Can I put straw and decomposing newspaper in the compost pile?

[Raven]

I covered my garden with newspaper and straw last Fall. Now I'd like to figure out something to do with it.

PS: Even with the straw covering, I still got a lot of weeds. Maybe I'll try black plastic this year.

[hippywife]

1. Yes.

As long as you don't include any of the stuff on the shiny paper, is what I've always been told.

[ThomWV]

2. Sure.

Our big compost pile was actually made by stacking up bales of straw (mulch hay actually) like bricks to build a bin. The bins last about 3 years before the whole thing just becomes one big compost pile. Pretty much everything not metal, meat, or plastic goes into the compost pile, let the worms sort it out.

[wildeyed]

3. I use chopped up leaves to mulch in the fall.

I lay it on really thick. It mats together and seems to deter weeds fairly well. I like straw to mulch around plants in the summer. It is more permeable than the leaves and allows more rain water to the roots of the plants.

How much newspaper did you use? Seems like that would keep the weeds out if you put it on thickly enough.

[Raven]

5. Well, that's a bit of a story in itself... I picked the windiest day

of the Fall to put the paper and straw down and ended up chasing newspapers all over the yard. I probably didn't get it on thick enough!

[Kolesar]

4. Newspaper and straw are very high in carbon, so the pile needs a lot of nitrogen to balance it

My experiment this year is to put a lot of coffee grounds from the coffee shop together with leaves into a compost pile. Coffee is high in nitrogen, and leaves (like newspaper and straw) are high in carbon. I layered them in about a 50:50 proportion.

So, what I am recommending is to find a high-N source to put in the pile for balance. I cannot say that I am an expert in this, but yesterday that pile was hot for the first time this year. Keep us apprised.