Regrowing store bought celery

I would guess that pumpkins absolutely MUST have a patch of actual ground to grow on (as opposed to a hanging container environment), because the fruit is so heavy... let 'em hang there and they'll fall off before too long, maybe ripping out/off some stems along with 'em. But for blueberries, those should be ok in any sort of container, and probably the bigger the better. If it's hanging, it doesn't have to be an upside down one, unless you like that look. ;)

Blueberries need quite acid soil - a lot of peat moss - to lower the soil pH far enough for the plant to thrive. I'm not thinking it's a good candidate for a topsy turvey though. A large pot would probably be better to capture all of the moisture it's going to need and the space for it's roots to grow.

Lol I think my son is trying to tell me something! He came home from my I laws house tonight, and hidden in his diabetes bag, there was a packet of butternut squash seeds, lettuce seeds, bean seeds, and cucumber seeds! Lol lil stinker.

I would have said to him "Coool son, where do YOU plan to plant those? If you have any questions, ask, and I'll help you!" < =D

HAHAHA! Well, I was informed last night that my inlaws plan to send us a TON of soil from their farm (good soil... weee!!!!) for our raised garden bed. If that's the case, I just might be able to expand the garden out more than planned this year. Told hubby that one of the things I wanted to do was set each of my kids up with their own 4ft x 4ft gardens so they can plant anything they want! If we get as much done as I'd like with this project this year.... that dream might become a reality, for all of us! *does happy dance!!!*

OH BOY!!!! I am Happy Dancing with you!! Wheeeeee!!! Fresh farm soil, aaaaaaaah, the smell can't be beat!! And, I guess you'll first have to roll around in it for a while before you plant in it? (or is that just me?) heeheeheee!!

I live in Amish Country, so I think real soon I'm going to hit up one of the farms to try to get my truck's bed filled with composted manure. Yeah, I can get a load of compost for $23, but I also want manure too. (greedy little sucker, aren't I?) ^_^

Lol send some my way!!! LOL!

**Getting my slingshot ready**. < =D

LOL Hope you're a good shot! eeeew...

Carrots take an average of 100 days to maturity (DTM)...

You can check by carefully moving the soil near the base of the "hair" and checking the shoulder size with your finger. Not big enough, cover the soil back...

EWWW!!! no sling shot!!! LOL! I don't mind rolling around in dirt... but manure?? No thank you! HAHA! Just get some of those "if it fits, it ships" boxes... let the mailman try to figure out what the smell is HAHAHA! (ok, that was kinda mean of me LOL!)

On a side note... I'm assuming now that my little pests that "ate up" my celery, aren't celery maggots after all. While watering my herb sprouts today, I noticed more of those thin, long white critters. Must be something with my soil, I guess?

Trying to decide now how to SAVE these herbs... or just give up trying, go buy a bag of new soil, and try again... throwing out all the soil I currently have :(

I hate to say it, but I would suggest being safe and disposing of all the herbs (or whatever else you've got growing in that soil), along with the soil, burn everything, scrub your pots out very well, and start over fresh. =( In the long run, it'll save you more money, not to mention time and heartache.

We are currently working out where to put our burn barrel this year, in a safe location on our property for burning. We tried to do it last year, but with as dry as everything was, and all the trees surrounding/in our yard, it proved to be a bit difficult. About caught a tree (that's technically on township property lol) on fire. Hubby says itll be ok though, providing we don't have another dry season like we did last year. The herbs aren't really big enough to worry with burning anyway. Still just seedlings. I can just pitch them in an area in my yard where I don't grow anything, I think, and that should be fine.

Come to think of it, I did have this problem with my seedlings last year as well, with this same soil... even when it was first bought! I can't imagine Miracle Gro soils being contaminated with anything?? Because of this problem last year... this year I decided to wash out all my pots using bleach.. figuring it would kill off anything on the pot surface. That said, guess it was my soil after all :( Maybe, if I have time to get to Walmart this week, I'll buy some more soil.

I also planted some Aloe plants that I received as trades in this soil mixure as well recently... While I still havent seen any evidence of these pests in those pots yet, but knowing that it seems like they don't emerge till about week 2 or 3 after planting... do you think it would be ok to just take these baby aloe vera plants out of the potting soil, rinse off the excess soil from the roots, and repot them in fresh soil? Or do you think I should just throw them away as well? =(

I would try rinsing them and re-potting them, however, 2 things:
1- rinse in a weak h2o2 solution
2- DON'T use Miracle Gro stuff.

