That not wasting thing has got me thinking about the composting you were talking about. I have never been much of a gardener. My daughter and I have a mini tomato plant that ,so far, has been a success in our kitchen window. I'm just a little scared of an actual garden outside. It seems like so much work. Is there an easy way to get started? Maybe just cucumbers or something. Anyone know any good sites, or have some gardening for dummies tips?

I do not have alot of knowledge of composting, but if you take sticks and layer with leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, and soil in a pile, you will get compost. How hot and moist the pile gets determines how quickly it decomposes.

You can use the compost for your potted plants.

try a kid book at the library. I love those!

my mom is taking an organic gardening class and the method that the instructor teaches is called double digging. It's not new by any means, so if you google it you will find tons of info. It's similar to raised bed gardening in that you get high yield in a very small space - very good for city dwellers. Also, it's one of the quickest/best ways to improve your soil.

abt composting - have you considered vermiculture? It's using worms! And you can do it inside your house in like a rubbermaid box (there are much better methods w/boxes specifically made for the wormys) - i'm sure those make the worms happier.

I tend to do best at the laziest method of composting. Granted, it takes over a year, but I don't have to turn anything. I just pile grass clippings, chopped up veggie and fruit peels, rinsed out eggshells, sticks, leaves, spent plants, etc. All as they come along, not in a proper order. And if you throw some soil in there, it introduces the happy bacteria to decompose the stuff. I get gorgeous compost, but I do have to wait a while. If I turned it and was more careful about proportions of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich, I'd get compost much faster.

I do have a bin right now, but I had as much success just tossing it all in a corner of the yard, and starting a new pile when the old one got tallish.

If you have a friend with horses, add horse manure. Good stuff. :)

abt composting - have you considered vermiculture? It's using worms! And you can do it inside your house in like a rubbermaid box (there are much better methods w/boxes specifically made for the wormys) - i'm sure those make the worms happier.

so you put worms in a rubbermaid box in your house? do you get them at the pet store or like bass pro shop or something? interesting. then you add it to your compost? I bet the kids would love that.

so you put worms in a rubbermaid box in your house? do you get them at the pet store or like bass pro shop or something? interesting. then you add it to your compost? I bet the kids would love that.

Lol, my son would never leave the poor squirmeys alone but then I have been thinking he needs a pet of his own.

Here are a couple links to get you started!

http://www.carolinascompostingcouncil.org/
http://www.p2pays.org/compost/
http://www.howtocompost.org/
http://www.yougrowgirl.com/grow/

Enjoy~we just started our composting last fall (dh built a nice wooden two-bin compost box) and it's been so easy! I've really noticed a decrease in our trash output now that so much of it is going in our compost bin!

I tend to do best at the laziest method of composting. Granted, it takes over a year, but I don't have to turn anything. I just pile grass clippings, chopped up veggie and fruit peels, rinsed out eggshells, sticks, leaves, spent plants, etc. All as they come along, not in a proper order. And if you throw some soil in there, it introduces the happy bacteria to decompose the stuff. I get gorgeous compost, but I do have to wait a while. If I turned it and was more careful about proportions of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich, I'd get compost much faster.

I do have a bin right now, but I had as much success just tossing it all in a corner of the yard, and starting a new pile when the old one got tallish.

If you have a friend with horses, add horse manure. Good stuff. :)

ditto that. I'm *very*casual with my composing and it all works out.

http://www.brianswoodshop.com/conservation/compost.htm

I was very casual with my first pile and it didn't work so well. It took forever (like 2 years) and didn't turn out well. Turns out there is a brown/green ratio and I had basically no brown in there. I think I am going to try again.

so you put worms in a rubbermaid box in your house? do you get them at the pet store or like bass pro shop or something? interesting. then you add it to your compost? I bet the kids would love that.

red wigglers are reccommended. I just think it's a really neat and natural method. I think it's good for inside the house. Now, if you're going to do yard clippings and all that, I'd say go w/the Pile it in the corner method lol.
I like the idea of having it inside b/c I would prob be more likely to just toss compostable stuff in a box in my closet then go outside. I'm sorta lazy w/things like that.
Everything I've read said it doesnt stink ither, if it does you're giving them too much and need to cut back or get more worms.

google vermiculture...but here's a couple of the first sites that pop up.

http://www.composters.com/docs/worms.html

http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=lib&a=organics/composting/wormcompost.asp