I'm a long way from NYC, but if there was any way I could get in of it… I don't suppose anyone is driving from NYC to Texas with a large trailer in tow?

In my area you can pick up all the wood chips you want at the transfer station.

Irving Ragweed: Looks like they have free shredded mulch in Austin but apparently no free compost? The City seems to have a curbside organics collection service that goes to composting but it's not clear where that compost comes out (who distributes it) or how much it costs.

http://www.austintexas.gov/blog/free-mulch-great-mulch

http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Watershed/growgreen/freewoodmulchflyer2014.pdf

I found somewhere that would give me their wood ashes from their ovens. They want to make sure they have no liability issues first. I live in NYC not sure where to find that out.

Be careful with wood ashes. They can be a very good resource in specific circumstances, but they are very strong in their ability to cause rapid results. A consequence of misapplication could be to cause serious issues in the pH of a garden space. When used correctly, in the right circumstance, they can be a very good resource.

I started to read up on that after I asked the place. I thought they would be the same as wood chips. My plan is to only get a little, throw some in the compost bin and then to lightly sprinkle it around my beds. A handful to dust the area like powdered sugar should not be enough to alter anything.

tox: Why give it away when you can turn a profit? Curbside organics collection, including all those Christmas trees, is combined with sanitized sewage sludge as Dillo Dirt aka chock full of heavy metals. To the city's credit, residents are advised not to use it on food crops. The free mulch is the product of shredded lawn and leaf bags. It's a fine resource if you don't mind screening out all the shredded plastic, cigarette butts and bottle caps that find their way into those bags. Despite instructions to the contrary, some residents insist on taping their bags. That said, it is a free resource, so why not expect to get what you pay for?

Hopefully they're meeting the Biosolids Rule as far as metals and other toxic content. Not that this makes it pristine, but there are legal limits.

My city sells screened yard waste compost for $12/yd several times a year and the 'yard' they give you is very generous. I feel fortunate to have such a resource that I know many cities do not provide.

We also have yard waste dropoff/mulching sites where you can get all the free mulch you want. And it does have a bit of trash in it. Also quite a collection of weed seeds and who knows what else. It was great on my clay soil though, used tons of it for years and the soil underneath is much better now.

As for the ash...nothing like wood at all but what you're proposing should work OK if you don't overdo. The pH is about 12.

The place was worried about liability issues. I don't know anything about it and said I won't ask them to risk it.

You're not missing much with wood ashes anyway.

Amazing how businesses will throw something out, but they're all worried about giving it away to someone. Sheesh.

He was very willing to give it away and even offered to set up weekly pick ups. Very quick to respond as well to my emails. I understand from a business perspective why they would rather throw it away than give it away. Regulations can really restrict and harm a company who is doing something harmless to help someone.

"Amazing how businesses will throw something out, but they're all worried about giving it away to someone. Sheesh."

That is true for many things like supermartket produce and building material from demolitions. Why? Because there's lawyers behind every tree. Case in point. A supermarket chain could reduce consumer prices and keep tons of waste out of landfill by partnering with swine growers who will buy their waste. Along with other harebrained reasons government say's it can't be is the risk of hogs consuming tainted food unless it go's through an inspection. I can't feel the sense of pride and contribution some do about recycling because I figure the bureaucracy is laughing about the fool they made of me.

But in answer to OP's question about where to get free material,dumpsters. Don't ask,just grab and go. As some famous man once said "it's easier to ask forgivness than ask for permission."

I want to ask a local grocery store with a fresh fish section for their scraps. Is that something worth getting and trying to compost? If yes, what's the easiest way with the least work to compost them?

I am led to believe that rotting fish scraps can smell bad.

And attract every animal passing within a mile downwind.

Ariel, in all seriousness, trying to compost fish scraps (and most other meats) is not a good idea unless you are 100% certain of your process and ways to manage problems. There are better sources (as suggested above) of free stuff for compost.

I was thinking if I got a bag full (the bags they put fish in) and buried it 10 inches deep, covered with grass clipping, and carboard it would avoid any smell.

