Wow! I think some people may be getting carried away with protecting the mycorrhizal fungi network. Mother Nature is really not that fragile IMO. Jenn, if you bury kitchen scraps NOW and let them sit 6 months (until November) I'm fairly certain that those scraps with be decomposed and not be a problem with anything you plant then. Keep the area moist for faster decomposition. I'm thinking you are not burying tons of veggie scraps, only what your family produces. We eat a lot of veggies/fruit and rarely have more than a gallon of scraps per day. Mostly less than that. When these are buried in a hole in the garden with space between them there should be no problem. What does not decompose quickly are things like onion skins, citrus peels, and avocado pits. The first 2 can be chopped up in small pieces for faster decomposition. I'm not sure about using carrots and parsnips to loosen soil - I always thot they needed loose soil to grow straight. However if you have this from a reputable source it's certainly worth a try. If you intend to till in uncomposted materials now, you should wait until it's decomposed before planting. If you are tilling in finished compost I think it's still recommended to wait a couple of weeks before planting. IMO tilling is not necessary - the only time we till is when starting a new bed in our concrete-like clay soil. Then my DH tills once, I pile on whatever amendments I am using, and he tills again. After that it's trench composting between plants and/or using compost/mulch on top. I'd suggest you try the trench composting as you suggested in your first post to see what happens to the soil. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not too many here use trench composting so they don't realize the benefits.

Hey, I searched on 'dryer lint' and this thread came up. Question, I collect my dryer lint in a bag in my laundry room and it's now full. Can I put that in my pile? Is it a green or brown? And I'm assuming dryer sheets cannot go in? Lots of good tips here, the old protein powder, lobster carcasses an other things. I have 3 piles which are now mostly wood chips from last years trimmings and weeds and soon will have deadheaded roses from my garden. Luckily we finally got some needed rain an I am going to stir up the piles this afternoon.

Could you please indicate what brand is advertising like classic snake oil salesmen? Our local garden centers don't carry bagged compost with advertisements. Just a title with a big word that says compost and instructions for mixing. One real example is "New Plant Life" brand out of LaPorte, IN. The only claim they make on the bag is that they make no claims. It's in a little box in the middle. I have some right outside, so I checked. Otherwise, though, the majority of the compost carried is in bulk. As for claims about being the best thing since sliced bread, well I think everyone here has seen that nearly every commercial blend of fertilizer makes those claims and are even now jumping on the "organic" bandwagon and making new claims to appease those against synthetics. Need me to list those brands or are you familiar with what I'm talking about? What a company has to gain in regard to not classing a compost as fertilizer is not a matter of opinion. It's a fact that when a long time customer realizes that they can provide a better food source and stops buying the fertilizer company's product, the fertilizer company just lost money. Compound that by the thousands of gardeners in this country that have the means to make compost and learn to do it properly. Then you are talking about bigger losses. Then consider the fact that those people's children are being taught to not buy the synthetics and you are talking about an entire generation not buying their products. And further, these companies obviously don't share your opinion but rather have decided to look at the facts considering they have realized they have to market to composters and now are producing "compost starters" and such gimmicks that many new composters are picking up like crazy not realizing that what these companies aren't sharing is that these microbes are easily found in a handful of dirt. One last thing and I will stop polluting this thread with so much writing. Since some here are concerned about government claims, I encourage you to check out what the EPA has to say about the content of nutrients in compost. Essentially it only proves our government agencies and associations they rely on tend to only contradict themselves. http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/composting/benefits.htm

IÂve been reading about Brugmansia/Datura poisons. According to Wikipedia, the alkaloids arenÂt necessarily poisonous but are a very strong hallucinogenic. Witch doctors use it to create "Zombies." It makes one feel extremely hot, so many people end up drowning after consuming brugs/dats or otherwise injuring or killing themselves due to hallucinations. From another site: "Most parts of the plant contain atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine. It has been used as an admixture plant in ayahuasca brews as well as in poisons and medicines in S. America." Apparently ingesting very large amounts can outright kill you. The most potent part of the plant is the seed. Someone on the brug board said they found a dead woodchuck with a seed pod in its mouth. So, is it safe for my worms? Still not 100% sure. Thinking about trying an experiment by putting a couple of worms in a plastic cup and adding brug leaves to see what happens. IÂll post back here when I get around to it. Sunroom has been cool, with little sun - so not too many brug leaves need pruning at the moment.