Any danger would be based on what pathogens were in the compost to begin with and how much is left. Smell the compost. If you wouldn't want to be laying down in it (based on the smell), then use gloves to handle it. If it smells fresh like a forest floor after a rainstorm, then it's safe to use.

dalton thanks for the pics. I have been talking to my husband about making a bin. When I saw your pallets I knew that was the bin for me. Maybe because I can get the pallets free and it does not look hard to do. Swanz that is a very nice bin my hats off to you. I tried to do that once and my daughter just laughed at the finished product and my family threw it out. Oh well so much for building things.

I love your "landed gentry" comment. I'm in that position now as well, so I'm hoping poncirus is as slow-growing as I've read, because mine will probably be in pots for several years. I just want to weigh in on the taste discussion. I stole a fruit from the zoo a few months ago and currently have more seedlings than I can handle (hopefully at least one will live to see my hypothetical future property). I am assuming the tree was plain ol' Flying Dragon, as it had the twisted stems/hooked thorns and had lived through some icy weather. At any rate, during the seed-removal process, I tasted the fruit. I did not find it awful. I tasted it again. In fact, I have a feeling that if one of these trees ever bore fruit, I might end up slurping at one every now and then. (There was pretty much no pulp to speak of, I don't know if that's because I'd left it on the shelf for a while after picking or because that's just how they are.) I admit, we did the PTC experiment during the chapter on genetics in ninth grade biology, and I was a nontaster. My sister hated me for making her taste the stuff (and still gets rather animated when reminded of it), so I guess it's really bad if you can taste it, but I got nothing. Anyone know whether whatever's in the poncirus is related chemically? Maybe that's why some people can take it, and others suggest storing it where it will be forgotten? (*cough*MrTexas*cough*) ;) I did notice that the mostly-empty peel started to smell awful after a couple of hours sitting out on the counter. To me it didn't taste anything like that smell, but is that the "poncirus taste" referenced? - Lali, who probably eats things she shouldn't anyway but still finds cilantro repulsive

Azura, last year was my first real veggie garden, and I learned a lot. There were successes and failures, but I enjoyed it so much. Skybird is right about you wanting to make it bigger next year. I created a separate bed for the herbs this year, just so I could plant more veggies in veggie garden. So far, I planted onion sets and peas (twice). I also have five kinds of lettuce, and broccoli sprouts that were wintersown, that I might plant out as soon as the crazy winds die down. Plus there are tomatoes and peppers in my kitchen windowsill, and tomatoes that were wintersown but haven't germinated yet. I'm also direct sowing carrots maybe this week, but the cucumbers, canteloupes, and beans won't get planted for another month or so. My goal is for as much variety as possible, even if it means just one or two plants of each - 5 kinds of beans, 4 kinds of canteloupe, 5 kinds of carrots, 4 kinds of cukes, 7 kinds of peppers, and as many different tomatoes as I can cram into the space that's left, and the Earthbox I just bought. I'd rather have too many plants and have to give some away, than to realize I have empty space in the garden, and not enough time to start something else before the end of the season. The bed and soil look great, and I wish you a bountiful harvest. Bonnie