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Composting 2008

Like most gardeners, I make some compost from slimy salad and blue bread. I make it from leaves and weeds from garden beds and sod from the lawn when I expand my gardens. But I also buy it by the dump truck-load from a local dairy farmer. If you buy some, always ask for hot-composted manure, or aged manure, not fresh. And although there are advertisements in the garden magazine that promise you "rich dark compost in just weeks", don't believe them. Making good compost takes time.

To efficiently break down organic matter - your kitchen waste or the byproducts of a cow - takes the proper ratio of carbon and nitrogen, and adequate moisture and oxygen. The microorganisms that produce compost need about 30 parts carbon for every one of nitrogen. But all YOU really need to know is this: You need some fresh manure or green material (grass clippings are great) to mix in with dry, brown material like hay or dry leaves. That will get a compost pile "cooking", or heating up as it breaks down the material.

If your compost pile doesn't heat up, check to see if it's too moist or too dry. A handful of the materials should feel as moist as a wrung-out sponge. Squeeze it, and no water should drip out. If it feels dry, turn it once, watering each layer. Too wet? You probably have it sitting in a low spot where water collects and wicks up. Move it onto a layer of brush that will keep it out of water and allow it to drain during rainy periods.

When I was working on an organic farm in Scotland in 2006, I helped produce compost using agricultural waste - dry bracken fern that had been mowed down earlier in the summer, mixed with fresh green leaves. To increase air flow through the pile I added a chimney to one pile, a 4-inch pipe drilled full of finger-sized holes. I stood it up in the middle, and added material around it. As the pile heated up, hot air was sucked through the holes and up the chimney. Thus fresh air was drawn in through the pile, accelerating the process.

Many gardeners buy bins to contain compost, but you don't have to. I live in the country, and up until recently I just threw everything into piles and let it all break down in 3 years or so. Last year I built a 4-sided wooden bin from pallets because my young corgi, Daphne, is a rascal. She loves digging in the compost, looking for edibles and getting dirty. So now I use a bin for food garbage, and put weeds, sod and leaves in piles elsewhere.

To make a low-cost compost bin, start by procuring 4 wooden pallets. Staple landscape fabric on what will be the inside of the bin, to keep garbage from falling through the spaces, but allowing air to circulate. Stand up the pallets (forming a rectangle) by tying their corners together with 14-2 building wire or with nylon rope. Place 4 inches of cut branches in the bottom, to provide for drainage and help with air circulation. Voila!

If you live in the city, a plastic bin is good. It keeps out skunks, raccoons and curious dogs. Rotating bins are, in principle, better than the plain stationary ones, but cost much more. Not only that, most gardeners I've known who bought them lost their enthusiasm for them after a while, and stopped doing the daily whirl. A working compost pile shouldn't be very smelly, though some ingredients can be when first added. To minimize odors, keep a supply of grass clippings, straw or leaves to toss on the pile after you add your kitchen scraps.

Whatever method you choose to make your compost, just remember, it ain't rocket science, and every bucket of it that you make is one less you'll need to buy.

Henry Homeyer is the author of 3 gardening books. His web site is www.gardening-guy.com.

Sidebar: What to put - or not - in a compost pile?

Yes: Vegetable or plant material, except weeds with seeds or flowers - some weeds can produce seeds from flowers even after being pulled. Goat, sheep, rabbit and llama manure is great. Cow and horse manures have viable seeds, so make sure your compost gets hot if you use some. Sea shells of any kind are great. Pulverize them first if you want them to break down in your lifetime.

No: Roots of aggressive weeds like Japanese knotweed or goutweed. No plant material that is diseased, or that might harbor insect pests. No cat or dog manure, as they may carry diseases. No meat, fat or grease.