Pirl, glad to see you over here! Welcome from the Pacific NW. That is one fancy looking compost system, I'm quite envious.

Thanks! Good to see you as well.

The compost is all Jack's work, not mine. I get the fun of using it.

It does look great. And you make sure you stay here at ATP!

Did you find our local Northeast Gardening Forum? You need to join us there.
http://garden.org/forums/view/...

Wow!! So jealous of your compost system. Would love to see more pictures of it!

Some musings about your musing, Rick:

---- You present lots of good info. It's a wised decision to organize them, as there is so much that could be expanded upon.

---- is hotter (compost) always better? It can depend on your aim. If your purpose is to kill weed seeds, then probably. But realize there is always a trade off. As you (and others) say, stuff composts practically no matter what. I think you will find this interesting and helpful. Lots of ideas that deserve rumination:
http://permaculturenews.org/20...

---- "Mineral nutrients" has thrown me for a loop. Never heard the term applied to N, P and K. I think it will need explaining (especially to me!).

Pirl, LOVE the compost bins! Tell Jack, Great Job!!! My DH does all my composting here as well and I just get to use it! Sometimes he can't keep up though. Looks like you have a system that keeps you with plenty!

Thanks, Rita. I won't be leaving but with all the outdoor work to be done yet, it will take me time to get to the NE Forum.

Jennifer - just let me know what photos of the compost you'd like and I'll do my best to supply them.

Arlene - I'm an Arlene, too! We do have plenty. Drop in for a pound if you need it.

Until 2013 Jack had his prized vegetable garden and we really enjoyed it. The crows dive-bombing the tomatoes, combined with the four heat waves last year, led Jack to give it up but all the compost he had added for 20+ years, just made it ideal for growing flowers. Maybe I'll start a thread on it.

Oh, that is too bad about having to give up the veggie garden.

Welcome Arlene!

Its so good to hear from you!

Lefty, that was a really informative clip, thanks! Easy to understand.

Rita - the snowstorm of February 2012 found us in Maine, visiting with friends. At home the weight on the bird mesh, covering Jack's tomato room in the vegetable garden, became laden with snow and the weight of it bent all the copper supports. He took it apart that spring and said he wouldn't rebuild it, though it had worked so well for us. That was the beginning of the end and at 82 he just didn't want to fight the crows anymore.

He raised the plants from seed downstairs, under lights, added a bin of compost to the garden annually, tilled it in and raked it, planted the tomatoes (and other vegetables), erected the tomato room every year, tended the garden, swept the path, but in the end the crows won the war. At least we did enjoy it for 20 wonderful years.

Well, a veggie garden is a lot of work. And yours much more so than mine. And much larger also. It sure does look like a beautifully tended garden.

Arlene! So nice to meet another Arlene!

I am so impressed with the garden. Jack must have really loved his vegetable garden. All the trellising is great. Too bad he got disheartened but it's understandable.

My DH will be 80 the end of the year so he has slowed down and the bending and stooping is getting to be a bit too much but we use the Compost Tumblers so he doesn't have to stoop for them. It's funny, my son gave up making compost so David took over and he makes some wonderful stuff. He's not a big fan of gardening but he loves making my compost. And he likes going to market so that's enough for me!

Thanks for sharing those pictures!

Your gardens have always been a source of beauty, Rita, so keep up the great work.

Hi Arlene! The name of Arlene was at the height of popularity from 1931 to 1945 so when I meet an Arlene online I can guess at the age, but some are named for aunts so that can throw me off at times.

I've been very impressed with all Jack does so on his lazy days I don't dare complain. He earned his rest. It was so upsetting to see the crows perched just waiting to attack the tomatoes. I'd have given up as well. It's true, the bending and the aches in backs and knees get worse with age but moving does help (I keep telling him that!). Jack also gets great satisfaction from making compost....and does the food shopping, all the laundry, sets the table, cleans up after I make dinner and even does take-out now and then. I get to do house cleaning and caring for 30 gardens.

I'm happy to share in the hopes others will catch the fever of compost.

Sorry, not born in that era, but later, 1951, and no aunts either. But I do know it was my Dad's choice of a name.

At least you have a name that's lovely. Your dad had such good taste in naming you!

(How could I say anything else? LOL)

I think Arlene is a lovely name.

Rick / Leftwood,

Thanks for the link, but it's a video so I can't watch it while at work.

http://permaculturenews.org/20...

>> "Mineral nutrients" has thrown me for a loop. Never heard the term applied to N, P and K.

I forget where I first heard it - just any plant nutrient that's absorbed as soluble ions. Probably it should technically mean something that was once a mineral and then became soluble, but then it would not apply to most (or any?) source of N. Unless you consider guano a mineral!

I think it is used widely for Fe, Ca, Mg, S, and the micro-nutrients. It makes sense to me that it should be used for K, since potassium originally came from minerals even if we "recycle it" in compost.

Similarly, phosphate comes from minerals ("rock phosphate") although compost does also contain some P from biological sources.

Maybe N should not be called a "mineral nutrient", since it originally came from air! If the term is never or seldom used that way, then "my bad". If it is sometimes used that way, you make a good point that it seems a loopy thing to call something that was fixed from atmospheric N2.

In my own mind, I thought of them as "those inorganic, soluble ions that plants take up through root hairs". So maybe I added "N" in my own twisted mind to a more common usage meaning micro-nutrients + Fe, Ca, Mg, S + K + P.

Wiki not only agrees with you that N should not be called a mineral nutrient, Wiki thinks the term applies to all living things, not just plants. And they call it "archaic".

Wiki:
"the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. The term is archaic, as it describes chemical elements rather than actual minerals."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

So I probably have been using it wrong for most of my life! Thanks for pointing that out. I should substitute "nutrients taken up as soluble ions".

Hi pirl!

>> He's not a big fan of gardening but he loves making my compost.

I know the feeling. My favorite parts are making new beds, making compost, and improving the soil. And harvesting Bok Choy and show peas.

I should have been more explicative myself, Rick. Meaning:
--- "Never heard the term "mineral nutrients" applied to N-P-K as a group. "
Yes, I tend to think of mineral nutrients as Ca, S, Fe, Cu, Mg, Mn, etc., but of course P and K, too. After all, then, what's in rock phosphate and greensand?