Ok, there's a reason I say not to use Miracle Gro products, but it's a personal one. MG is all about chemical fertilizing, and I am all about organic. Find a good organic soil/mix and I think you'll be a lot happier. =)

No MG here either. Some folks find the quality to be pretty variable on that product. But I don't want their fertilizers either.
Encouraged by all of the posts, I planted a celery base today. I did cheat and put a little rooting hormone on the bottom to coax the root formation a bit. Planted it a mix of perlite and vermiculite to get it started, in a plastic cup with a lid to keep the air humid.

Howdy, Folks...
I've been reading ya'lls thread, and seeing your fun growing these "parts". Looks like you've been having a great time doing so.

In an effort to give you hope and as little frustration as possible, let me jump in for a minute or so.

"do you think it would be ok to just take these baby aloe vera plants out of the potting soil, rinse off the excess soil from the roots, and repot them in fresh soil? Or do you think I should just throw them away as well? =("

Aloe is very forgiving, and extremely hardy. If you wish feel free to pull them up and do as you wish (within reason!) and repot them. Even if the roots break off they'll regenerate new ones. And while looking at the first one you pull up look for those eggs/worms in the soil (and yes, that is what got to your celery). If you don't see any then there is a good chance the rest of your potted aloe is just fine, but you can easily poke around the root system to check for any more eggs/worms.

Yes, there is a chance you had something in your bagged soil mix, especially if it was just sitting around Walmart, especially if it was the lowest bag on the pallet, more susceptible to insect/bug invasion.

You mentioned "I used is gardening soil mixed with a little seed starting soil" ... did you mean gardening soil from your outdoor garden, or a bag of soil marked "topsoil", "garden soil", etc. If so, those types of soil are usually not a sterile product and are more designed for in-ground garden beds, not containers nor seed starting, so yes that in itself may also have contributed to your egg casings.

As for M-gro products, there are bags of M-gro potting mixes that don't contain fertilizer so if you buy them just look for the label stating whether it "feeds for 3 months" or whatever the latest blurb is. Personally, like speediebean, I don't buy them either, preferring Metro-Mix or Fafard or the like.

Hope this is helpful.

And folks, if you go to MrsLidwells member page and see her family portrait you'll see a wonderful picture! Two folks happily in love and two of the happiest most content kids I've seen in a long time. Congrats on a good life, MrsLidwell!

Happy Gardening in all the Gardens of Life!
Shoe

Thanks all! I'll see if I can find some Metro-Mix or Fafard.

Shoe...no, I didn't use garden soil from my outdoor garden (because I've actually got to either repair that soil, or, in some area's, I've decided to do a raised garden bed because the soil is so bad lol!). Come to think of it, I'm not sure if it was "potting soil" or "garden soil" MG soil that I used, because I know I bought a bag of each last year, and ran out of one early on, then used the rest of the other to put in the container with seed starting mix and mixed well. Hm, it may have actually been MG "Gardening Soil"... I just can't remember now =( I think it may have been MG "gardening soil", though, as late in the season last year, I had figured that it might be best to try starting things in that soil indoors till they got big enough for transplant, thinking that it would be close enough to the soil that it would be introduced to (where I actually DO have decent soil, thanks to previous owners of the house lol), and would maybe minimalize shocking them when I transplanted them (thinking about potential variations of pH levels in outside soil. I tested various area's of our "gardening areas" last year to see what the pH lvls were in about 3 different garden area's I was planning... and found out that the front and side garden beds pH was right in and around 5-5.5 and the back side garden area where I originally wanted to try turning into my veggie garden but the soil isn't good there for veggie growing there.. was 6.0-6.7, thanks to years and years of exposure to some kind of evergreen bushes we had removed, as well as a pine tree we have semi close to our house).

