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Compost Cookery

Compost is more than leaves, grass clippings and spent foliage.

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Marion Owen

by Marie Hofer, Gardening editor, HGTV.com

With fallen leaves littering the yard and vegetable plants wasted in the garden, it's not hard to find things to feed your compost pile. But you may be only skimming the surface of what there is to compost. Marion Owen, master gardener and co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul, has put together a list of 163 other items that are great for composting. "Just think, 163 materials that don't end up in the landfill. Plus, your plants get a gourmet meal out of your recycling efforts. Such a deal," she says.

You'll love her list:

  • paper napkins
  • freezer-burned vegetables
  • pet hair
  • potash rock
  • post-it notes
  • freezer-burned fruit
  • wood chips
  • lint from behind refrigerator
  • hay
  • popcorn
  • freezer-burned fish
  • old spices
  • pine needles
  • leaves
  • matches
  • seaweed and kelp
  • chicken manure
  • leather dust
  • old herbs
  • bird cage cleanings
  • paper towels
  • brewery wastes
  • grass clippings
  • hoof and horn meal
  • molasses residue
  • potato peelings
  • unpaid bills
  • cotton plant waste
  • weeds
  • rabbit manure
  • hair clippings
  • stale bread
  • coffee grounds
  • wood ashes
  • sawdust
  • tea grounds
  • shredded newspaper
  • egg shells
  • cow manure
  • alfalfa
  • winter rye
  • grapefruit rinds
  • pea vines
  • houseplant trimmings
  • old pasta
  • grape wastes
  • soil
  • phosphate rock
  • corncobs
  • jello
  • blood meal
  • winery wastes
  • Spanish moss
  • limestone
  • fish meal
  • beet wastes
  • Sunday comics
  • harbor mud
  • felt waste
  • wheat straw
  • peat moss
  • facial tissues
  • milk
  • bark
  • hops
  • starfish
  • melted ice cream
  • flower petals
  • pumpkin seeds
  • cotton swabs
  • old flower arrangements
  • paper glue
  • BBQ'd fish skin
  • bone meal
  • citrus wastes
  • stale potato chips
  • rhubarb stems
  • tobacco wastes
  • bird guano
  • hog manure
  • dried jellyfish
  • produce trimmings from grocery store

  • guinea pig droppings
  • nutshells
  • cattail reeds
  • clover
  • granite dust
  • moldy cheese
  • greensand
  • straw
  • shredded cardboard
  • dolomite
  • cover crops
  • rapeseed meal
  • bat guano
  • fish scraps
  • tea bags
  • apple cores
  • electric razor trimmings
  • kitchen wastes
  • outdated yogurt
  • toenail clippings
  • shrimp shells
  • crab shells
  • lobster shells
  • pie crust
  • leather wallets
  • onion skins
  • sugar cane residue
  • watermelon rinds
  • date pits
  • goat manure
  • olive pits
  • peanut shells
  • burned oatmeal
  • dryer lint
  • bread crusts
  • cooked rice
  • river mud
  • bad wine
  • banana peels
  • fingernail clippings
  • chocolate cookies
  • toothpicks
  • old moss from hanging baskets
  • stale potato chips
  • pickles
  • dust bunnies
  • pencil shavings
  • wool socks
  • artichoke leaves
  • leather watch bands
  • fruit salad
  • tossed salad
  • brown paper bags
  • soggy Cheerios
  • theater tickets
  • lees from making wine
  • burned toast
  • feathers
  • animal fur
  • alfalfa
  • horse manure
  • vacuum cleaner bag contents
  • coconut hull fiber
  • old or outdated seeds
  • macaroni and cheese
  • liquid of canned vegetables
  • liquid of canned fruit
  • old beer
  • wedding bouquets
  • greeting card envelopes
  • snow
  • dead bees and flies
  • horse hair
  • peanut butter sandwiches
  • dirt from soles of shoes, boots
  • fish bones
  • hand soap scraps
  • wheat bran
  • spoiled can food items
  • cardboard cereal boxes (shredded)
  • grocery receipts

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