Local Compost Seminar

SEEDs for De Pere, a part of Main Street De Pere, Inc., a program of the De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce, will host a composting workshop at 10 a.m. on Sat., Sept. 26. Participants should meet at Vanevenhoven De Pere Hardware, 1045 N. Broadway, De Pere.

The workshop will be led by Dave Haupt, a well known area home gardener, and will include a visit to an area composting site. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Rosalie Shier, 336-5870, email rshier2@yahoo.com.

Above is a photo of my own compost bins. I picked up the black bin on the left off a neighbor's curb. Best garbage score ever! This is a stacking style bin with hinged lid that sold for ~$75 when it was on the market. I love it. My husband made me the bins on the right, and after more than 10 years of use (and one move across town), it is starting to fall apart.

Plus, here's my own personal compost problem. Maybe someone can help me solve it:

I left the bottoms open on my homemade compost bin and I think roots from the nearby trees crept their way up into my bins. All I know is that I have two compartments so choked solid that I have to fight like mad to get my shovel in and get anything out. I laid weed barrier under my third bin (the new black one). Meanwhile I'm trying to put off the day when I have to tip the other over, fight it all down, and start over. Think it's really roots? Or maybe seed matter in my compost material?

And by the way, we are a composting neighborhood. Here's a shot of the bin next door:

Someday I'll post of picture of my parents' bins. Now THOSE are something to see. Compost maniacs, I'm telling ya. Whenever Mom and I do the area garden walks together, she wants to know where their 'messy area' is hiding. In other words, where are the compost bins? Unimaginable that any gardener could be without.