My alternative was to compost for next year. Take a garbage can with holes drilled all around. Doing alternative layers of soil, fish, grass clippings, brown paper bags, leaves, and vegetable pulp.

Ariel, how far is your nearest neighbor? I'm afraid they will be calling the cops on you if you go ahead with your plan :)

Really close. Last year there was a dead bird in my backyard. I buried it over a foot deep in a garbage can. Then planted something on top. Never smelled a thing. Thought I could do the same with a few fish scraps.

A properly maintained compost pile will not smell and that includes reasonable amounts of fish or other meaty stuff. I've composted leftover Thanksgiving turkey bones, skin etc. after boiling for stock and it works fine. The MO Dept. of Transportation composted entire deer carcasses by burying in a large pile of sawdust. The deep cover of brown stuff absorbs any smelly nitrogen containing gases that are given off.

If you try this, I would begin slowly with a couple pounds of fish waste and see how it goes. Your worst nightmare would be to get a lot of it and not be able to manage the pile, and then you're stuck.

The problem with that garbage can method you described is going to be 'too much greens'. Most of what you listed is greens and the fish is a super-green. With meat especially you need a lot of browns - you mentioned cardboard but also straw, leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shredded paper, etc. And the stuff has to buried deep in the pile, not in a huge mass, but spread out a little so it doesn't get anaerobic and smelly in the center. A hot pile is good so it gets composted quickly to the point of not being attractive to varmints, flies etc. Fall, when you can get both grass clippings and leaves, is a good time to make hot piles, or store leaves till spring when you can get fresh grass clippings. That's my method anyhow.

I agree one can compost fish and meats and whatnot - and personally I find that if it's from leftover stock and scraps after boiling and cooking thoroughly, fewer problems (many of the proteins and fats have been denatured or rendered). And it's a very small portion of a larger pile. Burying also works better than aboveground, and agree with you that lots of browns (especially sawdust) helps a lot.

But the context was that Ariel was asking about where to get free stuff in quantity for composting. Getting fish scraps uncooked would be low on my list because it's harder to do right, especially with a smallish plot. Asking for discards from the greengrocer, leaves, woodchips, coffee grounds, sawdust, cardboard, or even basic kitchen scraps from neighbours would be way higher on my list. Seasonal veggie and fruit discards, too - lots of places and households end up with extra fruit and apples or juice leftovers or whatever. Brewery or winery waste. Grass clippings. Etc.

It's one thing to compost some tricky stuff when you happen to have a bit (or are the MOT and have no choice but to deal with roadkill), another to go out of your way to get some. Time and effort would be better focussed on other available sources.

Ariel, by the way, much like your idea of burying stuff. It's trench composting and works quite well with other 'green' waste like fruit and veggie scraps. I once had a year with more apples than we could do any with, even after cider and juice pressing and giving away as many as I could to everyone I could find and church charities and everything. Several dozen bushels got buried and worked very well, just opened a long trench, dumped them all in, and covered over with soil.

Thanks.

I read how good fish is for the soil and thought it would be something to try. Even if it was a pound spread out in a 1 foot by 6 foot area. Im going to avoid it for now.

Right now my composting ability is very poor. All I have is a bunch of greens.

I got about 3 gallons worth of juice pulp. This is something I can get almost every week. I dug a hole to do trench composting 2 weeks ago. No signs of anything going after it. Part of me wants to check on the progress by digging it up but im worried that would attract rodents if I can't properly cover it back up.

My other is a garbage can with holes all around. Its very heavy on greens because thats all I have. Kitchen scraps, leafy green leftovers from work lunch, brown paper bags, soil, grass clippings, and coffee grounds. It barely looks like anything happens to it. There are a few earthworms in it. Its definitely not a hot composting bin. I don't know where to get a large amount of browns. Greens are so easy to come by.

If you're burying the stuff, don't worry about the browns and greens balance. Don't dig it up, don't check on it, it'll decompose fine in time.