I do think that I will probably quit using MG soil though. The last three bags of MG soils I've bought, if I recall correctly, has given me this problem with my plants. Last year was the first time I bought their "garden soil" mix, and every year before that I was buying just their potting soil. Now that I'm thinking about it, I had the same problems every year with them, regardless of the type of mix I was buying. In fact, the first year I started "playing in dirt" (as my hubby called it LOL!) when I looked closely at their potting soil mix, I could see small clearish/white ball things throughout the soil, and I was afraid THAT was the culprit of our pest issues (same pest issues I'm having now)... and those ball things, you could squish and a liquidy substance would squish out of it, and it would make a popping sound upon bursting. But, after thinking about it, and reading up on some things, I figured instead, maybe that was what was actually holding either the furtilizer or acted like some kind of moisture controller or something (lol maybe I was just trying to be optimistic? LOL!). Then, I thought, well maybe these pest problems are due to a bad bag of soil I bought from Family Dollar (as, at one time, I bought 2 bags of MG soil from Family Dollar because its closer to me than walmart, and was cheaper). LOL Hubby even asked me if the soil I used was from that batch, and I told him no, I blew through that soil early last year before finally giving up and tossing it into our "heap" away from the gardening area.

Does walmart carry Metro-Mix or Fafard? Or is this something that I would need to go to a nursery/garden center for?

If I have the time this week to pitch these herbs, wash out the pots, check and repot the aloe, and can stop by the store sometime to pick up some different soil, I will.

Also, Shoe...

"And folks, if you go to MrsLidwells member page and see her family portrait you'll see a wonderful picture! Two folks happily in love and two of the happiest most content kids I've seen in a long time. Congrats on a good life, MrsLidwell!"

thanks for the compliments on my family's picture =) That photo is actually a couple years old so the kids are a bit bigger now, but just as happy and full of energy as ever! Me and hubby were actually just commenting to each other about how happily in love we still are after almost 6 years of marriage )7 years being together, we met exactly one week after Valentines day 7 years ago! Little romantic that he is, brought me a bouquet of red roses on our first date and said "I got these for you because you said no one bought you flowers for valentines day".) We were discussing this because I had recently read an article about the statistics of divorces among families with children with disabilities... and well... we have TWO kids with disabilities. The statistics of marriages breaking up is staggering, and made me thankful to know that I have a wonderful, caring husband who sticks by me and our kids through thick and thin. And to boot, the statistics of divorces among families with children with disabilities was based on one child being disabled, with more than one, the statistics look much more grim! I told him that, according to the statistics I read, not to mention the statistics of divorce in general regardless of having children with disabilities, it seems we have beat some "marital milestones" in our time.. and it feels good! I thank my lucky stars every day for having such a wonderful, understanding, caring husband! Although, *he* likes to consider himself to be a *jerk* LOL! Men... guess they all gotta little macho-man-ism in them! LOL!

Cindy.... YAY!! Keep us posted on how your celery does!

Hey speedie...

Ya think that since I gotta toss these herb plants out and start over again... this would convince my hubby that I need to go shopping again and pick up those 4/$1 seeds? LOL!

Actually, I got to talking to him about those seeds the other day. He just doesn't wanna get them on sale I think. He thinks they are probably on sale because they are left over from last year's seeds, and may not have as good of a germination rate as say burpee seeds that are 1/$1 at walmart. LOL! Like I told him though... I have seeds in my fridge right now that we bought last year... or heck, even got some pepper seeds that I bought TWO year's ago, that sprouted just fine for me last year (though, didn't go much further than that thanks to my realization of how high the pH is where I wanted to start my veggie garden lol)

Goodness Gracious, where to begin!? Cindy, I second MrsL's "YAY"!! Do please keep us posted on how your celery does... with pictures! =)

Shoe, thank you for popping in!! Any time I read one of your posts I know I'm gonna learn something good! =) Eg: I had no idea that aloe was so hardy and forgiving.. which means I'm adding "WS some of my aloe seeds" to my TO DO list for today! =) I've never heard of Metro-Mix or Fafard, maybe they're not products sold in my area? Personally, MrsL, if you're looking to successfully grow stuff and not spend a fortune, I might suggest nothing but a combo of compost and perlite. Now, this would be for your containers. At about a 4-1 or 5-1 ratio. There's just so many reasons why I don't like MG products, especially the fertilizers, the biggest one being that they not only do NOT feed the soil (which should be thrivingly alive), but the way those fertilizers works end up actually depleting life from the soil in the long run. MG is made specifically to feed **plants**, (and not even well, either), completely ignoring the soil's needs or the fact that it's alive. Tsk tsk tsk.
And, as for those seeds... (heeheeheee), I think you should check them out, at the very least. Just look at the expiration dates on the packages and you'll know if they're old ones from last year or not. And, if they are, just sow 'em NOW! ^_^

