All the stuff you mentioned will turn into compost after a while, but it will definately speed up the process to add kitchen scraps, coffee grouds, or other "greens". My compost pile includes both greens and browns, and is still technically a cold pile. (Frozen right now, in fact!)

I'm not sure why you're restricted to only a cold pile, but if nothing else, adding in layers of soil will get the bacteria going and speed things up. Hope this helps, Kim

Thanks Kim it does help!
I can't hot compost here, because #1, I live in a mobile home park where the park manager and neighbors would probably not take kindly to me having a compost pile, and #2, I have a pretty small lot, so I have to keep things small. I wish I could do the hot composting here!
I did sprinkle some bloodmeal into the pile as I was filling it up. In spring, I also might let some things slip in there. Whoops! Don't know how all that got in there lol!
My pile is frozen now too. This warm spell of 40 degree days may give me a chance to slip in some coffee grounds.

Thanks,
Cathy

Our compost pile routinely gets all sorts of garden waste and yard waste, so I would be comfortable using the contents of your burlap bags in our compost pile. The fastest and least expensive way of shredding tree leaves, that I have found, is to rake the leaves into a windrow, and run over them with a mulching lawnmower. The leaves should be dry when this is done, and it will take considerable raking to clean up the resulting mess. I use an 8 by 10 poly tarp to drag the shredded leaves to the compost pile. With no nitrogen source, it might take two years for your bin to yield finished compost, but it will get there eventually.

I used my blower/vac to suck up and shred the leaves. Works pretty good!
Also good to know the burlapped stuff won't go to waste. I will probably throw UCG's on the pile all season long too. That at least is some nitrogen source too.

Since you are limited on space, and around other people (like myself), try composting in a garbage can. This is the ultimate way to hide the treasure and keep it contained.
I took a garbage can, the bigger the better, drilled holes all around the sides and bottom, and layered in my compost. If there is the right ratio of greens and browns, it shouldn't stink. And this pile should heat up after a while. I believe there is a post about this topic in the soil forum as well.

I also worry about mice in the area. I don't have any in the house, but I also don't want to attract rodents or coons.
Thankyou, I have often thought about using a garbage can right outside my back door. My neighbors would probably think I am just throwing garbage away. lol

Leaf mold is just leaves piled up and left to get digested and while that end material does have some good nutrition in it it is not compost which is made by mixing a variety of material in a combination that has the C:N ratio closer to the optimal 30:1 than just leaves would allow. You can take all of the "stuff" used to protect your plants and mix that together and allow it to compost, or you could spread it in place as a mulch, but there is no reason to be concerend about that material harboring disease pathogens, unless your plants already are infected. Throwing any "garden waste" from your property into the trash is throwing away valuable nutrients that you will need to try and replace and you also pay for those twice, once when you throw that material away and then again when you purchase something to try and replace what you threw away at the store.
Hot composting occurs when the C:N ratio of the material is close to that magical 30:1, the moisture in the pile is just enough and not too much or too little, and the bacteria at work digesting that material really get to work. Hot composting is not about place. There is still a myth around that you need some garden soil to innoculate a compost pile with the bacteria that will digest that material, however, those soil bacteria are not the same wee buggers that do the digesting so soil is not needed. All of the material that you would compost already has the bacteria that will digest it on its surface, note how the food you eat will start to compost if not consumed in a timely manner.

"and while that end material does have some good nutrition in it..."

(Some? That's a huge understatement.)

Leaf mold is a wonderful, wonderful thing, beautiful to behold, far more beautiful in appearance than compost. It takes mine two years for complete decomposition here in this yard, but I can harvest from the bottom of the bags after a year. The fastest I've ever made leaf mold was by piling leaves up in my yard about three feet high and making the dog and the painter trudge through it all summer.

By the way, if more composters would stop concealing their dirty little habit, and come out of the closet, composting might become more mainstream.

annp, a composter, and proud of it

I'm actually planning to talk to the mayor (I live in a small town, think Mayberry) about composting - seeing what has been done and how we could make it more available/ appealing to residents. I was at a gardening club the other day and the topic was composting. After the presentation a lady to my left said "that just sounds so complicated." I delicately reminded her "It's just garbage!" :) Follow a few simple steps, and it pretty much does all the work. I'd really like to change the "it's too hard, it's too gross" mentality too.

I too live in a Mobile Home Park---the neighbors love my composting---gives them a place to dump their leaves and grass clippings, leaving their garbage can for, garbage. (But I offered this to the only neighbor even close to the compost pile and he loved being able to dump grass clippings there)

Way to go sophie! I just may have to try getting away with composting all my scraps anyway.
Well, I guess I'll need a couple more bins then lol!
What is an easy way to collect your grass clippings? I don't usually collect them, but I may have to start. Do you just rake them up in a pile? I don't have a bag attachment on my mower.

Thanks all,
Cathy

Kentstar - you say "I have a pretty small lot, so I have to keep things small". Would it encourage you if I said my house has a courtyard garden approximately 48ft x 20ft? And I'm using 'garden' in the British sense ie the entire area around the home. We don't talk about 'lots' or 'yards'. It's all 'garden'. That is all I have at home. (Although I do have an allotment elsewhere - but that's another story.) I have a wooden slatted compost bin of about 1 cubic yard hidden behind a shrub in the corner which takes most of my garden waste and kitchen stuff. I also use it to get rid of private papers rather than put them in the recycling. I suppose I cold compost, which is a fancy way of saying I pile it up and ignore it. But I don't think worrying about 'cold' or hot' is really necessary. Sometimes my pile heats up if I have just stuck in a load of greenery. Sometimes it just sits there ticking over coldly. It doesn't matter to me. I turn out the bin and spread the usable stuff about twice a year. It's as easy as that. You can make composting as complicated or as easy as suits you personally. The only thing which might be different for you is that in my climate the pile never freezes and there is some activity going on in there all year round. I don't think there are many gardens which are really too small for some sort of composting.

The bin I bought is 16 cubic ft, so should be large enough for something good. You're right in that you can make it as easy or as complicated as you want it. I guess the important thing is at least doing it at all! Better a composter than just throwing it all away.
Yesterday my DH Steve made eggs for breakfast. He used about 8 eggs and threw the shells in the trash. Well, I went behind him and picked them out of the trash! lol
I guess I have to train him better. lol

Picking through the trash for good things to compost-it just goes to show that you are a serious composter. I know an antique dealer with children who refuse to ride around in her car, because they become embarrassed when she pulls over to check out items put out for garbage collection.

Well, I haven't yet gotten to that point yet, but I wouldn't put it past me in the future! Would be kinda embarrassing to start with I guess!
This past fall I went across the street to suck up leaves for my beds. My neighbors were wondering why on earth I would be out across the street (there is a open field across the street) vacuuming up leaves that were blown over there in the first place to get rid of them! lol

ROFL at sucking up leaves in an empty field. I started doing the same thing here and wondered what my neighbors thought! But it was MUCH easier to drive around and find leaves pre-bagged. Easier to put them where you want them, and easier to suck up and mulch! The neighbors still think you're crazy. They sure didn't when they saw my veggies this last season! HA!

LOL, a lady at a yard sale GAVE me a leaf sucker/mulcher! I have been to all the neighbor's home offering to suck their leaves! Sound kinda weird!