Compost Your Pumpkins: Mother Earth Will Love You

Pumpkin season, what a great time of year. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin seeds, pumpkins in the garbage. All great but that last one. Now if the neighborhood mischief makers don't get your pumpkin first, instead of putting it in the garbage and contributing to the waste stream, compost your pumpkin instead and contribute not only to your garden but the environment as well.

I'm not going to tell you any pumpkin recipes here, go see Rachel Ray for that, aw, I take that back. At the end of this article I will give you my pumpkin soup recipe but I will tell you here why pumpkins make a great addition to your compost pile.

Pumpkins are great for your compost pile. The vines themselves are full of nitrogen. They tend to be a touch woody so my suggestion would be to cut them up somewhat. The great thing about composting is it doesn't matter how you cut the pumpkin vines up for your compost pile. Use the tip of your shovel, use clippers, run them over with your mower. No matter how you do it, just to recycle the nitrogen back into the soil it came from will make you an official friend of the environment.

The pumpkins themselves are just as easy to add to your compost pile. The great thing about them is that they add zinc, iron and phosphorous to your compost pile. I have added whole pumpkins and let nature take its course. I have taken Jack himself after he has served porch duty, not to scary now on account of the little ones, and placed him atop of the pile. There have been years where I leave Jack out there on top of the compost pile to keep watch for spring. He has filled with water and snow and by the first early warm days he is a crumbly mess. This is when he gets turned under. Jack the pumpkin, pumpkins aren't to creative on names, is usually spread back where he came fro. It is great to use basically the same vegetative material to replace needed nutrients.

If you have kids, okay, even if you don't, one cool thing to do is to smash up your pumpkins before you add them to the compost pile. Once again it doesn't matter how you do it, just have fun. I hope you at least have the couth to scoop out the seeds and pumpkin itself for pies soups and tasty pumpkin seed snacks.

Composting is a great way to get rid of yard and vegetable waste. Environmentally friendly, it will give you great soil builder for your vegetable and flower beds. It keeps tons of debris out of the waste stream and best of all, especially if you have kids, you get to see the cycle of life.

Now for that pumpkin soup recipe;

4 tbs unsalted butter

4 cups cooked and pureed pumpkin

2 sweet potatoes cooked and pureed

1 cup creamy peanut butter

6 cups chicken stock

I tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Melt the butter. Add the other ingredients. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Garnish with sour cream and enjoy.