Of course, I **had** to take a look at your BEAUTIFUL family photo, and Shoe is right, what a GORGEOUS family you have!!!!!!! The Love really shines out of all of your happy faces!! < =D

hehe thanks! *blushes* :)

I have actually been considering making a compost pile/bin for quite some time now. My problem? 1. not sure of where I would put it (is this something I can do in my basement, or is it better to do it in an "out of eye-shot" area in my yard?). and 2. I'm not quite sure exactly HOW to do it. I've read articles after articles about this, but... I'm a noob and need it broken down into "Making Compost for Dummies" terms LOL! I think if I can figure out how to do this, this would be a great thing for my garden, as well as cutting down on some waste, not to mention, give me a reason to reuse the coffee grinds I accumulate so much of (that just wind up in the garbage lol). I go through a good 2 12-cup pots of coffee a day on average. I actually just came across this wordpress blog (literally, just now! LOL!) on how to dry/store/reuse used coffee grounds. http://groundtoground.org/2011/04/17/how-to-dry-and-store-used-coffee-grounds/

I am really starting to fall in love with that blog. It is so informative on the reuse of coffee grounds!

Oooh, I have JUST the book for you!!
http://www.amazon.com/Composting-Dummies-Cathy-Cromell/dp/0470581611/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330431896&sr=1-1
(amazon to the rescue!) That should cover just about all the questions you might have, but if not, then WHILE you're working on your composting pile/bin, then of course ask your left-over questions in here. (like my hint?) ;) My college-attending son finally moved off campus this year into a house with roommates. One of the very first things he did when he moved in is start his own compost pile out back. =) (I'm so proud of my little Tater Tot!)

That is a really cool site about drying coffee grounds, but I wonder... if they're just gonna get thrown out into/onto the compost pile, do they really have to be dried first? Couldn't ya just toss 'em on top and mix 'em into the top layer? We don't go through as much coffee as we used to, since I quit smoking (the association was just too much for me to take, LOL!), but I used to just take the used coffee grounds outside and dump 'em right into the bed. ;) ... Come to think of it, I wonder why I stopped that!?

Oh yeah.. so, this would definitely be something you want to do outside, not indoors. You can make a simple pile, somewhere out of eye-sight but still accessible. When ya mow your lawn, dump the clippings into a pile. Mulch leaves with your mower? Dump 'em onto the pile. Coffee grounds? Dump 'em onto the pile. Left-over (UN-dressed) salad greens? Onto the pile. End pieces and non-edible bits of veggies fresh veggies? Onto the pile. You get the idea. Anything "clean", as in, not buttered or covered in salad dressing et al. Using a gardening fork, "mix" the pile every couple of weeks. If you are anything like my Dear ol' DH and don't want "food" in the pile, then simple grass clippings/twigs and leaves will work well... along with shredded paper and/or cardboard (cut or torn into semi-smaller pieces). (DH has had bad experiences with his Grandma's old composting days... we won't go into that... but it's why I've been very hesitant to start a pile myself).

Anyway, that should get ya started! Now, get out there Young Lady! < =D

Thanks! HAHA Didn't know this even existed!!! I bought/downloaded the kindle ebook version of it (oddly enough, was surprised it was cheaper than buying the actual book! Most of the time, it seems like it doesn't always work out that way LOL! Though you would THINK it would, since it lessens the costs of publications since they aren't using paper!)

I don't have a lawn mower bag on my mower to collect grass clippings, unfortunately :( one of these days.. i hope!

I think one of the reasons for drying coffee grounds is probably because, atleast according to most things I've read about composting and using coffee grounds... the whole pH factor. Too much coffee grounds and other "ingredients" thrown into a composting pile/bin can cause the end product to be too high in pH/alkaline? So, from what I gather, ya gotta be a little greedy with it sometimes, depending on how acidic you want it to be. Plants that require high alkaline soils like blueberries and rose bushes would thrive on mulches with a higher alkaline concentration where other things may die off if the soil is too acidic.

Other than that, if you wanted to just wanted to throw your used coffee grounds in your compost pile without drying it (since the compost pile would be moist anyway?), I don't see why that would hurt, as long as its not being done too excessively (that whole pH balance thing!)

