I think I may have really messed up...

[firstimegardener]

So, at the end of last growing season, I took what didn't ripen, had been munched on by birds or worms, etc, as well as some veggie scraps from the store and buried them in my garden. I have no clue why I thought it was a good idea at the time but I did. These are raised garden beds 4 by 8 by 2

Now my question is how much damage have I done? I know the garden beds didn't heat up at all over the winter and not all of the stuff is completely gone. Can I even grow in them this year or would the bacteria make that a bad idea??

[Dillbert]

unless it was 3-4 feet deep of wet garbage, which would only take longer . . .

nadda' problem.

it is not necessary for a pile to "heat up" - the heat is generated by "most active" decomposition - its benefit is killing off weed seed.

I keep a heap; it rarely gets "hot"; I never turn it.
works just fine.
compost happens, with or with a compost-nanny on call 24x7 (g)

[tomc]

Feeding the micro-herd in your garden is a good thing.

You may be able to dig out some plant residues with lignins in them. Those fibers won't hurt anything other than your esthetic. Place fiber in a compost bin if it will help your serentiy. The micro-herd won't care, they'll help decompose remainder where ever you leave it.

[Susan W]

I'm glad this subject came up! From all the talk about compost piles and Black Gold, it is easy to think the heat with decomposition is necessary. But then people have buried scraps in holes and ditches (cover to keep down critters) in garden areas since forever.

[firstimegardener]

Oh YAY! Thank you both so much. All I could think of is I've made these beds totally unusable after only a year! I love fresh lettuce and such for salads and was sad to think I wouldn't have it this year (the stuff in the store tastes like paper!)

[imafan26]

I bury extra kitchen scraps and throw eggshells on the garden all of the time. I don't have any critters that dig it up in my home garden.

In my other garden, there are mongoose and they will dig up the garden looking for the grubs and worms that are attracted to the buried produce. If I bury food scraps there, I don't plant on top of it for at least a couple of weeks.

[rainbowgardener]

I wrote a reply to this yesterday which seems to have disappeared! I was just saying what others did. Not a mess up! Look up sheet composting, which is basically what you did. It should make good enriched soil.

[applestar]

You may notice some volunteer seedlings that you can just treat as weeds or opt to allow to grow and see what you get. Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are completely useless.

[toxcrusadr]

Re: 'bacteria', soil is absolutely loaded with them and it obviously doesn't hurt the vegetables one bit. We just don't eat dirt, or compost.

[Lucius_Junius]

One old fella who's lawn I mow buries his kitchen scraps in his gardens just as you described, except a bit more extreme. I've seen him toss half-eaten sandwiches and scraps of fried bologna down a little hole, and there were beans growing on it not long after.