Composting: The graduate-level course

Jill Severn

Photo by Anna Schlecht

JILL SEVERN'S GARDENING COLUMN

Making your own compost pile

Last week I wrote about composting, which I thought was a pretty simple project: make a pile of garden waste, chicken, rabbit, horse or cow manure and food scraps, mix things up, keep it moist, cover it up, turn the pile over now and then, and voila! Compost happens.

But the boss here at The JOLT wanted to know more:

“There's a lot more to know about composting,” he wrote.  “Whole books.  Courses.”  

Then he fired off a series of questions:

1. What's really good to try to compost yourself: grass clippings, salad waste, leaves, etc.?  And why?
2. What's really bad to try to compost at home: citrus peels, meat trimmings, raw or cooked? Pet waste -- dog and cat?  (What about rabbit and chicken?) Plastic utensils marked biodegradable?  And why?
3. What makes chicken shit "hot"?  What should you do about it?
4. Does it make sense to separate your home compost into fast piles and slow piles?
5. What's the magic ratio of green stuff to brown stuff?  
6. What about supplementing compost with ... supplements. 
7. How do worms help or not? What's a worm composter?  Is it worth the money?

At first I sighed. Then I reflected. It’s true I have a rather laissez-faire attitude on this subject. I’m not in any hurry for things to rot, and have faith that they will. Others, however, like to be more precise.

Plus, he’s the boss. So here’s the scoop:

1. Yes, you should compost grass clippings (high in nitrogen), salad and other fruit and vegetable trimmings, leaves, coffee grounds and spent tea bags. Citrus peels are fine too if you chop them up. (If you are in a hurry you could put cut up citrus peels and anything else chunky in your blender with a little water and give ‘em a whiz.)
2. Grease, meat and bones are likely to attract rats and possibly other critters too. Compostable plastic cutlery may take a year to decompose. (And speaking of critters: A friend keeps her kitchen compost bin in her freezer to foil ants.)
3. No to dog and cat poop. No to human waste too, although some cultures do compost it and call it “night soil.” The size of their pile is regarded as a measure of their wealth.

If you have rabbit or chicken poop, count yourself compost wealthy; they add a ton of nitrogen and other nutrients. Yes they are “hot,” which means that, when fresh, they will chemically burn plants’ roots. But mixed in a compost pile, their heat will help rot the pile faster. And they will make your compost richer with usable nutrients when the compost is ready.

4. Fast and slow piles might be a good idea, though I’ve never tried it and can’t find any reference that specifically recommends it. Maybe the boss has a good idea there.

Editor’s Note: Matter of fact, I do! It’s from the Empress of Dirt.

5. And what about the right mix of brown and green? Here’s a handy guide that explains why this matters. Browns include dead leaves, branches, twigs, and paper – carbon rich, as opposed to wilted lettuce and grass clippings, which are nitrogen rich.

Twigs might be ok in your compost, but don’t try to compost woody branches unless you chop, cut, or grind them up first. And if you’re going grind them up, you might as well use them as mulch instead of putting them in your compost pile.

6. If you’re in a hurry, you can buy compost accelerators at the garden store that speed up the process.

7.  Worms are little digesters; they eat your food scraps and poop out lovely compost. Worm bins are a good idea, and YouTube has lots of videos about how to make one. You can order red wiggler worms online and give your delivery driver a thrill. You can also buy a zillion kinds of worm bins, even some for use indoors.

In fact, you can spend a fortune on gear for composting and worm bins, but why do that? The point of gardening is to be a producer, not a consumer. And nearly all the purchased compost and worm bin options are plastic, and the world needs less of that. But please don’t tell the boss I said so; he likes his plastic compost bin.

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com