How To Compost

How to compost is one of the first issues for an organic gardener. Should one make a compost pile on the ground or build or buy a container? And what is compost anyway?

Compost is the decaying, breaking down, of organic matter such as leaves, manure, food scraps, into a rich, crumbly substance that will feed your soil and change its structure. Thus, if you have clay-like soil, it will change it to a more friable substance. If your soil is too sandy, compost will feed it and help it retain moisture better. It truly is invaluable in your garden. And it is so easy to do!

You can choose a spot in your yard and start making a pile right on the ground. Or, you can build an open wood structure with three sides and start dumping scraps and leaves there. This does not need to be expensive or complicated. One thing I have found is that the black plastic composter, often provided by municipalities, does not make the best composter. For me, it takes longer for materials to break down than in my pile that has a wood and wire frame.

Now, how to make compost--A properly composting pile should have little odour. Turning the pile from time to time will help this as it keeps oxygen in all parts of the pile. Add both green and brown to your pile. “Green” includes grass clippings, vegetable peelings and scraps from your kitchen, tea bags and coffee grounds, weeds (but try to avoid seeds), green trimmings from trees or bushes, manure. “Brown” includes sawdust, woody hedge clippings, shavings or bedding from vegetarian animals (rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs), hay, straw, leaves. The “green” component breaks down more quickly but the “brown” part adds bulk to the compost. You are trying to achieve a fairly equal balance between the carbon and nitrogen sources.

Make sure your pile is kept moist. If you squeeze a handful, it should feel like a wrung out sponge.

DO NOT compost meat, dairy, cat litter, dog feces. People sometimes shred newspapers, cardboard, junk mail, cardboard tubes, etc. to add to their compost pile. This is not something I have done. Personally, I am a little concerned about the toxicity of glues in cardboards and the possible chemicals in inks. Many newspapers, however, are using a soy based ink now. Just avoid the colour pictures.

At the moment, I have three compost piles. One is in an old black plastic container. It has taken simply forever to work out! I have stopped adding to it and am just turning it occasionally, waiting for nature to hurry up and do its thing. The other is a more current pile, with kitchen scraps, an occasional shovel of manure, old plants. The third is bigger material—plants with thick vines that haven’t been chopped up, leaves that take a long time. At some point, I should probably unite the last two.

How to compost using the "sheet" method.I also love to sheet compost. I save coffee grounds and chop all other kitchen scraps quite finely. This I spread directly on my vegetable or flower beds. It makes no smell and quickly disappears. My soil is full of worms. I attribute this to the regular feeding I give them. Worm feasts! Not only does this procedure quickly add nutrients to the soil, it also works as a bit of a mulch to keep the soil moist. I try to keep the compost from touching the stems of plants.

The more compost you can make, the happier your garden will be! Don’t let it get complicated. It’s easy to do, provides a great sense of satisfaction because you are recycling in the best of ways, and is doing nothing but good in feeding the soil.

For more ideas and techniques on how to compost


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