I can't keep thinking

Everytime I ask a question, I think of something else I need to ask.

I have a bed around a tree that I won't use until next spring. Can I Just kind of use it as it's own compost pile. You know, just go ahead and put the stuff there that I would normally put in a compost pile and then move it. In fact, I have 3 beds like that. All I've done to them so far is mark them off and put some rotted leaves, etc.
Thank you and I'm sorry I'm such a nag. My 2 year old grand-son says "Quit naggin"

Just be careful not to pile up material right on the base of the tree, or on the bark. It can promote rot, and in winter small mammals like mice may get in there and start eating your tree. Also there may be some concern about piling materials over the entire root zone of the tree and suffocating it. How big is the bed around the tree?

The bed is about 4 foot around. I thought I'd just put enough , small amts at a time then add more after it sits there awhile and gets smaller. I also can take some dirt out of it if I need too./ When I started the bed, I was careful to not get real close to the tree itself or the roots. It's deeper around the outside than the inside next to the tree. Should I just take some soil out? I had to bring it in anyway.
Thanks a lot.

I don't know about the "tree stuff", maybe I just got lucky when I put that dump truck load of compost around my big old oak trees and went to planting. OR maybe it was because the material had already decomposed.

Here is my lazy way of composting:

Compost we do it the lazy way because we have horrible white clay soil - pick a place where we want the next raised flower bed, toss in "stuff", everything you can imagine except for human waste and things which have oil in them (i.e. leftover veggies with Italian salad dressing) add a little lime, dead leaves whatever, cover with a light layer of packaged top soil, just enough so it won't draw flies ... the worms will come "a'runnin" making the pile their home and in the process aerating the packed clay soil beneath. We work on a the pile for about 6 months or so, depending upon how much material we have, then let it decompose for 6 months to a year but always over winter.

We do not add paper or cardboard, I have found these take too long to decompose if left whole and I'm not going to shred them.

This is a good article about composting without worms
http://www.wormman.com/composting_without_worms.cfm

Judy

LorainneR: I agree with greenjay. Its best to stay off tree roots except for a very light amendment of finished compost. Maintaining air around the root flare and bottom of the trunk of the tree are critical to the tree's health.

You want to be careful not to damage tree roots when you eventually dig into your new planting area also. For that reason I prefer to plant very small plants, or direct seed, within 10' of the trunk of a tree. If you are planting bulbs, try to avoid things that have to go more than 6" deep.

After reading the other postings, I suppose the reason I didn't have a problem with my big old oak trees is I don't dig into the roots. Actually that is why I had compost brought in, I didn't want to dig into them. The grading when we built the house was enough of a distubrance. I'm real picky about their roots. I planted ferns and hostas which were tiny when planted, but nice size now.

Judy

Thanks so much to all of
you. I am going out later and make sure I didn't get to close to the roots, etc. I really tried not to, but with my luck I'll probably mess it up. We just lost a 150 year old Oak . We had someone come out when we noticed brown leaves. He said it was at least that old. So beautiful. We spent our retirement(ha ha) trying to keep it alive, but sorry to say, it's dead now. Still can stand to cut it down so it is still here just no leaves and limbs as big as most houses fall sometimes. Guess we'll figure we need to cut it down after it destroys our house. I just can't stand to cut a tree that's been here longer than my great grandmother