This is actually where the majority of my questions/concerns lie when trying to make a compost pile.... keeping things balanced out correctly! That, and, if I were to try to do this in a bin... would I need to add worms to it in order to aide the decomposition process? I guess it would be obvious that if I just did a pile in an out of eye sight location, nature would provide the worms and other critters to help with the decomposition? But if I were to try to do it in a bin, in order to keep things a little more contained... would I need to add worms to help with that? Also, about how long after you start a fresh compost pile does it become usable mulch/compost? Also, other than the natural "ingredients" you mentioned above to toss into the compost pile... is there anything else I would need to get to add to it from time to time? I've read some places recommend adding things like vermiculite (or something like that? lol) and other things I've honestly never heard of but read on DG and other places that experienced gardeners use in their gardens and soils and such?

Will start reading that book you recommended as soon as I get my daughter off to school!

Oh, and as for the 4/$1 seeds, my son picked up some for us to do (remember the earlier post lol lil stinker!) and I checked the exp date on them... says "Sell by 11/11".

On a side note, thought you all would get as much of a kick out of this as I did.

My daughter just told me "Mom... my arm is hungry!" I said, "your arm is hungry? no other part of you is hungry?" she said "nope, just my arm" lol good thing she goes to school soon and will be getting breakfast upon arrival! Don't want her arm to wither away to nothingness! LOL!

This message was edited Feb 28, 2012 8:32 AM

Her arm is hungry!?! Haaahaahaahaaaa, how CUTE!! =)

Compost pile... ya don't need anything special, just stuff that God would normally put in there. That's the beauty of it! =) Any non-diseased plant matter, water, and mix, or "turn" it once in a while, and heat does the rest. Yep, it'll get warm, that's what happens in the breaking-down process, so ya give it a flip once or twice a month. In about 6 months to a year ya got compost.

Oh, and for the grass clippings... got a rake? ;P

My back hill on the south side is good for grass clippings and have raked and hauled plenty from it. So much at times DH uses the trailer. Then I use it for mulch! Love it but not some of the seed heads at times. Oh well what are a few weeds!

Will take pictures of my celery soon. It is growing good. The romaine is lots slower.

Oh Ves, thank you for reminding me, I did Romaine the other day too! =) I'm looking forward to seeing your celery, I bet it's doing great! I've had mine outside for the last few days 'cause it's been warm enough (at least in the 50's), and not cold enough to freeze at night.

I'm sure the compost book will spell it out but make sure you get enough brown stuff into your compost pile. Grass clippings and coffee grounds are high nitrogen and you'll need enough leaves, shredded newspaper, etc to balance it out. Ever see deep piles of grass clippings smoldering in the hot summers?
I save most of my coffee grounds and just dump them in a big empty flower pot outdoors during the winter and then haul them to the compost pile when the weather's decent. Also good as a top dressing in the garden and it's easier to apply if dried out.

How big of a pot did you put the romaine in again? Maybe it needs more root room?

I don't know that I would really want the grass clippings from *my* yard in the compost pile anyway, to be honest. Not until I fix some of the major issues we have with our grass.... if thats what you want to call it LOL! My whole yard is FULL of moss (so much so, I often wonder if I've got a yard of grass or a yard of moss and weeds! LOL!), and we always seem to get some sort of mushroom popping up all...over...the...place.... by late summer early fall. What I really need to do is just kill off the whole darn yard and reseed LOL! I could probably ask one of my neighbors if I could grab a few handfuls of their grass clippings though! There's no way I'd rake this whole yard anyway. Would take too long. I try to get the munchkins to rake for me, but haha, they start then lose interest LOL! Hm, maybe I should start giving them an allowance for raking? LOL! Besides, I think hubby told me that we have about an acre and a half of property, thats just too hard for me to do anymore with my bad back. I actually sit on the ground to do all my gardening because of my back! (I got a compression fracture in my lower vertabrae 8 years ago and now my dr says it didnt heal properly which is what is causing all my back pain (though I think arthritis might be setting in too lol) I've actually had to go to PT last summer because it got so bad I literally could hardly move, couldn't stand up straight cuz of the pain, and couldn't even do my housework due to the pain!)

