Larry, My experience with municipal compost is the same as yours, and I have not brought in any 'outside' compost in years. After you sift it, I bet you'll be pretty happy with it though. The hay I use as mulch, along with shredded leaves and compost from my compost pile all have helped a lot in terms of soil improvement over the years, but since heat eats compost, I still have to add huge amounts every year or the soil reverts back to rock-hard clay. I have gotten really picky about hay because of all the herbicide residue contamination issues. Like Carol, the garden was either too wet (in May, or October-November) or too dry and hot for me to focus much on soil-building this past year, so it is extra important that I get lots of organic matter added this fall and winter. I do have a huge compost pile that has cooked down quite a bit. Right now it is about 6' wide and 12-15' long and a couple of feet tall and I intend to rake off the upper layer that hasn't broken down, remove the finished compost and then start building the new pile. My favorite way to compost is to put shredded leaves and grass clippings right in the garden pathways as mulch. I usually start out with a 2 to 4" layer and add more leaves or grass clippings or hay whenever I can. By winter, they've broken down into compost and I can stand there in that path and shovel the decomposed mulch right into adjacent beds. That's my favorite lazy way to compost because I don't have to haul wheelbarrow loads of compost from the pile to the garden. This year it was so dry, though, that the pathway mulch didn't decompose much, but since rain began falling in September, the mulch has begun decomposing so I probably will be able to add it to beds in January or February. Miraje, I've noticed that too with a lot of local compost---it is more mulchy than composty. Eventually it does break down. I think it is getting harder and harder to find quality compost without paying a premium price for it. Dawn

Thank you, tessa. eaglesgarden, by all means, start Tiny Tim early, just so you can enjoy it while waiting for the outdoor season to start. I have a few varieties of small-pot tomatoes growing by a double-paned south window and all of them have teeny tomatoes on them now. If you don't you get enough natural light, supplement it with ordinary CFC lighting. The bulbs come in two spectra one is blue-ish and one is reddish. The blue is what you want for vegetative growth, the red for fruit production. I keep a pair of ordinary, clip on shop lights from the hardware store attached to the legs of my seed starting table on my sunporch. As seedlings emerge, I move the flats from the table top down to the floor and adjust the lights as the plants grow. I also haunt thrift shops for old gooseneck lamps, which are just right for plants on tables. But even in zone 6, by the time your Tiny Tims are maturing, you should be having some nice weather and it will be easy to take them in and out. Just be prepared for funny looks if you happen to mention that your tomatoes go out to play. jan

The trash house is half a mile away and you are disturbed by the view? Do you use goggles or a telescope? If it bothers you so much, why don't you talk to the people? I am in a similar situation but reversed. I bought a run-down house with overgrown yard last fall and I didn't have time yet to clean up the yard because all my time was spent fixing the inside, which is more important to me than the view of my neighbors. Also, during this time, I accumulated an old air conditioner, coil, stove, countless cardboard boxes, old kitchen counters etc. in my side yard (behind a gate, so not visible from the street, but visible from my neighbors second floor). It'll be disposed off sometimes this year but I am not going to rent a dumpster more than once. Disposing of bulk trash can be expensive. I'd not be insulted by a neighbor asking me politely to clean up. Why don't you try asking?

I trash picked a wooden high chair that lost its tray. I painted it white and distressed it. An old Christmas bear sits in it. He is holding yard sale Christmas picks, berries, bells and beads. He is wearing a stocking cap my daughter made out of felt at school. Very cute. barbara52: I have done the vintage ornaments in the same manner in the past and it is a very chic look. This year, I put them in a tall wide glass vase with pearls intertwined. Looks very cool. I am thinking of putting some vintage ornaments in a yard sale bird cage I have and putting a wide ribbon with a bow tied around the base. Someone gave me the idea at another forum