http://www.mastercomposter.com/
This is the world’s most useful composting site. I spent about a year delving deep into how to compost, ending up with three bins of a cubic yard each, curb-diving for other people’s grass clippings and stopping just about every day at a Starbuck’s for a garbagebag full of coffee grounds. Master Composter is the best site I found, with the highest percentage of useful information, arranged in a way that a normal person can follow. There’s some actual science here.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/
The other place I adore (now from a distance, it became a hideous timesink) is the Soil, Compost and Mulch forum of the Gardenweb. They’re an awesome bunch people – helpful, friendly, knowledgeable. And drama-free. There is unsubstantiated hearsay here, but also a lot of collective experience and posters are usually good about specifying under what conditions doing “X” worked for them. Read the FAQs first.

I’m also ready and willing to answer questions, supporting my statements with the science as I understand it.

What did you decide to do with your waste in the end, Kristen?

I’m sorry you had that bit of waste, but I’m glad for the reminder of that yummy salad. I’ve been meaning to make it…

I thought you needed a special composter to take care of bones and meat. Is that right? I thought fats were a no-no as well. I do put some starches in, but really, I have very little waste in the way of starches. Is dairy bad for compost? Set me straight here!

I do put in paper products (esp. shredded paper), crushed egg shells, pretty much any produce related scrap under the sun, hair from hair cuts, and the odd starchy bit of waste.

To be honest, anything that decomposes fairly fast (ie. within a year) goes into my compost. I have a closed bin, and even though we have a dog, the occasional bone/chicken skin goes in there (dogs can also only have so much fat!). We put used serviettes and paper towels in there too and any kitchen waste that can’t go in the rubbish/recycling. Right now I have some very happy potato plants growing in stacked tyres (limited planting space available) in that very compost I’ve made over the last year – and the interesting thing is that the only things that went in the compost bin that didn’t decompose very well were some corn cobs and egg shells. I don’t care too much about that, though, because I just crush it up as I put it on the garden.

Seriously, what is the source of your information? I ask because it’s a lot more restrictive than my sources (available when I get home to my bookmarks) and I want to compare.

To pour an entire bottle of oil into your compost would probably be a bad idea, but such a small amount is fine. I used to be very finicky about what went into my compost, but have loosened up lately and have no noticed no difference whatsoever. The worms love it all!

Gag — the smell of beans gone bad is beyond revolting. I feel your pain.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”