How about some GREEN MULCH? right now I have lettuce, chards, onions(for greens) between my tomato/eggplant/pepper plants. So by the time the toms are grown those vegies will be gone. Yet I have a permanent green mulch idea: FENUGREE. i have tried clover but did not work. But fenugreeg ( from alfalfa family) iworks fine. More than anything else, it is also a green manure. Fenugreeg produces nitrogen by its roots(like some beans) so instead of gettinh nutient out , it ads free nitrogen that it gets from air. What's more, its seeds and gree are edible and medicinal too. You can buy the seeds real cheap from any Indo-Pakistany grocery store by the pound. Indians, chinese..use fenugreek and seeds in cooking extensivly....

@GSRedneck: brief answer is two/three parts: i) No compost pile will stay 'hot' continuously. At some point things cool down. Lots of sources to read about this. ii) Compost piles where you're adding from time to time, especially one type of material like kitchen scraps, likely won't stay hot for long periods, and may never get 'hot'. That usually requires a fairly big pile that has the right mix and goes through one or several hot periods (due to turning and air and water additions). iii) You can cold compost - it will eventually break down. It won't 'kill' bad bacteria and weed seeds as well, and it will be slower. That doesn't mean that compost is bad or dangerous necessarily (there may not be that many bad bacteria in compost made mostly of plants, i.e. little or no meat or faeces or dairy, etc). Opinions differ in this but _my_ take on it is that it's more about helping the 'good' bacteria dominate, which mostly means plenty of air, rather than worrying. You might see if you can encourage compost worms to populate your pile. You may need to cover to keep more light out and keep it more damp. They like compost and will probably show up on their own, you'd just be helping them out. This probably sounds scary but short form is that hot composting is not the only way. Lots of people never get their compost piles hot. If what you want to do is reduce your kitchen-scrap (plant) garbage, cold is perfectly fine too. The other things you can do like adding browns 'help' optimise, you're just trying to get it to fit your needs. But do read up in other places.

From the thread linked below: Quote:I'm wondering if my grass clippings ("greens") become "browns" if they stay on the lawn long enough to dry out and turn, well, brown?I'm wondering if my grass clippings ("greens") become "browns" if they stay on the lawn long enough to dry out and turn, well, brown? Yes, but we are talking longer than most would leave their grass clippings staying on the lawn before they'd qualify as a brown. Ever seen anyone mow a pasture for hay? If not, come down here and I'll let you mow. ;) The point is, after we mow we wait a couple of days before windrowing, and then once windrowed it lays for a week + or - a day depending on weather before baling. Once baled it is still "green" in color and N rating and "stinky" smell. Granted your short grass will dry and brown faster than hay but if you are going to count it as a primary source of brown (and there are several better options available) make sure it has really, really dried first or you'll find your self with a stinky problem. here is a link to this earlier thread. It has links to even earlier and additional informative links.

This has probably been mentioned: The option to use the clippings for mulch. I have been using grass clippings for the past few years in raised beds with no problem. I know the four problems people espouse: 1. seeds to turn weeds. In my raised beds I pull grass and weeds early in the morning while drinking coffee. It is not labor intensive. 2. It is an un-appealing color as mulch. I don't care about aesthetics in my vegetable beds. Although I do have flowers in them...maybe I do and don't find the grass offensive. 3. turns to slimy mats. I throw the clippings in my compost bin for a few days. Things get hot and brown the clippings; have felt like my hands are burning while laying the mulch. Lay down an inch or two with no problems. 4. mats up and repels water. I have never had a problem. I have checked after rainfall and the soil appears evenly wet. I run a hose for irrigation when needed. You can see the grass float up where the water is spreading underneath. I also have the benefit of turning in the decomposing mulch at the end of the season for an additional soil amendment. I cannot find any issues with clippings as mulch. IF you are trying this on a large scale garden, then some of the issues like "seed to weed" will be problematic. I work with 4 - 12'x4' raised beds, 1 - 4'x4' strawberry bed, and some other oddball planting areas.