8 responses to “Composting Advice”

  1. vince

    i live in upstate ny and the winter are very long,i have been saving my kitchen scrape all winter and the scrapes now have a spoiled smell to them can i still use them in my composter

    1. Laura Matter

      Vince, It is wonderful that you are composting your kitchen scraps. I’m sorry you had a problem with your food scraps becoming smelly. This will happen if you simply collect them in a container and do not provide a proper composting system for them. Check out the “Composting at Home” brochure on our brochure page to see various ways to compost food scraps. A worm bin might be the answer for you if you can provide a sheltered place away from freezing temperatures for the worms. Laura

  2. mold inspection and remediation

    Is there other links and resources that you could give
    to discover more details in regards to this post? Cheers!

    1. Laura Matter

      Hi! There are links to great composting information on this site and all you have to do is look on our home page for the composting info. If you follow the link to the page from Seattle Public Utilities you will find a whole lot more information. Hope that helps! You are also welcome to contact us directly through the online form.

  3. Leanna

    I have a 55 gallons compost barrel . I have a good mix of materials: sticks, leaves, food scraps, grass, shredded paper/ cardboard and soil . I turn the barrel every 2 to 3 days. It feels like a damp sponge. But it has not moved up 1° in temperature. I live in Alaska and the outside temperature has been 50s down to high 30s at night. I am about at my wits end. I don’t know what else to do. Any suggestions ?

    1. Laura Matter

      Hi Leanna,
      Usually the process you describe does the trick however I would avoid adding soil and too many sticks to the mix. This will slow the process down. A good mix is a fifty – fifty ratio by volume of grass clippings, green leaves, food waste for nitrogen (coffee grounds included in this) and dry leaves, newspaper, and cardboard (shredded) for your carbon source. How is it going now that the weather is colder?

      Laura @ the Garden Hotline

  4. Louis de Geofroy

    I am trying to hot compost a pile of soil to kill bindweed. I layered the soil with fresh cut grass between 2 sheets of black 8 mil plastic after watering it. My Reotemp thermometer hasn’t gotten above 65 F – the weather has been cool this week. I expected much higher temps. Should I ventilate and/or fertilize? Should I add something else?

    1. Laura Matter

      Hi Louis,
      Greetings from Seattle – sorry we took so long to reply. We were not monitoring comments for a bit on the website. Anything that creates a very hot compost pile that liquifies the bindweed rhizomes will work to kill it. WE have used black plastic bags and just let them sit in the sun all summer. I would not ventilate but let it compost anaerobically. Nitrogen fertilizer could help – blood meal or chicken manure even.

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