How long have you been doing this? Your first post was a month ago; it's great to be eager, but sometimes people try to rush things and then overdo it and it causes problems. You can only go so fast with composting.

You should probably concentrate on finding a steady source of browns to go with what you are already getting. The pulp is great stuff for composting if you have the browns to go with it.

Honestly, I am not even sure what I used to start this year's compost bin. There is for sure lots of grass that I left from last summer in it. Then I dumped everything I had as I got it in the can. Ive dumped stuff I shouldn't like oily legumes or rice. No critters go to it but it does smell when I turn it. When its in the can there is no smell.

I can't find enough stuff to get a good ratio.

My suggestion is to concentrate your efforts on finding free stuff to compost on the things you don't have quite enough of (and less on the tricky stuff like fish and meats). As I see you're in the city, cardboard may be your best bet, or some amounts of shredded office paper (I don't like shredded paper much as tends to mat, but spread on top of a pile as a layer does a decent job keeping smells down; works well for some though, experiment with a bit if you have some before adding huge amounts - as with anything, really).

As you've found, some stuff that you're 'not supposed' to compost actually is often okay, and in modest amounts not really a problem - just that in a city you may be more likely to attract pests, amongst other potential issues.

For burying stuff, the 'right' brown/greens mix is less critical.

This is what my compost pile looks like before I break it up and turn it. (from this morning)

Shred that paper and it will go faster.

I shredded some of it. They end up clumping.

My freebie compost ingredients are the grass clippings I collect when mowing, kitchen and garden waste, and the biggest component of all - tree leafs. Each autumn around Thanksgiving I travel the neighborhoods and collect the bagged leafs that people place on their curbs for collection, so I collect them before the garbage truck arrives. Just avoid yards with gumball trees, magnolia trees, and pine needles/cones. The best yards have maple trees. I usually collect about 30-40 bags to last throughout the next summer to use when building compost piles.

Taking the scale from the shoes in the picture the pile looks very small. You'll get best results from a pile roughly 3 x 3 x 3 feet.

Floral - It is small. Thats why I was looking for good sources of free things to add.

I found a post on craigslist where a store is offering cocao husks for free collection. Is that worth my time?

Any organic material you can get is useful but was that cocoa or coconut husks? The latter would take a while to break down. I see you have a lawn. What happens to the mowings? Do you have a garden? What happens to dead plants, weeds and prunings? Do you cook? What happens to peelings and trimmings? Do you eat fruit? What happens to peels and cores? Do you receive mail? What happens to envelopes, flyers and newspapers? Do you drink tea or coffee? What happens to the leaves and grounds? Do you get things delivered? What happens to the cardboard packaging? Do you vacuum? What happens to the contents of the bag?

There are only two of us at home now and our garden is microscopic with no lawn but we manage to fill a 3x3x3 bin quite easily. When it gets too full we take advantage of the local council's organic waste pickup or bury the excess in a flowerbed. I empty the resulting compost onto the garden once or twice a year.

If you bury fish, make sure that the shovel you use to put the dirt back over it has not touched the smelly fish. If you don't, you'll be giving your burial ground away and may find your garden dug up.

It is cocao husks, from some chocolate factory.

Lawn:
I ask my gardener to leave the grass clipping. Then I use some as mulch the rest is sprinkled lightly into the compost pile.

Garden:
I only grow vegetables during the summer. I do try to pull weeds and put them in the compost. But Im very weary about putting most of it in.

Food and leftovers:
I try to put as much of our raw vegetable scraps in the compost. In addition, I add gallon bags of leafy green leftovers from my jobs lunch.

Mail:
It all goes into recycling for pick up. I don't know which are safe to put it and which are not.

Leaves:
I collect our fall leaves if someone doesn't throw them out. When I have it I add to the compost but that's long gone from now. I see people leave their bags out and im not there yet to be willing to pick up people leaf bags to bring home. I know I should and it would be great to use, even if I can't shred them.

