These little organisms (mainly bacteria, fungi and protozoa) break down garden and landscape trimmings in a moist, aerobic (oxygen-demanding) environment. The final product is a dark, crumbly form of decomposed organic matter. One way to test your soil to see what you have is to take some in you hand, and squeeze it into a ball. If it compacts tightly then you have a clay soil. If it compacts lightly then it is a loam, but if it falls apart immediately then it is mostly sand.
- Compost replenishes your soil.
- When added to soil, compost helps break up clay soils. With clay soils water tends to move through it slowly.
- Helps sandy soils retain water and nutrients, and also releases essential nutrients.With sandy soils the water will move through it rapidly resulting in frequent watering.
- Compost also contains beneficial microscopic organisms that build up the soil and make nutrients available to plants.
- Improving your soil is the first step towards growing healthy plants.
WHAT MATERIALS CAN I COMPOST?
Most plant material can be used for compost. Trimmings from your landscape, such as fallen leaves, mesquite beans, even weeds, and leaves, grass clippings, flowers and the remains of garden plants make excellent compost. Compost made from grass clippings treated with herbicides and pesticides is not recommended for use in vegetable gardens.
Kitchen scraps, such as fruit and vegetable peels and trimmings, crushed eggshells, tea bags, banana peels, potato skins, onion, cantaloupe, water melon rinds, and coffee grounds and filters can also be composted. Woody yard trimmings can be run through a shredder before adding to the compost pile. Sawdust may be added in moderate amounts if additional nitrogen is applied. Add a pound of actual nitrogen per 100 pounds of dry sawdust. CAUTION: Do not use treated lumber sawdust in your compost pile.
WHAT MATERIALS SHOULD I AVOID ADDING TO MY COMPOST PILE?
Organic materials that should not be added to your compost pile include meat, bones and fatty foods (such as cheese, butter, margarine, salad dressing and leftover cooking oil). Do not add pet or human wastes to a compost pile.
High levels of heat is produced in the center of the compost pile can kill many pests, such as weeds with seeds and diseased or insect-infested plants. However, it is next to impossible to mix the contents thoroughly enough to bring all the wastes to the center, so some disease organisms may be returned to the garden with the compost.
"ESSENTIALS" OF COMPOSTING
Organic materials for composting all contain nutrients that provide energy and growth for microorganisms.
These organic materials each have their own ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N) in their tissues . These C:N ratios are important because the tiny organisms need about 1 part of nitrogen for every 30 parts of carbon in the organic material. Most gardeners want the pile to stink just a little, to ensure that they have enough nitrogen in the pile to speed up the decaying process.
- Leaves, straw and sawdust are high in carbon.
- While grass clippings, manure and vegetable scraps are higher in nitrogen.
- It helps to think of these materials as greens and browns.
- Greens, such as grass clippings, are high in nitrogen.
- Browns, such as leaves or sawdust, contain high amounts of carbon.
Any organic material will decay as long as the Carbon to Nitrogen mixture is right. But when the Carbon ratio is too high the longer it will take for it to decay. When you get the correct ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen it will take just weeks for you to reap the benefits of compost.
Sawdust will take years to decay by itself. But if you add greens to the sawdust it will decay much faster. Because you are adding Nitrogen to it.
THE SURFACE AREA OF THE COMPOST PILE:
More surface area means more the organisms have to work with. This in turns means the material will decompose faster. Also the larger the compost pile is the more it will insulate itself and hold the heat inside. The smaller the trimmings, and material also means faster decaying. I start a little pile and then spread it out, then I use my lawnmower to chopped into smaller pieces. Or you can go green and use a hoe, or shovel to chop the material up. They also have residential and commercial shredders that you can rent or buy.
Browns = High Carbon C:N
- Ashes, wood 25:1
- Cardboard, shredded 350:1
- Corn stalks 75:1
- Fruit waste 35:1
- Leaves 60:1
- Newspaper, shredded 175:1
- Peanut shells 35:1
- Pine needles 80:1
- Sawdust 325:1
- Straw 75:1
- Wood chips 400:1
Greens = High Nitrogen C:N
- Alfalfa 12:1
- Clover 23:1
- Coffee grounds 20:1
- Food waste 20:1
- Garden waste 30:1
- Grass clippings 20:1
- Hay 25:1
- Manures 15:1
- Seaweed 19:1
- Vegetable scraps 25:1
- Weeds 30:1
The organisms in the compost pile need moisture and air in order to survive. This doesn't mean to flood the pile with water but about as wet as a moist sponge, (not dripping). If you keep the pile to wet, then it won't be able to heat up enough start the decaying process, besides it will suffocate the organisms. Turn the pile after you wet it down to distribute the water evenly throughout the pile.
KNOWING WHEN TO TURN THE PILE!
When the temperature reaches around 130 degrees to 140 degrees, or when the pile starts to fall, then it is time to water the pile and turn it over. I keep adding to one end of my pile while I use the other end. I realize that some might not have that much room to do this. So start one pile and get it to cooking, then start a second pile. When you have used up what was in the first pile then use the second pile. But start another pile where the first was. Some gardeners use four posts with chicken or hog wire to make a pen. Some use barrels, and some gardeners use a composting bin that rotates on a stand. All of the methods are good to use, and will get the material to composting.
Until next time there is nothing like getting your hands dirty.
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