like watermelon rinds and such WELL. Putting a few bricks on top does not hurt. Remember Templeton the rat from Charlott's Web? He got all his needs from the farmer's trash. Make sure your Templetons don't start using your pile as a Walmart. Also, a lot of your nutrition goes into the soil if you do not contain the pile; also, hungry trees can send roots INTO the pile. This can wreck your scheme of moving the compost later, as you will then have roots to deal with. You also don't want to smother roots under the pile...oak trees will die if too many roots are covered. The rules for compost in Louisinana are different than for colder areas; the stuff breaks down fast but it also will spring up into life just when you don't want it to. Watch your compost.
Oh, and gloves are a good investment. Black Widows like rotting wood.

When I noticed how well things were growing around the edges of my compost pile I decided I was wasting nutrients, and started just spreading the raw material around the plants, and read up on something called 'lasagne gardening'. It's really just a variation of what Ruth Stout wrote about many years ago in books like 'How to have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back.' Since my back already aches, I like the idea of saving it as much as I can, and by spreading the stuff out like that the worms do the digging. We bought a place that used to be cane fields, and I thought at first I'd left my 'green thumb' behind, it was so hard to get anything to grow. But by dumping loads of leaves and grass clippings and anything else we could find all over everything several times a year we now have much better soil--even tho' my husband's illness has made it difficult to even nibble at the mulching we used to do. After all, that's the way the Master Gardener set things up. Sometimes if there isn't enough material available, or it's too rough so it looks messy, I cover with bark mulch or something that looks better. And if it's weedy I put down layers of wet newspaper first. Now the city has compost to pick up for residents, which I think is a wonderful thing, tho' I'm not able to take advantage of it anymore.

Yes I compost. My husband built me one out of pallets and made a gate out of old latticework found on side of the road. One side is the rough new materials and the other side is the more ready compost, and periodically we switch them. I have had no problems in several years. I keep a metal garbage can in my laundry room for coffee grounds and other kitchen waste, I add to compost. I keep a small laudnry basket outside and when I trim, prune, deadhead etc I put all clippings in there and add to compost. I don't usually turn or water. Very rarely my husband will turn it for me w/ a pitchfork. Compost happens as you've probably heard. Just go to the bottom of the pile and it is full of earthworms. I do not use a system either, like putting in so much greens and browns. I just put what I have. I do cut branches etc as small as I can becoz very large pieces take a long time to break down. I find things sprouting up in the compost often. Usually from a cutting I've discarded in there. Have had caladiums, cleome, four oclocks, chrysanthemums, lots of canna lillies (any piece of that you throw in will probably grow) etc. I think it is very fun and I feel good about recycling.
By the way, I also use my grass clippings around shrubs and trees and as mulch in far corners of my yard. Especially when I am trying to get rid of grass and make a new area for gardening. Just pile on the grass clippings and over a few mowings it is a nice mulched area and you don't need to mow it anymore. Start a pile, it's fun.

They say 'third time's the charm'. I hope so, 'cause this is the third time I've tried posting, but keep hitting the wrong button and losing the whole thing!
I've remembered two things about composting that are especially of interest at this time of year--and a happy hallowe'en to all of you! Spoiled pumpkins make excellent compost. Hadn't occurred to me, but I learned that on the Compost forum. Years ago, a county agent gave a lecture I don't remember much about, but one thing he said has certainly stayed with me. He said if you take a bale of hay--lots of those about to be thrown away!--and put it where you want to grow tomatoes (I think the lecture was on vegetables, but it would work just as well with many other things) let the winter rains soak it through, and in the spring plant directly in the hay bale. The tomatoes, or petunias, or whatever, will grow so well they will soon cover the hay bale, and the hay will break down into wonderful compost, and you will have a good start for a new bed if you want it, and you won't have to weed it (or much anyway.) I had forgotten that until recently, but I'm planning on putting newspapers a number of pages thick on an area that needs weeding, and put hay bales there and grow something temporary like tomatoes, and see how it works. Good way to raise a bed it seems to me!

I do lots of composting, and I do lasagna beds, sheet composting, etc. Most of my materials I get on garbage nights when people put bags of chopped up grass and leaves on the side of the road. What a waste!

I have piles and bins in my backyard, but I also put lots of fresh lawn clippings directly into my beds as a mulch, and a nice wormie snack.
Annie