Composting in your garden.

Compost is the single most important supplement you can give your garden. It’s a simple way to add nutrient-rich humus to your lawn or garden that fuels plant growth and restores vitality to depleted soil. It’s also free, easy to make, and good for the environment. But composting also has other benefits.

Composting Benefits

Soil Conditioner

With compost, you are creating rich humus for your lawn and garden. This adds nutrients to your plants and helps retain soil moisture. They don’t call it “black gold” for nothing.

Recycles Kitchen and Yard Waste

Composting can divert as much as 30% of household waste away from the garbage can. That’s important because when organic matter hits the landfill, it lacks the air it needs to decompose quickly. Instead, it creates harmful methane gas as it breaks down, increasing the rate of global warming and climate change.

Good for the Environment

Composting offers a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers when applied to lawns and garden beds.

Reduces Landfill Waste

Most landfills in North America are quickly filling up; many have already closed down. One-third of landfill waste is made up of compostable materials. Diverting this waste from the landfill means that our landfills will last longer (and so will our wild spaces).

What to Compost

What you can put into your compost will depend somewhat on what kind of composter you have, but some general rules do apply. All compostable materials are either carbon or nitrogen-based, to varying degrees. The secret to a healthy compost pile is to maintain a working balance between these two elements.

The Secret to a Healthy Compost Pile: Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio

Carbon
Carbon-rich matter (like branches, stems, dried leaves, peels, bits of wood, bark dust or sawdust pellets, shredded brown paper bags, corn stalks, coffee filters, coffee grounds, conifer needles, egg shells, straw, peat moss, wood ash) gives compost its light, fluffy body.

Nitrogen
Nitrogen or protein-rich matter (manures, food scraps, green lawn clippings, kitchen waste, and green leaves) provides raw materials for making enzymes.

A healthy compost pile should have much more carbon than nitrogen. A simple rule of thumb is to use one-third green and two-thirds brown materials. The bulkiness of the brown materials allows oxygen to penetrate and nourish the organisms that reside there. Too much nitrogen makes for a dense, smelly, slowly decomposing anaerobic mass. Good composting hygiene means covering fresh nitrogen-rich material, which can release odors if exposed to open air, with carbon-rich material, which often exudes a fresh, wonderful smell. If in doubt, add more carbon!

Composting Leaves

If you have too many leaves to incorporate into the compost bin, you can simply compost the pile of leaves by itself. Locate the pile where drainage is adequate; a shaded area will help keep the pile from drying out.

The leaf pile should be at least 4′ in diameter and 3′ in height. Include a layer of dirt between each foot of leaves. The pile should be damp enough that when a sample taken from the interior is squeezed by hand, a few drops of moisture will appear. The pile should not be packed too tightly.

The pile will compost in 4 – 6 months, with the material being dark and crumbly. Leaf compost is best used as an organic soil amendment and conditioner.

HAPPY COMPOSTING….