MAKING COMPOST IS A GOOD PLAN

Food waste should go into metal containers with lids first and moved to the big pile later to avoid attracting wild animals.

Since the commonly available commercial composts are subject to being contaminated with long-lasting herbicides these days, it might be a good idea to start your own compost making operation. It’s actually pretty easy.

A compost pile can be started at any time of the year, so now’s as good a time as any. Location should be whatever is convenient. Some books and instructors say it must be in the sun the covered with a tarp in the winter to hold in the heat. Both are silly recommendations. The biological activity that is the actual composting process goes on down inside the pile in the dark. It’s OK to have the pile in the sun, but it is equally OK to have it in the shade of trees or even in the garage.

Some of my various metal containers for the fresh food waste.

What can go in the pile? Anything once alive can and should be composted. Good ingredients include leaves,
grass clippings, tree trimmings, weeds, food scraps, dead animals, bark, sawdust, rice hulls, weeds, spoiled food, nut hulls, pet manure and anything else that was once alive. Avoid hay and the possible contamination the commercial operations are struggling with. The ideal mixture is 80% carbon (the dry brown stuff) and 20% nitrogen (manures, green plants, food products and organic fertilizers), although any ratio will compost. There should be a mix of coarse and fine-textured material. Avoid having it all the same. Large particles help aerate the pile and smaller pieces are needed to help hold moister and protect microbes.

Finished compost looks and smells good.

Mix the ingredients together in a freestanding pile, as I do often, or use containers -hay bales, hog wire, concrete blocks, etc. Unless space is limited, freestanding piles are preferred. If containers are desired, the best for the money is the Sheppard Composter. It is made of steel mesh, is easy to use and folds for storage.

Try to turn the pile at least once a month; oxygen speeds up the process. Keep the pile moist, roughly the moisture of a squeezed-out sponge, to help the living microorganisms thrive and work their magic. If you never turn the pile, it will still compost – it will just be slower. To encourage a higher percentage of fungal activity (a good thing) compared with bacterial activity, add rock phosphate and keep the pile drier.

Freestanding piles using large amounts of shredded tree trimmings are my favorites.

Compost is ready to use when the ingredients are no longer identifiable. The color will be dark brown, the texture soft and crumbly and the aroma that of a forest floor. Use compost in all bed preparation and as high-quality mulch around annuals, perennials and other small plants.