Compost basics  

As you know I grew up on a farm and have been composting even in the city ALL my life.
My compost pile is composed of about what you have listed I just had never stopped to think about it.
I guess its a little like riding a horse, if you grow up doing it, it just comes natural.
Here in Calgary we don't do our planting until about the second week in June. Some try in May but usually get frost loss. Susan

Thank you for the very informative post Grandpa Bob! My dad will love it. We've been doing it but not that well planned. And this would help us to achieve a better compost for our plants. Thank you! Have a nice day! (^^,)

I have a compost pile in the back. I add to it often.
Last year my DIL had a wreck and tore up some plants in the lady's yard. She had to go to class and work the next day so I cleaned it all up and put it all in white garbage bags. I left them in the bags for several months and when i went to dump it out, I had compost, not the yucky stuff, but rich decomposed ready to use compost! I have thought that I will do the same thing again and put all my deadhead and weeds into a bag and leave them to see if it works or if it was just because it was yucca plants mostly.

Bob I'm saving this, some great information here. I've tried doing compost before but never had a 'formula' just whatever. Some turned out but most just sat there and bugged me till I hauled it to the woods behind the house.

I'll try to remember all that. We've been "composting" since we bought our place four years ago. What do I mean? All our kitchen vegetable waste goes into a heap in back. If the grass clippings are a bit deep, they either get used as mulch or go into the same heap. My chickens pen gets cleaned out regularly. The results go into the heap. We don't have much in the way of leafy trees, so nothing there, but what tree clippings we have also go into the heap. When the garden gets cleared in fall, the dead plants go into the heap. In spring we burn the Christmas tree remains over the heap then shovel the whole mess into the gardens. It then gets tilled into the soil. It has been working well so far!

I bought this fancy composting barrel over ten years ago. One opens the lid, plonks the vegetable scraps, & give a turn. We always had a lot of vegetable scraps, peelings, etc. Also there was plent of lawn clippings, & all the other stuff you mentioned.
At least three times I have tied to get this going. You know what happens? Nobody will take the vegetable scraps down the back yard to put in the composter. It would sit there on top of the washing machine getting maggets.
So I gave up.
I think composting is a great idea, so good on you for doing it.

I tried making a compost pile last year but my BF stopped me due to the bears in the area! I never thought that I would be "feeding" the bears with the compost pile! It stopped me and what do you think about this aspect?

I used to have a compost bin back home, coffee grounds and eggshells are good, as are vegetable waste from the kitchen, potato peelings, corn cobs, and such. I had an apple and a peach tree, and I would throw the fruit that fell to the ground in it too, as well as grass clippings and leaves.

Sounds like you've been spying on my compost pile. :) We kept our grass clippings and leaves in a pile in the middle of our garden last fall (after harvest) and swept it up into a pile on the side last weekend. Oh the black gold we found. There shouldn't be any reason we shouldn't have super veggies this summer!! :)

Thanks for the tip! I will have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing it.