Our 2nd session of Garden Gritz two Wednesdays ago (sorry..a little behind!) was on composting and why we organic gardeners LOVE this free black gold treasure!
We don't feed the plants, we feed the soil and let the soil feed the plants. Compost is made up of partially decomposed organic materials, mostly plants and the manures of plant eating animals, and the soil dwelling microbes that do the decomposing. Compost helps the garden by providing nutrition needed for vigorous plant growth, improving soil structure, increasing the ability of soil to retain water, contributing to the health of plants, moderating soil pH, and feeding soil organisms. No wonder we love it so much and so does our plants!
In the The Garden of Concord, we begin, side dress, and end our beds and seasons with compost and lots of it. We have been feeding and making our own compost from the beginning and supplementing the large volume needed with gracious donations from Brooks Compost every year. One of my favorite days of the year is when the semi from Brooks pulls up early Spring and I stand there smiling and thanking God while watching 38 yards of rich dark dirt dumped into a huge pile that the kids will be so excited about at the the next garden work night! Without getting too technical,I will share with you some of the basics that I have learned and how we make our compost.
Getting the right balance and recipe for compost is not too difficult, however, the finished product occurs faster if you follow a few simple guidelines. Like everything else that grows, Compost is made up of many elements. The two most important are carbon and nitrogen. Carbon is the "brown" component of compost and would involve the layering of sources such as dried out stems, stalks, or leaves of plants, straw, hay, dried out pea, and bean vines, and fall leaves. All free stuff naturally occurring and gifts from God! The nitrogen element, or "green" factor would include grass clippings, kitchen scraps (veggies, fruits, eggshells, stale bread, coffee grinds..) and any non diseased freshly pulled up plant debris. Our chickens do their part by donating their droppings and feathers when we clean out their coop area.
We had originally built a 4-Bin system using scrap lumber and have since added additional bins with donated pallets for the sides tied together and also one on the bottom (great for airflow). We begin a pile by layering 6" of browns and then following with some greens, then a thin layer of dirt or finished compost and this is when the chickens donations can be added also. Time for more browns again with approx 3" of crunchy dry stuff. The layering then continues while trying to keep a ratio of approximately 30-1 by weight and roughly 3"-1" in volume. Two additional important elements to the living compost is providing sufficient air flow and water. We water in between layers for the consistency to resemble a wrung out sponge and also by turning the pile frequently (after the pile has been layered up to 4'), sufficient airflow will be obtained. Without the above 4 elements and layering increments, the pile will not heat up properly, will delay a timely completion, and maybe get smelly! We strive for workable finished compost within 4 months, but you can still get some good compost w/o a lot of effort by letting it just sit for a year or more.
A fully layered 4' pile should heat up to approx 140-160 degrees fairly quickly and stay up there for 3 weeks or so. If the temp starts dropping, we make sure it has been well watered and fluffed up a bit. After 3-4 weeks, it is time to turn the pile (moving the materials from the outside top to the center bottom) to Bin #2 with then continued frequent watering, fluffing, and checking temp to see if it is maintaining a good heated temp range to around 110 degrees. Another 3-4 weeks later, time to turn to #3 and then subsequently to #4. The temp finally drops to around 80 degrees and we then work it through a sifter we made to shred up and remove any large pieces such as non-decomposed branches. If the pile is not reheating at this point and remaining at around 80 degrees or below, it is considered stable and ready to feed to the garden!
That is my version of "Composting 101" excluding many more details that I could go into, but our Garden Gritz break is over and it is time to get back to work and take care of God's creation!
It WILL be good!
-Donna
