PuULO se CC Tg WHAT IS WHY SHOULD COMPOST? ; . Y 1 MAKE COMPOST? Composting is the most practical and convenient way to handle your yard wastes. It can be easier and cheaper than bag- ging these wastes or taking them to the trans- fer station. Compost also improves your soil and the plants growing in it. Ifyou have a garden, a lawn, trees, shrubs, or even planter boxes, you have a use for eompost. By using compost, you HOW CANI a return organic matter to . the soil i . USE COMPOST? Organie matter inthe soil improves plant Compost ean be used to : growth by helping to enrich the flower and veg- (i break heavy clay soils etable garden, to improve cs into a better texture, by the soil around trees and si adding water and shrubs, as a soil amend- | nutrient-holding capacity ment for houseplants and to sandy soils, and by planter boxes and, when adding essential screened, as part of a i nutrients to any soil. seed-starting mix or lawn Improving your soil is the top-dressing. Before they first step toward decompose, chipped F improving the health of woody wastes make excel- your plants. Healthy Ient mulch or path ’ i 45 plants help clean the air ater eae Cl and conserve soil, , making your area a woody wastes will add COMPOST FLOW CHART healthier place tolive. texture to garden soils. Compost is a dark, crumbly, and earthy- smelling form of decomposing organic matter. Decomposition and recycling of organic wastes are an essential part of soil building and healthy plant growth in forests, meadows, and in your home garden. AY Ne WHAT CAN | COMPOST? Anything that was once alive can be composted. However, some organic wastes should not be put into home composting systems. Do Compost in | Don't Compost in Bury or Worm Compost Do Hot Bury or Compost Grass cippings + Le Food serps of Vegetabl ‘Meat or fish 35s cippings * Leaves ood scraps of any sort les eat o is lowers» Old pants Dog & cat waste * Diseased Bread & g ine, Geese, htt nk Twigs © Annual Weeds ims Weeds wih seeds» Coffer or tebogs ooking oil & ity foods Id potting sll wasive weeds (Quack grass, ‘Moning glory, Buttercup, ete.) Published by the American Community Gardening Association 1991 + Community Grening Review « PLLOUT 13LOU sae COMPOSTING YARD WASTES 1. Holding Units ‘These simple containers for yard wastes are the least labor- and time-consuming way to compost. WHICH WASTES? Non-woody yard wastes are the most appropriate. HOW? Place the holding unit where it is most convenient. As weeds, grass y clippings, leaves, and harvest remains from garden plants are collected, = i they can be dropped into the unit. Chopping or shredding wastes, alternating high-carbon and high-nitrogen materials, and keeping up good moisture and aeration will all speed the process. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES: For yard wastes this is the simplest method. The units can be portable, moving to wherever needed in the garden. This method can take from 6 months to 2 years to compost organic materials, so you only need to be patient. VARIATIONS: Holding units can be made of circles of hardware cloth, old wooden pallets, or wood and wire. Sod can also be composted with or without a holding unit, by turning sections of it over, making sure that there is adequate moisture, and covering it with black plastic. Units ‘This is a series of three or more bins that allows wastes to be turned on a regular schedule. Turning units are most appropriate for gardeners with a large volume of yard waste and the desire to make a high quality compost. WHICH WASTES? Non-woody yard wastes are appropriate. HOW? Alternate the layering of high-carbon and high-nitrogen materials to approximately a 30:1 ratio. These should be moistened to the damp sponge stage. ‘The pile temperature should be checked regularly; when the heat decreases substantially, turn the pile into the next bin. Dampen the materials if they are not moist, and add more high-nitrogen material if heating is not occurring. When the pile has heated up and starts to cool again, turn it into the third bin. After two weeks. in the third bin, the compost should be ready for garden use. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: This method produces a high-quality compost in a short time utilizing a substantial input of labor. VARIATIONS: The unit can be built of wood, a combination of wood and wire, or concrete block. Another type of turning unit is the barrel composter, which tumbles the wastes for aeration. ., Il. Mulching _Yard wastes can be used for weed control and water retention, _- WHICH WASTES? Woody yard wastes, leaves, and grass clippings. + HOW? Simply spread leaves and grass clippings around plants, starting a few inches way from the stem. Chipped woody wastes may be used to mulch around trees and shrubs. (Do not use woody wastes in vegetable gardens.) Tree services will often deliver free wood chips if they are in your neighborhood. Chipper/shredder units can be rented or purchased for home use. (ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: All yard wastes will work first as mulch and then, as decomposition proceeds, as soil enrichment. A disadvantage of mulching with woody yard wastes is that you may have to buy or rent power equipment or make arrangements with a tree service. VARIATIONS: Use chipped materials for informal garden paths. PULLOUT 1+ Community Greening Ree «1991 Pobished yh Amercan Common GardenigAsoitonALLOUT& SAE COMPOSTING FOOD WASTES L. Soil Incorporation Burying your organic wastes is the simplest method of composting. WHICH WASTES? Kitchen scraps without meat, bones, or fatty foods. HOW? Everything should be buried as least 8 inches below the surface. Holes can be filled and covered, becoming usable garden space the following season. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES: This is a simple method, but because of the absence of air some nutrients will be lost. Rodents and dogs can become a problem with wastes buried less than 8 inches deep. VARIATIONS: Using a posthole digger, wastes can be incorporated into the soil near the drip line of trees or shrubs and in small garden spaces. Il. Earthworm Composting Feeding worms is a good way to make high-quality compost from food scraps. WHICH WASTES? Kitchen scraps without meat, bones, or fatty foods. HOW? Use a bin with solid sides, drainage holes, and a tight fitting lid. Fill the bin with moist leaves, shredded newspaper or cardboard “bedding.” Add a pound or more of red worms (from a compost pile, or local worm supplier). Rotate the burial of food wastes throughout the bin. Every 3-6 months push the old bedding to one side of the bin, re-bed the empty side, and start burying food wastes in the fresh bedding. Allow composted wastes to cure for a month before harvesting. