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| Photo Credit: Joe Seals |
| This compost pile is less than a week from being part of a large vegetable garden. |
In addition to the long wait that comes with traditional compost making, there seems to be a complex – almost mystical – array of formulas, steps, tools and techniques to the process.
But composting doesn’t have to be so time-consuming, difficult or confusing. It truly is a simple method and, with a few tips, results in excellent compost in short order. - Gather the right materials. (Almost anything organic works.)
You should have some “brown” dry material, like fallen leaves, dead flowers, straw, sawdust, shredded paper (especially newspaper), shredded cardboard or paper towels. This provides the “bulk” to a good compost. Gather some “green” wet material as well, like grass clippings, fresh leaves and nonflowering weeds, barnyard animal manure, chopped leafy prunings, pine needles, coffee grounds, teabags (staples removed!) and crushed eggshells. These provide readily-available food to the microorganisms that do the decomposing work. This green material will later be added to your dry mix. The proportions of “brown to green” are not critical, as long as you have more “brown” than “green.”
You’ll also need a shovelful of finished homemade compost or some good garden soil to add to your new compost later, once your dry and wet ingredients are mixed together. This will served as your inoculant. Think of it as a sourdough starter. It contains the microorganisms that break down the organic material. - Chop your materials.
Before you can mix your dry material with the wet, you need to be sure your materials are properly chopped. Ideally, your pieces should be no larger than ¾ to 2 inches. Chop the “brownest” materials the smallest. The more you chop, the faster the decomposition process goes.
Shredder-chippers and even lawn mowers are good tools for this purpose.
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| Warnings |
- Beware of “compost no-no’s!” When making compost, never use meat and bones, dairy products or greasy foods, dog and cat feces, diseased or invasive plants, weeds with lots of seed, unchopped wood and fruit/vegetable trimmings from the kitchen!
- The most common mistake gardeners make with a compost pile is throwing in too much waste from the kitchen. Although such organic material is beneficial under ideal conditions, too much creates a pile that’s too wet. Additionally, such waste, especially if it’s not chopped well, draws flies and even small animals.
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| Tips |
- If you plan to chop your material with a lawn mower, lay the material out in a flat row along a wall or solid fence, a couple of feet away from the structure. Then just run your mower – without the bagging device on it – over the material.
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| Facts |
- The first time you turn your pile, you might see steam rising from it. This is a good thing. With each turning, the steam will become less and less.
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| Definitions |
- Anaerobic: Conditions without oxygen. Bacteria and fungi that grow in such conditions produce methane and sulfur byproducts (neither of which is pleasantly defined by our sense of smell).
- Inoculant: The “starter”, composed of beneficial bacteria and fungi that do the actual decomposing in a compost pile.
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