Composting

Why compost?   

Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden soil. One of the great aspects of composting is that the key ingredients are often things that you would be tempted to throw away. So, with just a little effort, you can contribute less to the trash stream (good for the environment) and make great compost (good for your garden)!

What tools are needed?

Pitch fork, or turning fork - The best hand tool for mixing and turning a working compost pile. The tines of the fork will penetrate layers of leaves and grass clippings, and make the mixing process much easier than using a shovel.

Shovel - The best tool for removing finished compost from a bin or heap, and for tossing compost onto the garden.

Compost Thermometer - Not essential, but you might be interested in checking the temperature of the "core." A properly established mix will heat up to 160 degrees F.

Composting Step 1 – Choosing the compost location

To make compost, you’ll need to dedicate some outdoor space to the process. Ideally, the location of your compost production should be convenient to the garden, as well as close to the source of the raw materials (kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, etc.), without being an unappealing eyesore.

Composting Step 2 - Open Bins or Containers (It’s Your Choice!)

There are two basic kinds of compost piles: open bins and enclosed containers.  Open bins can be constructed with wood, chicken wire, or recycled plastic. Of course, municipal large scale composting is often conducted in large open piles without the use of any bins at all. These compost heaps are often turned by bulldozers or other pieces of heavy equipment, so container walls are not practical.  Enclosed containers for composting usually consist of one of two designs: upright box-like containers, and rotating drums.

Two Bins are Always Better than One

Whether you choose to use an open bin or a compost container, two bins or containers are always better than one. In fact, if you are really serious about composting, having two is a necessity. Because the composting process takes at least several weeks under the best conditions, you cannot add additional materials to the heap without “resetting the clock” to day one. To create an ideal batch of fully composted material, your mix needs to “cook” for at least several weeks; if you add additional material, you’ll have a mix of fully decomposed material, partially decomposed material, and fresh materials. It’s simply much easier, and much more desirable to use a consistent mixture of fully decomposed compost for gardening purposes.

Composting Step 3 – Activators, Micro-organisms and Size

You’ve built or bought a composter. You have some dry leaves and you’ll be adding green materials (lawn clippings, kitchen waste, plant scraps). To some extent, you’ll be layering these materials to provide both a balanced diet and the best mix for air and water penetration.  If you’re starting with leaves and other natural materials, you’ve got bacteria and fungi that are eager to help you make compost. And, if you want to give the mix a little boost, one excellent and free additive is simply a shovel full of good garden soil. Assuming that it hasn’t been polluted with nasty chemicals, the soil is full of microbes that are eager to devour the goodies in your compost pile.

The Ideal Combination of Browns and Greens

The best combination of browns and greens is about four parts of "browns" to one part "greens" by volume. Of course, this is a rough approximation. If you have more browns, you will still get compost - it will just take a little longer. If you are on the side of too much green, you will likely have a smelly garbage heap.

Typical green materials are:                 

• Fresh grass clippings

• Fresh manure (horse, chicken, rabbit, cow)

• Kitchen scraps (fruit, vegetables, coffee grounds, tea bags)   

• Weeds

• Green leaves

• Leftover fruits from the garden

Typical brown materials include:

• Brown, dry leaves

• Dried grass

• Cornstalks (shredded)

• Straw

Critical Mass – When is Enough Enough?

For efficient hot composting, you need to have a critical mass to generate a heat core. Most experienced composters agree that you need a minimum of 1 cubic foot of raw materials, of course, more is better.  As soon as decomposition begins, the volume of the pile will decrease. You might be tempted to add more materials; but, as previously mentioned, this resets the clock on that batch to “Day 1.” You’ll have much better success if you refrain from adding raw materials to your batch of working compost, and simply start a new batch with new raw materials.

Size Matters – Smaller is Better

While it’s nice to have a larger pile, to develop a good heat core, and to produce a nice quantity of compost, the raw materials should be shredded whenever possible. Smaller particles are simply easier to mix and easier for the little microbes to digest. Of course, the micro bugs don’t eat the whole particle, but smaller particles of raw materials means that you’ll have more surface area for the millions of microbes to do their work.  So, in summary, you should aim for "big heap, small particles."

Composting Step 4 - Turn, Turn, Turn

You’ll maximize your composting efforts if you continuously turn, or mix, the heap. Mixing your heap will help to keep the browns and greens in balance, will distribute moisture, and add essential air (oxygen) to the mixture. The core (the inside) of the compost heap is always hotter and is the center of activity. The outside is generally less active and much cooler. To increase the efficiency of the composting process, mix the heap to bring more of the raw materials from the outside to the core. Bring more food and water to the busy little micro bugs on the inside.  While the compost is working, or “cooking,” the best tool for turning is a pitch fork or garden fork.

Using the Compost

Soil Building - Compost is the single best additive for good, even great, garden soil. It improves tilth, fertility, water retention for sandy soils, water drainage for clay soils, and improves your soil's disease fighting characteristics.

Lawn Feeding - Screened compost (compost that has been sifted to collect the smaller particles) can be applied as a lawn fertilizer throughout the season. It will provide a wonderful, slow-release food as well as assist in lawn disease prevention.

Potting Mix (seed starting, potted plants) - Compost can be used to create a very good seed starting mix, or it can be added to potting soil to create a nutrient-rich mixture. Most commercial potting mix is made from Canadian peat moss, which is virtually void of nutrients, so the addition of good compost provides a real boost.

Compost Tea – Yum!

Don’t drink it, unless you’re a houseplant or garden plant. Compost tea is simply the result of soaking a bag full of compost in a bucket full of water for an hour or so. The water soluble nutrients and beneficial micro-organisms leach out of the compost, resulting in a brown liquid that can be used to water houseplants, your lawn, or garden plants. Compost tea will give your plants a boost of needed nutrients and help to prevent a lot of plant diseases; but, the tea won’t do as much to improve the soil structure as using fully decomposed compost.