Joe Mosby: Composting easy for everyone
A good many people in our community have green thumbs. They can grow flowers and vegetables when others can't. So, what makes a green thumb? Compost.
Oh, that is not to claim that compost is the elixir, the magic potion of gardening, but it is a major asset. Ask an experienced gardener or peek into that person's yard, and you are apt to find a compost pile or bin.
Anyone can compost. There is no cost involved, it will get rid of stuff otherwise headed to a landfill, and it will improve your garden and landscape. Composting can be as simple or as complex as you make it. Let's focus on the simple here; it will appeal to more people.
First, decide where you want the compost pile. Most of us will choose an out of the way, unobtrusive location, a back corner, perhaps screened by shrubs or flowers. You can just pile the stuff on the ground, simplest method of all, or you can use a container like a circle of leftover wire fencing. Fasten the ends of the fencing loosely so you can open it and turn over the pile from time to time with a spading fork or a shovel.
Four wooden pallets make a good-sized and functioning compost container. Stand them on edge in a square and fasten the corners with wire or heavy cord. Leave the front section loosely fastened so it can be opened for working the pile.
OK, what goes into the compost pile?
Anything organic will do with the exception of meat scraps. These invite unwanted visitors. Put a grass catcher on your lawnmower, and you've got a major ingredient. Rake leaves into a pile and use the mower to chop them - another major component. But unshredded leaves don't compost well; they clump up and may remain virtually intact for several years.
Keep a covered container in the kitchen for food discards, including coffee grounds. Potato peels, onion peelings, broccoli stems, strawberry caps, scrapings off plates, except meat, all can go to the compost pile. You may shell a mess of purple hull peas or butter beans, and the hulls are good compost material.
Shredded newspaper is good material but not office paper or the coated, slick inserts that come with your Log Cabin Democrat. These don't break down readily.
Just throw these assorted items on to the pile and mix it a little with a fork, rake or shovel. Sprinkle a little water on the pile from time to time when rain is absent for a while. You don't want a wet compost pile, but slightly damp is the idea.
With the added ingredients, scatter a little dirt on the pile. A handful of general garden fertilizer will speed up the action also.
After your compost pile has been in place a week or two, poke a hand in the middle of it. The heat may surprise you. That's a sure indicator that the composting is underway.
But don't get in a hurry. You may read of some gadget you can buy that will "produce compost day after tomorrow" or in four weeks or some such. Forget it. Make compost this season for use in 2010. Let nature do the work, and you don't need to buy composting chemicals either.
When compost is finished, when it is ready to use, it's dark in color and crumbly. Compost is not fertilizer. It is a soil amender than can also be used as flower, vegetable and shrub mulch.
Since our area tends to have soil heavy in clay, mixing compost into this soil is a definite benefit toward better drainage and more productive growth.
Contact Mosby by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback.com.