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 Ever hear of "Brown
Gold"? Well, that is what gardeners call the end product
of composting. Ideally, not a single ounce of tree
trimmings,
deadheaded flowers, leaves, apple peels,
over-ripe vegetables or any other plant generated
material should leave your property. It should all be
composted into Brown Gold and used to enrich your soil
in your beds, borders and vegetable gardens!
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Why Have a Backyard Compost Pile?
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There are many benefits to maintaining a compost pile
in your backyard. The key reasons for composting
include:
- Creating Compost for Your Garden
- Reducing the Waste Stream
- Reusing Resources
- Recycling Resources
For more on these
topics...
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What is Composting?
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Composting is a
completely natural process. Organisms like bacteria
and fungi and larger critters such as earth worms and sowbugs eat the dead tissue,
digest it and turn it back into its
original component parts -
nitrogen,
phosphorus,
potassium, etc. If you stack a pile of leaves
in the corner of the yard, it would eventually turn into
compost. This is called "passive
composting" and might take several years to decay
thoroughly
but it would do so on its own. Most of us don't want to
wait that long.
 So, when most people talk
of composting, they are usually referring to a
series of
steps called "active composting" that makes the process go faster. This is
important for those of us on small lots since the option
to just pile things up and forget about them for a few
years just isn't practical. Before long, your entire
yard would be filled to the brim.
To turn your garden
wastes to compost in a limited space and in a quick
time, you need to do some work. You will probably need
some sort of bin or container
and, perhaps, a few pieces of
equipment to do the job. There are several steps
you can follow to achieve your goal. If you do all of
them, you will be a Super Composter and have
finished
compost before anyone else on the block. Following a few
of the steps will help to reduce the volume you handle
and the time it takes to compost.
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The Composting Process
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 Backyard composting is similar to farming. Instead of
growing a healthy crop of corn, you are growing a
healthy crop of micro and macro-organisms. The better you
do at encouraging these organisms the quicker and the
faster the compost will be completed. For organic matter
to decompose into what we call compost, you need the
following elements.
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Carbon - This element
is part of protein, carbohydrates and other organic
compounds necessary for life. In terms of yard
waste, this is represented by the "brown" material
of dead leaves and stems or sawdust.
More...
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Nitrogen - This is an
element that is part of many organic molecules found
in living (or dead) tissue. In yard waste, it is
represented by the "green" material such as freshly
cut grass clippings or green leaves. If the nitrogen
level gets too high, the pile will turn anaerobic
and smell bad.
More...
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Oxygen - "Good"
decomposing organisms require oxygen and are called
aerobic organisms. Anaerobic organisms live in the
absence of oxygen and cause the pile to have an
odor. So, it is important to keep a good supply of
oxygen in the compost pile.
More...
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Water - Decomposers
need water but not too much or too little. So, the
compost pile needs to be moist but not water logged.
More...
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Micro-organisms - These
are the extremely small, microscopic critters that
form the real basis of composting. These include
bacteria and fungi which do most of the work.
More...
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Macro-organisms -
Larger organisms such as earth worms, sowbugs and
millepedes also add to the composting process at
later stages. More...
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Topics on
Backyard Composting
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 How quickly and thoroughly your plant
byproducts turn
into compost depends on how much effort you put into the
process. The following topics will give you an idea
about how to get the most of your composting experience:
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Backyard
Composting Topics |
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Why Start a Backyard Compost Pile? |
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