Re-purposing and Gardening

I wanted to let you all know how the little veggies I re-purposed are doing. I wrote about the veggies here. This is a picture of the before. On the left is my romaine, and on the right is the stalk of celery I am growing.

 

And below is a picture of my veggies after being planted for one week.

From Left to Right: Romaine, Celery, and a Row of Green Onions

Can you see the row of scallions? They are growing great! I am wondering if I should pull them up and replant them, or just cut off the tops once they're grown. Hmmmm...

Speaking of gardening, I am finally entering the world of composting. Almost since we moved into this house, I've been collecting egg shells, veggie and fruit pieces, weeds (we don't have grass clippings because we don't have grass yet) and coffee grinds. The research I did on the compost piles also said that adding cardboard is appropriate. So, I have thrown all these goodies into a box that can go straight into the compost pile...that we don't have yet. 

Yes, that's right, even though we didn't have a specified place for a compost pile, I have been saving all these leftovers to add to it. But finally, tonight, Dave and I bought some stakes and plan to build  a compost pile tomorrow. While I love the idea of composting, (because it's re-purposing at it's finest) I also need any tips you all can give me! Do any of you have a compost pile? Have you put cardboard in it? I also read the ratio of food to cardboard/grass clippings should be 1 to 1. Is that correct? 

I will be keeping you updated on how our compost goes, and how the veggies are growing. So far, though, they are doing so well that I already have another romaine stub and celery stalk stub in water, waiting to be added to the garden! Yahoo!

Please let me know if you have any tips for composting, or any success re-purposing any fruits or veggies. (Evidently you can plant a pineapple top and grow it into a pineapple plant in much the same fashion that I have replanted my vegetables.) I'd love to see what it is you all are re-purposing!

Thanks so much for reading! -Amber