I don't remember what the melons looked like when they were young, but we were surprised to find the green flesh in the webbed-skin ones and orange flesh in the smooth ones. They were from store-bought fruit we'd thrown in the compost - that house we only grew tomatoes in a small bed at the end of the deck but when we found these plants growing in the compost we took a couple and planted them along the foundation to figure out what they were. After having LB last year we were meticulous about clearing out all the tomato and potato plants, every single leaf, root and fruit, NO volunteers in the beds this year and we trashed the residue instead of composting it. But DH just threw some rotten red potatoes and sprouting Russets(both storebought) in the compost, I hope we don't have problems from those.

Ok, before anyone goes nuts and starts posting all the good and bad and everything in between, I've read all that! The question I have is can I add the poo NOW, or should I wait till I get more "browns" in this pile? I have 2 large dogs and DO plan on putting the poo in the pile (if the USDA thinks it's ok, then I can live with it)And I can't see saving all the other stuff from the landfills to just add other "crap" :) Vic Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Dog composting

I would agree with borderbarb that there's probably not enough surface area to grow a lot of green manure but it's sounds like something I might try for the heck of it. Right now I have sunflowers and sweet peas growing out of compost covered hay bales. To what end I'm not entirely sure but they should look cool if they take off. I think if you want to grow your greens for your pile you're probably better off setting aside a section of your garden for it. Comfrey is supposed to be excellent for that but it is invasive. I have enough invasive plants growing already so I've kept away from comfrey. I'm growing some borage this year and that is supposedly a good green for the compost pile. Are you sure you can't scrounge up some greens? A quick search of Cleveland's craiglist showed a handful of people getting rid of hay which is usually a pretty good green in the compost pile. It helps having a pickup truck to get those sort of things.

Good advice above. Just cover the pile a bit, start a temporary pile somewhere and wait it out. Post more pics when you have gourds! I do think it's a gourd plant despite the resemblance of the leaves to beans. The thick stems are easy to distinguish from bean vines, not to mention the flowers and fruit.