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For a long time, whenever I thought about composting I imagined a pile of kitchen refuse stinking up the whole back yard and attracting swarms of bugs. The thought of having to clean up half rotten scraps stopped me from trying every year. Then early this year a friend wowed me with the final product from her home composting bin - black gold was what she called it. It smelled earthy and a bit sweet, certainly nothing foul. Seeing that my doubt was not completely abated, she let me "borrow" a small bucketful to put on our flowerbed. Well, within a few weeks my flowers appeared as if they had gotten several healthy gourmet meals and rejuvenating nights of beauty sleep. They just woke up and smiled. That week I signed up for a composting workshop offered by Santa Clara County - completely free.

WHAT GOES INTO COMPOST BINS

Turns out anyone who can carry food scraps to the compost bin can compost. It is a natural process where leaves, grass, and fruit and vegetable scraps are broken down by microorganisms and turned into a rich soil-like substance called humus or compost. Just like how organic materials decompose in nature, composting requires four components:

1. Brown stuff - material high in carbon. Examples are fallen leaves, dried twigs, paper towels, stale bread, non-glossy paper. The availability of brown stuff can vary depending on seasons. In the spring and summer when there are not a whole lot of fallen leaves, you may need to rely more on shredded newspaper. If you are like me, a non-subscriber to any paper news, you may need to do a little more legwork to find the brown stuff. One of my neighbors piles her leaves in the backyard, so I was able to get bags of dry leaves from her. You can often get dry leaves from local recyclers or waste management group
2. Green stuff - material high in nitrogen. Examples are veggie and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, and rice or pasta leftovers. In the summer, with veggies and fruit in their peak season, there is plenty to go around. The rind from one watermelon can fill a whole bucket.
3. Air - very important; Organic matter that decomposes without oxygen can give off unpleasant odors. That is one reason that compost needs to be turned regularly so air can reach the center of the pile. Regularly can mean weekly or biweekly depending how fast you want to produce humus. The more often you turn, the quicker humus forms.
4. Water - helps break down the organic matter. The official language is to "keep the material as moist as a wrung-out sponge". In reality, unless you bend down into your compost bin to get a handful, it is hard to know whether it feels like a wrung-out sponge. Since it also depends on how much wet stuff you put in or whether it is the rainy or dry season, there is no reason to stress over it. A little more today or a little less tomorrow, it will be fine.

The stuff that is NOT suitable for home composting includes meat, fish, dairy, oil/fats, pet waste, and diseased plants.

COMPOST BINS AND ACCESSORIES

There are a variety of outdoor compost bins on the market: wired, double bins, stacking, tumblers, etc. You can even use chicken wire to fence in a small area of the yard if you are composting mostly leaves. With food scraps, it is more convenient to use a sturdy compost bin. Instead of worrying about what type of compost bins to use, check with your city or county offices. In the bay area, many cities and counties offer compost bins at a deep discount. For example, San Mateo county offers Smith & Hawken Biostack bins at $35 (retail price $89) and Santa Clara county offers Earth Machine bins at $45 (retail price $95). Some people may prefer one over the other; both work well for backyard composting.

To turn your compost regularly, you need a tool with a long handle. Together with the bins, your county may also offer metal compost turners. Your can also buy them at your local garden stores. In fact a garden pitch fork can do the job almost as well if adding one more specialized tool to your overflowing garage does not sound appealing to you.

Also handy to have is a kitchen compost pail. You can toss food scraps in the pail as you cook and make a trip out to the compost bin only when the pail fills up. Some even come with a built in charcoal filter for odor control and many of them are dish-washer safe. You can find them at www.gardener.com and many other garden supply stores.

HOW TO START COMPOSTING

First you need to select a place to put the compost bin. While no one wants to make the compost bin the centerpiece of their garden, convenience is an important factor to consider. Most families will likely need to make several trips to the compost bin every week, year round, rain or shine. So it is best to select a location that is fairly close to the kitchen. Once you've settled on a place, all you have to do is fasten down the bin and you are ready to compost!

Here is the good news: composting pretty much happens on its own. However, the speed at which the food scraps and dry leaves turn into humus varies greatly - anywhere from 30 days to 6 months. It depends how small the scrap pieces are, how often the compost is turned, and several other conditions. Here are some tips:

• Cut up large items such as watermelon rinds or long branches before dumping into the compost bin. Smaller pieces decompose faster.
• Mix green material with brown material. The rule of thumb is to keep them about 50:50, but again there is no need to stress if the ratio is off. For most families, green stuff is from kitchen scrap and some fresh grass clipping. To reduce fruit flies, it is a good practice to cover the food scraps with brown materials.
• Turn the compost regularly with a compost stirrer, a pitchfork, or other gardening tools. Turning weekly lets more air into the material, thus expediting the process. On average, however, successful composing requires turning once a week or once every two weeks. If the compost looks dry, add some water. If it is too wet, add more dry leaves or shredded newspaper.
• Cover the compost bin so the organic matters can "cook" inside.

HARVEST AND USE COMPOST (HUMUS)

Your proud moment will come after a few months, when your kitchen scraps and yard waste near the bottom of the compost bin are no longer identifiable. They will look much like soil. It is time to harvest! Notice since you have been continuously adding material into the compost bin, only the bottom layer has completed the process. Conveniently, many compost bins have a door at the bottom. If you just want to get finished humus at the bottom, simply open the door and dig it out.

Now you have a nutrient-rich soil amendment created by a natural decomposition process. It will revitalize your soil, making it healthy and productive. You can use it for flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, shrubs and trees, as well as your lawn.

• For flower and vegetable garden preparation: Dig up 3 - 4 inch layer of soil. Spread the compost in your garden and mix it well with the soil. Fresh plants will thrive on the compost's fertility, disease-protection, and moisture control. For already planted flowers and vegetables, simply spread a thin layer of compost around the base and let the nutrients work their way into the soil.
• For shrubs and trees: Spread a 2-4 inch layer of compost around the roots of shrubs or trees once or twice a year. This will help provide nutrients, retain moisture in the soil, and control weed growth.
• For lawn: You need to sieve the compost and use the fine-textured part. Use a shovel or simply dump the compost around your lawn. Spread the compost out over your lawn to about ¼ inch with a flexible garden rake. Make sure the layer is not too thick since a thinner layer breaks down and releases nutrients into the lawn faster. After raking, you should not see much compost showing. Water it afterwards and do not mow the lawn for a week or two. It will take the nutrients a week or so to fully work their way into the lawn.
• You can also use compost on potted plants or an herb garden. Just crumble the compost and spread it around the roots.

OTHER BENEFITS COMPOSTING

A beneficial byproduct of composting is the reduction of your trash. Composting can divert up to 50% of your trash, which would otherwise be headed for landfill. You can build a gorgeous natural garden and reduce landfill at the same time. What could be simpler and better?

For your interest, here is another Organicpicks article on Natural and Organic Gardening

 

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