I started a compost bin in March.  It’s mostly yard waste, but also has newspaper, a torn-up cotton shirt, shredded credit card applications, food scraps, spent hibiscus flowers, old potting soil, Kleenex, and dog hair.  It’s been so dry here that nearly everything in there is dry.  I could see through the slats at the bottom that it was getting compressed, but I wasn’t smelling much in the way of compost-y smell.  So I watered it.  It took nearly a large watering can full before it started running out at the bottom.  We’ll see if that helps.  I hope I didn’t kill any of the wormy things that are supposed to be munching away in there. 

I don’t expect to get anything usable until the fall, but by then, with the heat of the summer, I should have some great stuff.  I have things in mind to plant, and would like to try some vegetables later on, so I’m looking forward to being able to do those things with my own excellent compost.

In the meantime, the drought continues.  One good thing is that I don’t have to mow as much; half the yard is dead.  That’s fine; it fits in with my long term xeriscaping plans.  The other good thing is that there are almost no mosquitoes.  At least not yet.