Getting the Garden Ready

I love the smell of compost. Not the kind from Home Depot made in giant hoppers from leaves and little else. The kind from the backyard that began life in our kitchen as banana peels, coffee grinds, tea bags, egg shells, vegetable scraps, and paper towel tubes; mixed in with our leaves and grass clippings.

It was not as easy as I thought though. The compost bin was free at a seminar at the local public library back in October 06. Last spring the half-filled bin wasn't nearly done. But last month i dug through to the bottom and there it was: A homemade extravaganza of nutrients and worms! Only a few cubic feet though; and I had to pick out the unfinished bits (mostly the egg shells and some sticks that got tossed in with the leaves I guess). As you can see, I didn't really mind. This summer I'll experiment with a double bin to see if we can get it hotter and finished faster.

I wonder if Al Gore has ever bothered to bring a single bucket of vegetable scraps out to the backyard bin? Poseur!