Composting Basics

If I learned anything at all from my folks about gardening, is that it’s alllllll about composting. Compost! Compost! Compost!

The long list of benefits that come from composting goes on and on:

• It feeds your plants
• It improves drainage in your garden
• It helps retain moisture
• It makes weeding easier
• It helps distribute fertilizer better
• It attracts beneficial earthworms
• It promotes microbial activity (soil microbes break down organic matter so it can be used by your plants)
• It helps prevent disease

Composting is not only important, it’s easy! Pile up materials and let them break down – could it be any more easy??? In fact, composting makes the daily garden grind easier because it’s a convienent way to dispose of leaves, grass clippings, and other yard wastes. Forget bagging!

Fancy compost bins are available at your local gardening or home improvement store and are easy enough to install. They aren’t necessary, though – you can make your own with cheap wire fencing. Just build a framework with the wire. Once you have the bin, add the materials as you gather them during the ordinary course of your yard work. You’ll have compost in several months – - usually found at the bottom of the pile.

Cold Compost
Cold compost is the easiest method of composting – but it is also the longest way, taking the most time – it’s done by piling up materials and letting them break down for a year or two with an occassional turn if possible. Add cold compost to the bottom of a planting hole, but avoid mulching with it. When used on the soil’s surface, incompletely composted weeds or plants you’ve added, such as tomatoes or dandelions, may sprout and create problems.

Hot compost
Hot compost comes from a compost pile constructed with a balance of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich materials that are turned regularly, at least once every week or two. It is also kept evenly moist with occasional watering. Hot compost becomes hot to the touch, and the heat kills weed seeds and many disease pathogens.

Tips for Faster, Better Compost

• Keep the pile a manageable size. make it no more than 4 feet across and 3 feet high so you can turn it easily with a pitchfork
• Turn the compost regularly, as often as every few days, with a spading fork or pitchfork. Any turning is helpful, but more is better because oxygen activates compost piles
• Cut up or shred materials. The smaller the materials, the faster they’ll break down.
• Layer nitrogen-rich material (green material) with carbon-rich material (brown materials) if a pile has too much nitrogen, it will get slimy. If it has too much carbon, it will fail to break down quickly.
• Keep it moist. A damp environment speeds up decomposition. During dry spells, soak the compost heap with a hose. However, avoid keeping the compost heap wet all the time, because that also prevents good decomposition. In cool, rainy climates, such as the Pacific Northwest, you may want to cover the ocmpost heap with a tarp or even build a shelter to keep it from being too wet.
• If you have trouble producing enough compost for your garden, consider purchasing it. It’s available in bags, sometimes labeled ‘humus’ adn in bulk for delivery via truck if you need a lot.

Good Materials To Compost
Nitrogen-rich: Alfalfa hay, fruit and vegetable scraps, grass clippings, greenleaves and weeds, manure, seaweed.

Cargon-rich: Dried leaves, shredded newspaper, straw, woody stems and sticks

Other materials: coffee grounds, tea leaves, eggshells, pine needles, wood ashes

DO NOT ADD: black walnut leaves, nuts and branches, Bones, Cat, dog or other pet feces, diseased or invasive plants, meat or meat products, oils fats and greases, seed heads.