Cindy... I was actually aware of the coffee grinds being high in nitrogen... thats part of why I'm a little nervous about putting all my coffee grinds into a compost pile when I DO start one (Dont recall if I said it on this thread already or not, but I drink 2 pots of coffee a day and just dont want to see the spent grinds go to waste any longer, but I get so confused when all the websites I read on when it comes to making compost (or like on DG... making your own soil mixes lol) when they use ratios, for instance, 4:1, and mention all these different things to add to the mix using these ratios... but not specifying which "ingredient" should be the "more" of that ratio, and which should be less, if that makes sense lol! That's why I've been looking for a "dummied down" version of things LOL!)

However, I didn't realize that about the grass clippings! Thank you! Now that I know that the use of leaves will help balance things out, I'm not *as* nervous. I guess, worst case scenario, I should be able to use my pH tester to see how balanced it is? Would that work, or would I need to look for a different kind of tester?

Also, I know there are "compost thermometers" out there to test the compost's temperature... but, could I also just use a regular soil thermometer just the same, to test the compost?

I also read somewhere (i think on that blog this morning) that the use of used coffee grounds in soil/mulch/compost can help deter/lessen the presence of pests in the garden as well. I'm thinking, since I know that these herb plants, atleast some of them, are already infected with whatever those critters are that killed my celery, but the herbs themselves appear to be pretty healthy still (so far anyway!), maybe I'll sprinkle down a little bit of used coffee grounds on/around the plants and see if that will have any affect on these pests, yet still keep my herbs alive and thriving. Might be an interesting experiment! Good thing I didn't go overboard and use up all my seeds LOL!

I did just notice today, while checking on them and taking pictures, that it seems that once these pests outgrow that "thin, long" phase... they turn into teeny tiny white bugs that "hop" LOL! UGH!

Don't drive yourself crazy over the compost pile. General rule of thumb is nitrogen to carbon ratio is 1:4. You want more brown stuff than green stuff and coffee grounds counts as green stuff because of the nitrogen. If your pile is at least a couple of feet tall (4 ft is ideal but don't sweat it), sitting in the sun, enough moisture from rain (or add water from the hose), aerating by either turning over with a pitchfork or nifty compost tool and the brown stuff (fall leaves, etc) is shredded enough, it should work just fine. Rather than layers of your compost material, you want it mixed up. Unshredded fall leaves will just take longer to break down. Stuff like egg shells are going to add nutrients and won't necessarily affect the pH or nitrogen to carbon ratio. My compost pile sits in the shade (except for the winter) so it never gets hot but I still get compost in the end - just takes a little longer.
Because coffee grounds are acidic, make sure your herbs can handle a reduced soil pH. They might like the pH a little higher but I'm definitely no expert when it comes to herbs. I am interested though in whether coffee grounds has an effect on soil pests. Hmmm - I'm always asking questions.

Hm, everywhere I've read, I could have swore it said that the coffee grounds could cause the pH to actually become higher the more coffee you use?

I don't plan to use a lot of coffee on them, and I dont plan to dry out the coffee grounds either , I'm just going to sprinke maybe 1/4 inch worth on top and see what happens. That shouldn't be too detrimental for them. And if it is... well, lesson learned LOL! I'm very much a "learn by doing" kinda chick haha! I may not get around to trying this until the week after next though, just so ya know, as this week and next week is going to be ultra busy for me and my family. But, I'll let you all know when I do test this out, and see how it goes. I have a couple "doubles" of one or two herbs that I started, so I can leave one untreated and treat one of the same kind of plant with the coffee grounds, and see what happens with these pests (and see if it actually kills my herb LOL!) I've also considered, instead of sprinkling the used coffee grounds on top the soil.... putting some in one of my "rags" that I have that used to be old Tshirts and steeping the grounds in some water, then watering the herbs with it... that might be a better option, to ensure it goes from top of soil, all the way down to drainage holes and everything in between. Hmmm.... options options! LOL!

About how long does it take your compost pile that is in a shady location take to turn into usable compost? My pile will HAVE to be in a shady location lol.

Your comment about the acidity of coffee grounds had me curious. This is what I found - http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=793 Other sources say that it's the unbrewed coffee grounds that are acidic and that brewing removes most of the acidity so at best, it's close to neutral. You might want to check out the composting forum for more information.
The trick to speeding up the composting activity is to make sure the brown leaves are shredded before adding to the pile. Here, I have mostly oak leaves which tend to be leathery. If not shredded or mixed well, they can form a mat that can take up to a year or more to break down. I rebuilt my compost area last year so it contains stuff from late summer and fall. Mostly chopped brown leaves but some not. Already seeing some compost sifting through but I won't be really digging into it for a few more months. The warmer temps and rain of spring will speed things along. I'll probably start sifting it towards the end of May. The pile won't be totally decomposed since it's always an on-going process.

