They should be fine... Although, I highly doubt the 5-10-10 was organic.. Don't worry about anything! Watch, you'll break the records for tomato production this year! Can you imagine... Your neighbors will be grateful youre giving them your excess tomatoes instead of zucchini! You are going to wish you knew witch fertilizer you used! Best of luck, Joe

Hi Matthew First there can be a huge difference between 'usable' and 'finished' so there may not be a black/white answer to that. And there are a ton of variables affecting the speed of composting. So it can take more than a year, or it can take as short as a couple of months (and anywhere in between). One nice thing about fall to fall is that even if some of the stuff isn't fully composted, working it into the soil after harvest will allow it to 'finish off' in the soil. Depending on ones climate, that gives a few extra weeks in the fall and a few weeks in the spring after the thaw. Were there any manures used in your first pile, was it a batch or did you add to it all fall and did it get any kind of heat? Your second pile sounds like a LOT of leaves so it may take quite a while to break down completely unless further N materials are added. What are you intending to use this stuff for in the summer? Lloyd

Hmm, well, there is that Chinese drywall problem. I was always curious what actually caused that. It does not seem particularly harmful - at least on the sulfur side. According to that Wiki article, Chinese drywall gives off sulfur containing gases as a result of a particular bacteria attacking the unusually high levels of pyrite in the formula. Pyrite is nothing but iron sulfide, quite harmless. In an aerobic composting environment, I suspect that particular bacteria would decrease as others compete. Also, any gases that are produced will waft away outdoors. In fact, those bacteria probably already exist in most soils and compost. I did notice that the Chinese drywall also had more fly ash in it than American drywall. I do have some concerns about metals in fly ash, especially any fly ash from China. I would think this problem has been cleared up so any new drywall isn't going to have these problems anyway. But I would probably not put Chinese drywall, new or old, in my compost. As for fiberglass, it's first I've heard of that. There can't be much in there since you don't see it, and it's not a toxic risk. It's tiny glass fibers, which are made from silica and other harmless minerals, and would disappear into the soil. Of course it's up to everyone to make their own choices. I just try to clarify the facts.

Like Kimmsr, I use compost for seed starting, and I also get lots of unplanned volunteers in the compost pile. As long as the compost is finished or mostly-finished, it shouldn't be a big problem. You certainly wouldn't want to use "hot" compost with your seeds. :-) As to the seeds themselves, as mentioned above a lot depends on the type of seed, soil temperature, and the age of the seeds. Many times older seeds take longer to germinate and have a less successful germination rate. It's my understanding that carrot seeds can normally take 2-3 weeks to germinate; longer if the soil is too cold and/or the seeds are old. This is based on info I've read, not on personal experience. Last fall I started a new compost area that was to be turned into a vegetable patch this spring. Having started it late in the autumn, there were only a few inches of organic material applied to the ground and it never got hot enough to fully finish. I turned it once or twice in April as the ground started thawing, and the grass clippings had very little deterioration; they were mostly intact and kind of mucky like grass clippings get when you pile them up. No additional material had been added to the area since last December. But that didn't stop the volunteers of cucumbers, lettuce, and, lastly, tomatoes from germinating -- thanks to those leftover, unpicked fruits that were thrown in from the garden last October. [I'm used to tomato volunteers, but the cukes and lettuce were surprises.] I can't really speak to experience with carrots (maybe I'll grow some next year), but there could be a number of factors that influenced low and slow germination. All the best.