I will enjoy reading anyone's replay who has actually done this, just looking at it I am not convinced anything but the plants right next to the compost would actually get much in the way of nutrients, but I have never done it. I have seen old jeans and even shoes thrown in a compost pile, just a novelty trick in my opinion, just to say it can be done. I can not imagine actually working such a pile, I like my piles to be easy to work and the less screening the better. I do believe such material thrown in the pile would limit the amount of space for good material that would benefit the plants as they break down. With the plants so far away, those on the outside, I would think you would have to have things in the pile that would provide the three basic elements and the micro elements the plants need. Old cloths are not going to do much along those lines it would take two or three years I would think for them to rot away, and I have never seen the nutrients of a pair of jeans or a shirt listed.