Cardboard:
I don't use them. Not sure why. I can start adding the small amount we get.

Vacuum:
I don't know what non natural fibers or things can be collected and don't put it in. Thats the same for my dryer lint.

You're doing great. Weeds are mostly OK as long as they haven't gone to seed. Even in bloom, they can be risky, like dandelions, which can turn from bloom to seeds even after pulling. But if not in bloom or with seeds, weeds are OK to compost. And avoid the few root spreaders: mint and Bermuda grass are a problem in my yard.

Corrugated cardboard is OK, the glues are made essentially from tree sap and will decompose. But if you can recycle it, best to do that. Printed stuff from the kitchen PROBABLY has food safe inks but I prefer to recycle that as well. As far as mail and newspapers, black ink is OK and most of the colored ones are too but a few may still have metals in them. I have plenty of leaves so I can be picky and I recycle all that stuff instead of composting. If I were desperate for browns I would turn to black and white newsprint and shredded office paper first. YMMV

I found a bunch of bamboo for free. Would adding the leaves from it be considered browns?

Also, any reason I shouldn't dump a bunch of greens in the pile. Cover it with a few layers of cardboard. Then put soil on top to plant something on top? This is in a garbage can.

I would avoid any part of bamboo. The leaves take forever to break down due to the high lignin content.

You'll have better results if you alternate thin layers of greens and cardboard.

Hmm, well, as long as it had some drainage holes it might be OK. Trouble is it's going to be anaerobic under there, and a pile of greens added is going to make that worse. Hard to predict what effect this might have on the plants. I would feel more comfortable growing on top of mostly finished compost rather than fresh material.

My goal is to separate it with a layer of cardboard and lots of soil. There is drainage holes on the bottom and sides of the can.

Try it and see. Like we always say, 'observe and adjust' and 'what's the worst that can happen?' :-]

Im going to see if I can try it. My biggest fear is breaking the plant while I try to transplant. If I can find somewhere in my garden to dig up soil to use to fill the can I could do it.

Right now I am trying to pick up bags of cacao husk for compost and mulch. Still havent been able to find out if they are considered browns or greens.

The literature suggests cocoa husk is a brown.

According to Didiek and Yufnal (2004), cocoa pod compost has a pH of 5.4, N total of 1.30%, C-organic 33.71%, P2O5 0.186%, K2O 5.5%, 0.23% CaO, and 0.59% MgO.

Based on the available articles about cocoa husk, it sounds like a winner. Maybe someone here who has actually used it could provide feedback.

Really in any kind of container you should use a container mix (aka potting mix) rather than garden soil. A container is a completely different environment (even more than it may seem) and plants do not do as well in a pot filled with regular soil.

It costs too much to fill a trash can full of soil. Its about 20 gallons or more and mainly vertical. I have grown in it for a few years with plain garden soil. It had pretty good results. My assumption is the shape of it allows to mimic an in ground bed, but I could be wrong. I have nothing to compare it in that size.

Some of my 5 gallon containers have potting mix.

I wasn't suggesting to fill the whole thing with soil, rather that 'garden soil' (which to me means something dug out of the ground) is not appropriate for containers. Unfortunately Scotts sells something in a bag called 'garden soil' which looks more like a fine textured potting mix. So I'm not sure whether we both envision the same thing when we say 'garden soil'. :-]

I meant soil straight from my backyard. Here is a pic of one garbage can I filled that way. The eggplant in it is doing better than my in ground ones.

Hey, if it works, do it. :-D

I never can grow eggplant, the flea beetles just demolish the leaves.

I think they are attacking mine this year. Still growing strong! :)

In my area xeriscape is the norm---not green grass. Not crazy about using animal manure here in the 'burbs and with all the e.coli scare. The few little green things we throw away aren't enough to do any good.

I have access to a pickup truck, so I load about as much wood chips as I can manage from the transfer station, take it home and throw Urea or Ammonium Sulfate fertilizer on it until it starts perking. (I live in an alkaline area).

In the fall, leaves are better than anything.