Composting

Composting is the decomposition of plant materials to make a dark, crumbly substance that is excellent fertilizer for houseplants or garden soil. It is a way to recycle kitchen and yard waste, involve children in environmental planning and reduce the amount of garbage that is needlessly sent to landfills. By decreasing the amount of garbage that enters the landfills we can all make a dent in the growth of the areas that are designed to take care of the garbage produced by living in an industrialized nation.

Composting isn’t a new idea and has been done for centuries. Nature is the ultimate composter. As leaves rot on the forest floor they decay and return to the soil where the surrounding trees reclaim the nutrients.

There are an incredible number of options to contain the compost and a few rules that must be followed when dumping waste into the container. Container options include those built at home, purchased at the store, or made at home. Some even choose a place in the yard to dump their vegetable garbage. Because of the decreasing space in landfills around the world composting may become as popular as recycling aluminum cans is today. The process has implications both in the backyard and at the industrial level. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that about 30% of all garbage can be attributed to materials that can be composted.

The act of decay or decomposition involves bacteria, fungi or other larger organisms such as worms or sow bugs. The process requires four key elements – nitrogen, carbon, moisture and oxygen. For the best results, and to jump start your compost pile, add materials high in nitrogen, such as clover, fresh grass clippings or livestock manure, and carbon based products such as dried leaves and twigs.

Many different materials can be added to a compost piles such as leaves, grass clippings, vegetables, coffee grounds, livestock manure, sawdust and shredded paper. Never add meat, manure from meat eaters (such as dogs and cats), or diseased plants.

There are two different methods for encouraging the decay of the plant material. In the first, cold composting, the pile will decay over several months or a year. This method is best for those who are short on time needed to tend to the compost pile and have little yard waste to add. Keep weeds or diseased plants out of this pile because the heat produced won’t be high enough to kill the weeds or disease causing organisms. Shredding or chopping the waste will help to speed the process.

The process of cold composting will be better to suppress soil borne diseases than hot composting. This process also leaves more of the material undecomposed which can be screened out before spreading in the garden.

Hot composting requires more work, but realistically only a few minutes each day. And, using the right ingredients, you can have a compost pile up and running in a few weeks.

Believe it or not, there is a season for hot composting – it coincides with the growing season. When conditions in your area are prime for plant growth then the biological activity in the compost pile will also be favorable. And, because the process produces heat it can continue long into the fall, and potentially the winter.

When using hot composting, the pile will produce the most heat, and do best, when the carbon and nitrogen is mixed at a 1 to 1 ratio. Air is required because the process is aerobic – they can’t do the work unless oxygen is present. If anaerobic microorganisms take over the pile the decomposition will continue but the pile will smell like putrefying garbage. Make sure there are plenty of air passageways into the pile. Wet ingredients that are added can mat down easily and compress them so air isn’t able to get through.

Maintenance of the compost pile will include mixing or turning the pile to break up the product and provide adequate aeration. You might completely break up the pile and fluff it and then piling it back to a more fluffed up condition, allowing more air to infuse the pile.

Moisturizer is also necessary to continue the process. Ideally, the pile should be as wet as a wrung-out sponge. At this level there is a thin film of water on each piece which helps the microbes to live and move around the pile. If there is too much water then air won’t be able to circulate and if there isn’t enough water then the process won’t work at all. Garden and kitchen waste is moist enough on its own but straw and other dry ingredients such as dry leaves, should be moistened before being added to the pile.

Hot composting requires an area that is at least 3 feet high, long and wide. If you’re building your own container it should be about 5 feet long and wide and at least 3 feet high. This will allow you to spread the compost material out and then bring it together as it begins to decompose and become smaller.

The finished product is dark in color and smells like soil. It should be difficult to recognize any material that was originally added to the compost pile. There is really not point at which the product is completely finished. It’s a matter of choice. For most garden applications it’s fine to add material that still has recognizable material but if you’re using it in the home in pots or to start seedlings the compost should be well- finished.

Compost will do several things that synthetic fertilizers won’t be able to accomplish. It will improve the way water interacts with the soil, acts as a sponge to hold water in the soil and helps to break up clay soil. It also adds beneficial microbes into the soil to aid in plant growth.

A simple project in the backyard with the children will help to improve the soil, decrease the amount of garbage you dispose of in landfills and teach your children to appreciate their environment.