do you throw RCMP in your garden?
 

R- rotton C- carrots M - mashed P - potatos.

We started throwing our scraps in the garden and the soil is like super duper organic now. Even a week after last rainfall and it's still damp. The tomatos love it :)

we have been composting for a while now. also try shreded paper from the office. Most ink is made of soy now adays so it doesnt hurt the garden. the paper holds water and decomposes nicely.

nice. No wonder the garden was full of paper when we resoiled it after buying the house.

The City of Toronto sold us composters (for $5 I think - no big deal) a few years back and its been a great addition to the garden. They also hooked us up with a nice rain barrel, so all the water used on the garden is rain water, instead of flouridated, chlorinated tap water.

If you compost the waste [stack it up either in a pile or a container] rather than spread it around, it will generate heat and break down faster. Your soil will be better, quicker if you feed it composted, instead of raw waste.

Everything degradeable should go in. Shredded paper is especially good if for example you compost lawn clippings. They tend to compress the pile too much and paper helps keep air in the pile. Don't forget tea bags and coffee grounds.

If you are into composting, one of the best things you can do is find a corner in your garden for some comfrey plants. They are fairly decorative and their leaves make a great activator for your compost heap. You can also dig the leaves directly into your soil or boil them down for a very rich, if nasty-smelling liquid compost.

Composting is something I tell myself every year I'm going to do. Sounds like it's working out well for everyone :)

Nice, i wish our city would do that. it costs about 200 bux here for a rain barrel at the hardware stores.

Welcome to the new GFY! :

Gardening,
Farming and
You :1orglaugh J/k, nice thread.

Here the Starbucks give away used coffee grounds for composting (works like a charm) but you have to get there first thing in the morning, because there's always some greenthumb old lady who tries to scarf them all at once. :)

At the end of the summer, after you've done your final weeding, get some bags of leaves (like the ones that fall off the trees in the fall) and spread those over your garden. As they decompose, they will organicise your soil and also act as a weed barrier, since the sun won't get to the soil during the winter. :)

RCMP = Canadian governement police ...

really? I thought it was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.