Compost !

This is a passion of mine.

Many years ago I needed to get rid of a giant stack of cardboard boxes.

Already a compost freak since the 70's I thought I know what to do........ So, I dug a giant hole in my front yard buried the stack....... and covered it with wood chips = no more cardboard in sight.

the very next year ( 12 months ) I could find no trace of CB..... it was all black compost ! Much faster than composting wood chips.

I used to be able to get untold truckloads of wood chips for free ( to make compost ) but so many people are doing it now that I have had to resort to composting cardboard sheets, paper and bagged leaves.

All of it is free ! None of it is wanted by most people ( even gardeners ).

So.... without tidying any of the pics up, I just headed out to the back forty and took some "as is" photos.

The first pic is of a corner of my back that no one sees......the carpet on the lower half of the pic is covering another giant stack of CB that a neighbor threw out this spring

Step 1:

It is hard to believe how flattened it has become. We have had little rain lately and the carpet helps to retain moisture like you wouldn't believe !

Step 2:

Pic # 3 shows how THIN a furniture CB box in just 2 months... it has lost all rigidity at this point and would fall apart easily if picked up......

Step 3:

Step 4:

After lifting the top sheet-- you can see that everything under that has already become compost !

( This year, I decided to put a layer of carpet UNDER my last stack of CB so that when I harvest it-- I wont be picking up a trace of nasty clay ....... this BTW does not deter red wigglers . They are top feeders and I often find them sliding between sheets......eating.......)

If a sheet of CB lays on TOP of the ground -- it could still look like a sheet of cardboard years later. In fact, I have used cardboard boxes as POTS ! ......that last all through the season without breaking or totally becoming compost !

Also ,the same goes for newspaper. I use tomato cages .

Those 'cages' also trap balled up newspaper. So instead of using any other material as mulch, balls of NP will stay intact through the season-- enough to keep weeds OUT and moisture in.

You may not be able to tell by the last pic but the TOP part of it is a foot deep compost that is from last fall that I will be harvesting soon ......then it all starts over again..... Say yes ! to cardboard !