let the composting begin...

Thanks to Master Gardener Lugo for helping me harvest cow poop.


Headed to Arroyo Verde Park over the weekend and hiked up the trails to grab some precious nitrogen rich material. Thankfully the sun had been shining a few days after the rains. A good thing because I was not prepared to handle any sludgy messes. These cow pies were perfectly baked on the outside, fresh on the inside.

Some revealed tiny creatures hidden underneath.

A sure sign of what's to come... Makes my skin crawl.

Ventured off to Lugo's next to tour his beautiful, extensive backyard garden.

Wow. He knows how to grow stuff; and he grows it well.

He was kind enough to share some green thumb secrets along with a massive bag of straw to help aerate my new compost pile.

Then it was off to my own backyard. Time to start filling the compost bin.

Here's what we started with:

Straw from Lugo.

Cow poop from Arroyo.

Shredded paper from Mom's super secret documents.

Grass from CSUCI. Thanks to the guys at Iron Wood Hall who mow campus lawns for offering up a whole bunch of green waste.

Checked on things yesterday and it looks alright.

Collecting food scraps under the kitchen sink to add to the pile in a few days, at which point I'll probably add some additional dry ingredients and give it all a good turn.

Don't think a first batch will be ready in time for tomato planting, but we'll see.

We will see.

New to composting as well? Not sure what to add? Here's another site with a list of ready-to-use carbon and nitrogen rich material. Thanks Franky.

Questions? Have a resource you'd like to share? Leave a comment!

Else I'll send a few potato bugs to find you........