"But then we were sent some test results that showed grounds to be neutral on the pH scale! To find out what gives, I called Will Brinton, founder and Director of the Wood’s End Research Laboratory in Maine, the definitive testers of soils, composts, and raw ingredients used in large-scale composting. Will solved the mystery instantly. Woods End, it turned out, was the source of that neutral test! Ah, but some follow-up investigation later revealed that it hadn’t been coffee grounds alone, as the person submitting the material for testing had stated, but grounds mixed with raw yard waste, the classic ‘dry brown’ material that is the heart of a good compost pile.

It turns out, as expected, that “coffee grounds alone are highly acidic,” says Will, who saved all the grounds from his Lab’s break room for a week recently just to test for us (“Eight o’ Clock” coffee, which I remember fondly from our old A & P neighborhood supermarket). They came out at 5.1, a perfect low-end pH for plants like blueberries that thrive in very acidic soil. “But that’s the most gentle result we’ve ever found,” Will quickly added, explaining that the other 31 samples of raw coffee grounds they’ve tested over the years all had a pH below 5, too acidic for even some of the so-called acid loving plants.

“And in some ways, the grounds are even more acidic than those numbers imply”, adds Will, who explains that the coffee grounds they’ve tested have also had a very high residual acidity; so high he recommends adding a cup of agricultural lime to every ten pounds of grounds BEFORE you add them to your compost pile. (High-quality hardwood ashes could be used instead of the lime, and would add more nutrients to the mix than the lime would.) "

Sounds to me like its not so much the "brewing" of it that removes the acidity, but rather the other ingredients in the compost, that help lessen the acidity overall for the compost, however that coffee grounds alone are still very acidic. Still leading me to believe that if you overdo adding coffee grounds to your compost (too much coffee grounds, not enough other "dry browns") your compost can still be too acidic.

Dunno if you guys can see this in the picture.... but I found this rather interesting!

The DAY I planted my celery (that died), I threw another bottom piece of celery outside (well, actually, I had the kids dig a hole and pitch this and some old potatoes in then cover).

What shocks me the most about seeing this...... We've had a good hard snowfall since then! But look at the bright green color! Showed hubby and he and I agree, this looks like the celery sprouted! LOL! (Covered leaves and all up again, though. Actually kinda hoping at some point it will just die off and decompose. This is where I had originally thought to start a compost pile, since itll be partially hidden by trees, and its close to lots of leaves that have piled up over the years LOL!)

I'm hoping that the celery actually sprouts some roots. When I was planting mine the other day, I was wondering if there was enough residual energy (or whatever) left in the bottom of celery to get the inner ribs to grow - more of a temporary phenomenon. Hope not.

Yeah, I'm with Cindy, I hope it sprouts roots and all sorts of wonderful growth! =)

This reminds me, I took a new picture of my salad out on my deck.. gotta remember to upload it to share! =)

YAY!! Looking forward to seeing the picture speedie!!

I'd have to say that if its sprouting leaves, it would be safe to say its also producing roots? That would seem logical, to me.

If you want, if I have time, I can go dig up that celery that I found growing in "the pit" (LOL!) and see if it has also developed a root system. It has much more leaves than I recall throwing in there, so I can take a peek at it for you all if you want! Keep in mind though, it may take me a couple days to get around to it, as we have a busy next couple days coming up and I'll be out of town all day tomorrow.

With your busy schedule, don't stress about digging up the celery to take pictures. I'll take a peek at mine on the weekend to see if there's any root growth. The very center of mine is pushing the leaves out. With celery, I'm guessing the leaves had already been formed and the moisture and warmth is just forcing them to expand.

Hi Jim...how? Give me a step by step? LOL...

I would be interested if anyone has done this with success?

That makes 2 of us Julia! =) I'm hoping that mine will go to seed so I can collect them for next season, I don't actually expect any (carrot[s]) this year.

Ok, here's the newest pic of my 'salad'!! =) Lettuce on the right, celery behind on the left. The lettuce leaves sure are plumping out! =)