What Participants Are Saying
About Composting Class
"I now know how to start my own compost pile to provide rich soil for a garden to grow healthy food for my family."
"I am a beginner composter. Now I know where to begin."
"It gave me the information I need to be more efficient with my gardening, and it brought me in contact with other people and their perspectives."
"I didn't know anything about compost tea, and I loved the class. This was great!"
"I finally understand how to put together a compost pile. All of the information was very useful."
Top 3 Questions From Composting Class
What can and cannot be composted?
Things you can compost: vegetables, crushed egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, shredded undyed paper/cardboard, grass clippings, straw, leaves, manure, sawdust, and natural fibers (wool, cotton, etc.).
What you should not compost: meat, dairy products, fish, bones, pet/human feces, diseased plants, seedy weeds, tenacious weeds, metal, plastic, dyed paper/cardboard, cooked food, poisonous plants.
What is a good ratio between browns (carbon-rich) and greens (nitrogen-rich)?
A good general recipe for compost is five parts brown material to two parts green. Brown material, which takes longer to deteriorate, includes dried weeds, leaves, straw, paper and cardboard. Green includes fruit, vegetables, fresh grass clippings and manure.
What is the take-home message from this workshop?
Composting brings many benefits to your garden, including improved soil conditions, increased beneficial microbial life, and fewer weed, pest and disease problems.
Compost serves as a great natural fertilizer, and it's even more beneficial as a huge resource for micro-organisms that create a healthy growing environment.
Don't forget to let your compost "cure." Even though the compost looks, smells and feels like it's done, let it sit a little longer to convert into humus. That's the end-product that's most beneficial to plants.
Cover Crops Class
Coming Feb. 10
The next garden class in the Good Food Project spring education series will focus on cover crops Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana warehouse at 3223 Baldwin Ave. in Alexandria.
GFP director Lori Garton will discuss the role of cover crops in sustainable gardening practices, including their soil-building benefits, varieties of cover crops and when they should be used.
The class is free, and each participant will receive a Topsy Turvy aerial planter. For planning purposes, students are asked to register at
** Class Schedule **
Cover Crops
February 10, 3 p.m.
Vermiculture (worm composting)
February 17, 3 p.m.
Sheet Mulching
February 25, 10 a.m.
Spring Planting
March 3, 10 a.m.
Homemade & Organic Fertilizers
March 16, 3 p.m.