Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting Paperback – April 28, 2015

I'm a hobby gardener. I'm not a very good one, but I garden, and one of the areas that I never got a good grip on was composting. I bought this book hoping it would help me understand composting better. It did, hoo boy, did it ever.David the Good is possibly insane. This, surprisingly enough, helps more than you'd think.Imagine if Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll decided to team up and turn their twisted genius to create a creature with the devil's own green thumb, bent on composting everything organic.A creature with such a warped mind that he would be willing to do anything, and I do mean anything, as an experiment in composting, regardless of the warning signs that he might be playing with powers beyond mortal ken.A creature of such singular madness would then write a book about his ill-advised adventures.David gives the dirt on dirt, so to speak. If you want to know how to compost things that you've told never to compost, like chicken bones, or meat, to name two of the less icky ones, this is the book to reveal the secrets of soil. David also gives warnings, since you will be dealing with dead and rotting things, and tips on how best to do things, and what to avoid.This is a must have for those, like me, that have long viewed composting as a strange art, and possibly requiring part of your soul, and demystifies so many things. Composting doesn't have to be a complicated mess of proper ingredients keep at the right humidity and temperature, requiring constant adjustments and effort. You can, if you want it really simple, just throw it on the ground. David digs deeper, of course, and his advice can be modified for nearly any climate.It's clearly written, short, easy to read, and slightly mad. Highly recommended.

We compost, I cook and gather veggie remains and coffee grounds and as we are a veggie loving family...it is usually full every two days. The compost container is about 13 to 14 inches high...so probably a gallon or so of compost material? My husband is king of the compost pile...and I’m good with that. Anyway, with the kitchen scraps and yard debris...there is just NEVER enough compost.The veggie garden (my husbands) get the vast majority of the compost. My gardens are forever languishing with very little fertility. That’s why I got this book. I want to compost more of the stuff I’m throwing away...like paper towels, tissues, mail... Salad, leftovers...? Stuff I don’t compost now.There are a lot of ideas for using waste streams for adding fertility. I have lots of ideas and the author lets you know that none of this has to be expensive or require lots of specialized tools, a bonus.I CANT wait to try some of this in my garden! Look out suburbia...this lady is going to be digging holes and keeping worms and growing plants just to create more biomass...so I can have some of the compost too!I haven’t even finished the book on my Kindle app (almost), but I am liking it so much, I wanted to go ahead and review.

As a hobby-gardener who wishes he had time for all that complicated composting stuff, I wish I'd had this book five years ago when I first bought my house. The last time I composted was about 3 years ago, and while I understood the science of composting...well, understanding the science of something can either lead you to enlightenment, or take you down the rabbit-hole of perfectionism and proportionality, and that always got me messed up one way or another. When your compost pile isn't working quickly or properly, it's enough to make you wish Cthulhu would rise from R'lyeh and do what he does best. I just quit composting in frustration, too much work for someone who works all the time.However, David the Good has written what may well be the Necronomicon of composting (and thus, gardening). Now I feel like I can summon the Elder Gods and Old Ones to improve the quality of the vegetables and flowers I grow (when I'm not busy writing or being lazy.) It really is simple: just throw it on the ground. It doesn't matter. I was especially fascinated by the effectiveness of "verboten" compostables like meat, roadkill, bodies, human waste...So if you're into gardening, agriculture, or just want to learn something that is freaking interesting in an incredibly amusing format, then buy this book. I'll be referencing it for years to come, and will definitely acquire a dead tree version should one become available.

First of all, let me say this. David's wife is a saint. She has to be to allow her husband to do what the title says, compost everything.I bought this book because I have ran into the the same problem gardeners everywhere run into. I can not generate enough compost to full fill the needs of my modest garden plot. I have tried using coffee grounds, leaves, and all the things responsible, careful, people say is appropriate to use for compost. I got at most ten gallons a year.Dave... Well he looked at the problem and noticed that just about everything organic rots. If it rots, you can compost it. Makes sense right? I know we have all been told not to compost meat scraps (Dave composted a goat's head), and only include the right mix of brown, green, and other sources. However, everything does rot, and the simplest way to compost is "Throw it on the ground!". In fact, that is a consistent theme of the book.I have began some rather modest experiments using Dave's ideas. My first worm bed (adjusted for the area) is underway, and my idea of what is compostable and not has changed. Initial results look promising.This is not your typical composting book. This is the composting book your extension agent reads in the back room.

fun book with some worthwhile information