Compost Happens

I've been following a tip I saw in Harrowsmith where this guy puts all his empty flower pots and containers under the eaves of the house in the fall and then all winter he empties his compost bucket into them.  In the spring he just tops the containers up with dirt, plants his flowers and by fall he's got all these containers full of rich compost.  It's also a great way to fill up the containers without using so much dirt.  If you're buying dirt for your pots it can get pretty expensive, not to mention heavy.  I've read about balling up newspapers to fill the bottom of pots too and that would both cut down on how much dirt you needed and keep things light.

Anyway, now I have all these pots full to the brim with carrot peelings, egg shells and bits of vegetable scraps and winter's barely half over.  Yesterday I noticed something has been digging through them - by the tracks in the snow I am suspecting a squirrel.  Now there's scraps flung all over the place.  I'm not going to win any awards for outdoor winter decorating, I can tell you that.  And so can anyone else who happens to go by the east side of the house.