
                        soil

This gets them cooking real fast.

I always cap my composter with a couple inches of soil.

The lime layers will take care of your acid problem.  I also try to add
worms to my compost pile.  Simple living worms, bought at a bait shop
work if you cannot find your own.

Actually, there is bait machine (sort of like a Coke machine), in our
village.  Put in $2.00 and you get a can full of worms.

One last thing...  Finished compost should be added to a new pile of
debris.  This will introduce all the living organisms that should reside
in the pile too.

You don't need a lot of soil/lime/fertilier, but you need to get it into
the pile.

Regards,
Tom  

--
Thomas Olenio
Ontario, Hardiness Zone 6a

On Thu, 21 Dec 2000, Ginda Fisher wrote:

> Ed, I have a pile of leaves that I've removed from my lawn for the last
> couple of years (wet, full of worms, but shrinking slowly) and three
> large garbage bags of shredded (lawnmower) leaves from this fall.  I put
> a lot of shredded leaves on the blueberries to mulch them, but was
> afraid they might be too acidic for the currants.  They're mostly oak
> leaves.  Should I use then on the currants?  Shredded or aged?
> 
> Other than turning the pile, is there anything cheap and easy to do to
> encourage it to decompose?  (Turning is cheap, but not that easy.)  I
> usually leave the lawn clippings on the group - I figure they're good
> for the grass.  Despite being well into suburbia, we have our quota of
> critters so I don't want to leave food lying around.  I'm afraid the
> neighbors would complain if we put urine on the pile.  Does it smell for
> long?  I'm not really worried about weed seeds - nothing there that
> didn't used to be on the lawn - but I'm running out of space to dump
> leaves, and my car is too small to bring them to the dump.  (And I'd be
> happy to have some free compost for my garden.)
> 
> Ginda 
> Eastern Mass, zone 6
> lots of small snowstorms this fall
> 
> > 
> > This has worked very well for me and the township. They are happy to have 
> > a
> > place to dump leaves (PA forbids that they put them in a landfill) Lasy
> > year they came out with a large front end loader and "repiled" the leaves
> > for me (that is almost like turning them). I use these leaves on the rows
> > of gooseberries and currants to provide mulch, conserve moisture, and to
> > provide some nutriants. Just seams like a "win/win" situation to me
> > 
> > 
> > Northumberland BerryWorks
> > 707 Front Street
> > Northumberland, PA  17857
> > Phone:  (570) 473-9910
> > WWW.currants.com
> > Ed@currants.com
> 
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