By Sydney Cohen
Composting is the process of adding a balanced combination of biodegradable materials together. Compost is a rich, balanced, natural organic fertilizer, made from food and garden waste scraps. It can be applied to the soil surface as mulch or mixed into the soil.
It is often mixed into the soil and used by organic farmers and gardeners. The finished composts are a nutrient-rich, soil-like material, which is often said to be essential for organic farming.
Composting is a free way to turn your organic waste into something useful. The finished product comes after organic materials decompose with the help of water, oxygen, and organisms like worms and fungi. Piling up organic material will eventually make compost.
The Science of Composting
Microorganisms decompose carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), so plant life can further extract nutrients and grow to release oxygen (O2) back into the atmosphere. Experts say the composting process can take anywhere from months to three years.
Composting is a key component to living a sustainable lifestyle and can also help turbo-charge your garden.
There are three types of microbes that work to digest organic matter in composts. Psychrophiles, mesophilic bacteria, and thermophiles work best in specific temperature ranges. Thermophiles raise the temperature of the pile to 155 degrees F. Thermitilic bacteria kill weed seeds and pathogens that can cause disease.
A properly made and well-maintained compost pile creates the perfect environment for beneficial microbial activity. Microorganisms’ activity and the bulk of the pile increase the temperature of the compost material and rapidly accelerates decomposition.
Raw materials can break down into usable finished compost in just a matter of weeks (3 to 8 weeks, depending on conditions). The pile can be heated up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, with tangible heat and steam.
A bucket of compost can be easily used in your perennial gardens in spring, winter, or fall. Add compost into the top few inches of soil in vegetable gardens or mulch around individual plants. Nurture shrubs and trees with a 3″ to 4″ deep layer of compost in a band extending beyond the edge of their canopy. If soil is compacted, rent an aerator first to open up the soil so water will wash the compost down to the roots of the plants.
The Benefits of Home Composting
Building and maintaining a compost pile is the surest, easiest way to become a better gardener and steward of our Earth. Leaves, eggshells, orange rinds, and grass clippings should be turned into rich compost. The compost will be filled with various types of worms and other soil creatures.
When you compost, you’ll be learning what healthy soil is all about, and becoming a better human on our planet by repurposing your waste.
Composting as The Source of Plant Nutrients
The nutrients that you get from compost are available gradually to your plants. Microorganisms in the compost also help your plants absorb nutrients from fertilizers more efficiently. No commercial fertilizer, even one that is totally organic, provides the full spectrum of nutrients that composters get from their composting.
Compost contains enzymes, vitamins, and antibiotics that help prevent many soil pathogens. Earthworms, millipedes, and other macro-organisms tunnel through your soil, opening up passageways for air, water to reach your plants. Compost is teeming with microorganisms and soil fauna also containing natural antibiotics, enzymes, and vitamins that can prevent pathogens in your garden.
When compost is ready it improves soil texture and water-holding capacity. Your soil will gradually become fluffy and brown, the ideal home for healthy plants. Add compost to your soil to keep plants well-watered and nutrient-healthy.
Some methods are active and involved, while others are hands-off. Enclosed compost tumblers or worm bins are ideal for small gardens and urban conditions.
Despite popular belief, compost piles do not stink and do not attract pests! As long as the piles are properly maintained, they shouldn’t smell.
Composting for Beginners
Backyard composting can have a massive impact to aid gardening and lawn care. Food waste is estimated to be 40% at municipal landfills. We will help you understand what composting is with dos and don’ts and tips for each stage of the process.
Compost bins are of two types: a stationary or a rotating compost bin. A stationary compost bin can be as simple as a well-ventilated cage or wooden crates assembled from a kit. Alternatively, a compost tumbler is an easy-to-turn compost bin that speeds up the composting process by frequent oxygen infusions.
A low-maintenance pile has a combination of brown and green plant matter, plus some moisture to keep the good bacteria humming. Shredded newspaper, wood chips, and dry leaves are ideal for the brown elements; kitchen waste and grass clippings are perfect for the green add-ins.
What NOT To Use When Composting!
Anything organic can be composted, but there are many things that are not well-suited. Meat waste from carnivores and omnivores is not a good idea for a compost heap. Very thick and heavy waste matter is also not a good idea in a compost heap. The compost heap would require years for the decomposition process to take effect.
Compost Bins
To compost at home you need a compost bin! Tumbling compost bins come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. An enclosed compost tumbler is far less attractive and accessible to rodents. When it comes time to harvest finished compost, we simply stick a bucket and tub below it, turn it over it, slide open the door, and out it pours.
Composting Organic Materials
Coffee grounds, rotten fruit, dried leaves, and dried grass are all sources of nitrogen. Dry materials like straw and dried leaves are also nitrogen sources in composting. But dry material like paper, paper, and even coffee grounds can also be composted into the brown materials.
It can get a bit confusing, since not every nutrient source will actually be green materials. But in general, all compostable materials can be broken down into those two main categories of “green” or “brown”. The browns are all carbon sources of carbon in a pile – the “browns” are the nutrient-rich sources that have a high moisture content.
Compost Tea
Compost tea is an easy-to-make-at-home drink for plants, made of compost and molasses. It’s known to fight plant disease and serve as a useful liquid fertilizer. The tea is a mix of finished compost, molasses, and kelp, and fish fertilizers.
The Benefits of Composting
Rotting food waste pollutes water in landfills and creates methane. Methane gas is a potent greenhouse gas. It is 25 times more detrimental than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. “Globally, if food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the U.S.”, says CNN.
The act of composting diverts food waste from the landfill. Less food rotting in the landfill means less greenhouse gas emissions.
Composting Conserves Water
Farmers are using compost to foster healthy soil, and farmers can still have better fruit and vegetable yields than degraded soil. Research has shown the water-retaining capacities of soil increase with the addition of organic matter.
“A 1 percent increase in soil organic matter helps soil hold 20,000 gallons more water per acre”, says Dr. Robert Schurrini of Cornell University, professor of agriculture.
Composting Improves Soil Health
Compost contains three primary nutrients needed by garden crops: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and phosphorus. It also includes traces of other essential elements like calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
Research has shown the capability of compost to increase soil’s water retention capacity, productivity, and resiliency. Instead of relying on synthetic fertilizers that contain harmful chemicals, composting offers an organic alternative.
Composting 101
30 to 40% of the food supply in the U.S. goes to waste each year. Faith communities can mobilize to ensure this huge amount of food scraps, grass clippings and other organic materials end up in a compost pile, instead of in a landfill. By making composting part of our faith communities, we can serve our Creator through protecting the Creation.
Lets turn our waste into black gold, giving back to the earth all we have taken from it!
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