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES: This is an efficient way to convert food wastes into high quality soil for house-plants, seedling transplants, or general garden use. The worms: themselves can be used for fishing bait. However, worm composting is more expensive and complicated than soil incorporation for dealing with food wastes. VARIATIONS: A stationary outdoor bin can be used in all but the coldest months, or a portable indoor/outdoor bin can be used year-round, TROUBLE SHOOTING GUIDE ‘The following troubleshooting chart is a guide to more efficient composting using a turning unit, ‘SYMPTOMS CAUSE ‘SOLUTION ‘The compost has «bad odor. ot enough oir; ple too wet. ‘Turity add coors, dry materials suchas straw, com stalks. The contr ofthe piles dry. Not enough water Turn and moisten materials; afresh too much woody, coarse material, _—_green wastes, chop or shred coarse wastes. The compost is damp & warm Pile is Collect more material & mix in the middle, but nowhere else, {oo small. ‘the old ingredients into a new pile. Tho hogp is damp and sweet-smelling [Mix ino nitrogen source suchas fresh grass but sil wil not heat up. dipping, fresh manure, blooded. Published by the American Community Gardening Assoration 1991 © Community Greening Resiew « PULLOUT 15PULLOUT sae THE ESSENTIALS OF COMPOSTING With these principles in mind, ev- eryone can make excellent use of their organic wastes. Biology The compost pile is re- ally a teeming microbial farm. Bacteria start the process of decaying organic mat- ter, They are the first to break down plant tissue and also the ‘most numerous and effective com- posters. Fungi and protozoan soon join the bacteria and, some- ‘what later in the eycle, centipedes, beetles, and earthworms do their GF B \F | your yard is potential food for these tiny de- composers. Carbon and nitrogen, from the cells of dead plants and microbes, fuel their activity. The micro-organisms use the carbon in. leaves or woodier wastes as an en- ernie me microbes with the raw element of proteins to build their bodies. Everything organic has a ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N) in its tissues, ranging from 50:1 for sawdust, to 15:1 for table scraps. A C:N ratio of 30:1 is ideal for the activity of compost microbes. This balance can be achieved by mixing Materials Anything growing in two parts grass clippings (which have a C:N ratio of 20:1) with one part fallen leaves (60:1) in your compost, Layering can be useful in arriving at these proportions, but a complete mixing is preferable. ther materials ean also be used, such as weeds and garden wastes. "Though the C:N ratio of 30:1 is {deal fora fast, hot compost, a higher ratio (.e., 50:1) will be adequate for a slower compost. oe have to work on, the faster the materials are decom- posed. It's like a block of ice in the sun —slow to melt when its large, but fast to melt when broken into small pieces. Chopping your gar- den wastes with a shovel or machete, or running them through a shredding machine or lawnmower, will speed composting. KR will insulate itself and ZEN) ota the heat of micro- bial activity. Its center will be warmer that its edges. Piles smaller than 3-feet cubed (27 eubie foot) will have trouble holding this heat, while piles larger than 5 feet cubed (125 cubic feet) don't allow Surface Area The more surface area Volume A large compost pile enough air to reach the microbes at the center. These proportions are of importance only if your goal is a fast, hot compost. Moisture & Aeration Allllife on Barth needs a certain amount of water and air to sustain itself. The microbes in the compost pile are no different. They function best when the compost materials are about as moist as a wrung-out, sponge, and are provided with many air passages. Extremes of sun and rain can adversely affect this moisture balance in your pile. © ‘The faster the compost- ing, the hotter the pile. If you use materials with a proper CN ratio, provide a large amount of surface area and a big enough volume, and see that moisture and aeration are adequate, you will have a hot, fast: compost (hot ‘enough to burn your hand!) and will probably want to use the turn- ing unit.If you just want to deal with your yard waste in an inex- pensive, easy, non-polluting way, the holding unit will serve you well. Time & Temperature Seattle Tilth’s Innovative Composting Program Helps Spread the Word This special insert is adapted and reprinted with permission from a home composting brochure developed by the Seattle Tilth Association and the Seattle Engineering Department's Solid Waste Utility You can order a cameracready mechanical of the brochure from Seattle Tilth for $125 (prepaid). Simply change the addresses and phone numbers, add acredit line, and you are ready to take itt the printer! Seattle Tilth ean also provide a Composting Manual (835 prepaid) and two slide shows ($125 each, prepaid). Ifyou livein Seattle, some of the group's materials are free. Soaitle ‘Tiith has established itself as an innovative national information resource on home composting. Since 1985, the group has produced educational materials and trained volunteer Master Composters for the city of Seattle. ‘The program was prompted by the city’s ban on dumping yard wastes in landfills, Over the last six years, the group has trained over 125 Master Composters, who receive basie training in composting techniques. After training and an internship, the Master Composters spend atleast 40 hours doing public education, spreading the word about composting. ‘Studies indicate the program has diverted at least 5,300 tons of yard waste annually from the city’s waste stream — saving taxpayers over $350,000. Master Composter Education Program, Seattle Tilth Association, 4649 Sunnyside Avenue North, Seattle WA ‘98103; (206)633-0451 TOUT 16 + Community Gein ew +191 Published bythe American Community Gardening Association