Build It Up, Compost It Down

I’m sure most people have heard of or have taken part in some sort of recycling; it’s not a new idea by any means. People don’t seem to have too much of a problem recycling a pop can or glass bottle, but what about recycling a banana peel or coffee grounds? Composting is just that, its recycling for our food. Composting seems to be somewhat over looked because it isn’t talked about as much as other forms of recycling, but it is a great way to reduce landfill waste and increase soil quality of your yard. It is basically the process of controlling the decomposition on organic materials. We’re going to cover a few of the following points today that will help you get started and elevate any concerns that you have with composting:

 Ø  Why Composting Is Easy

 Ø  How to fix any smells

 Ø  Preventing Pests

Do it-To it

Some people may have this impression that composting is a lot of work and that they don’t have time; in reality, Mother Nature does all the work. As composters, we really only have two jobs: 

1) Add material to the pile periodically.

2) Stir the pile periodically.

The secret to a good compost pile is what you put into it (kind of like life in general). Adding the proper mix will give you a more balanced composition and will keep any problems at bay. We can kind of relate the diet of our C.P. (compost pile) to our own diet. Most people like pizza, I know I do, but could you imagine eating pizza every day? Not only would we get sick of eating the same thing, but our bodies wouldn’t appreciate it either. We eat a variety of things in order to have a happy and healthy body; we even have created a “food pyramid” to help remind us. A C.P. is no different, it is just a compost pile only needs two types of things: brown (carbon) material and green (nitrogen) material.

If you ask most composting pros, they will recommend that you have 2 parts “brown” material to 1 part “green”.  Examples of Brown material: grass clippings, weeds, leaves, wood chips, tree bark, sawdust, hay or straw, pine needles, napkins and paper towels, wool, wood ashes, shredded newspapers, alfalfa, nut shells, houseplant trimmings or potted garden soil. These materials are usually on the “drier” and will add the carbon to your pile. Examples of Green material: leftover vegetables, fruit, and peels, leftover bread and pasta, coffee grounds, leftover molasses & honey, citrus wastes, rotted squash & pumpkins, unused herbs, tea bags and grounds, egg shells and cow/chicken/rabbit manure. These materials have higher water content and add nitrogen into the mix. Adding the materials is step one, so now we stir.

The Composting Equation.

I recommend stirring the compost pile about once a week, a good time to do it would be when you’re adding new materials (your already going be out there, might as will bring a shovel and save yourself an extra trip). The main reasons why we stir our compost piles is to provide aeration and moisture control. Those little microbes that are working day and night for us need to breathe just as much as we do. Mixing will help deliver the needed oxygen that is required for ideal composting conditions.  Moisture is important in decomposition, but we want to avoid it being too wet in the middle; giving it a good stir will help release any unwanted water buildup. On an end note, stirring is also good because it rotates the materials to the middle (making sure everything gets decomposed).

Why So Smelly?

If a compost pile smells like anything other than dirt, you are doing something wrong. There are two major offenders for a smelly pile: improper material balance or too much water. Fixing a somewhat stinky pile is easy, so don’t give up so soon on our dreams to a healthier yard.

The first thing you should check if the smell isn’t so pleasant is the amount of nitrogen (green material) you are adding to our decomposition equation. If you add to much green material to your pile, there will be an imbalance of ingredients. I’m sure our compost doesn’t really want to be gassy; he is just trying to tell us to change up his diet a bit. A simple fix to this is just mixing in more carbon/brown materials. The other reason is the pile might be on the wet side.

Our pile can get a little on the “fragrant” side, whenever the middle of the pile gets a bit soggy. Two easy fixes for a wet pile is to stir more and add more carbon/brown. By mixing the pile more often, we will release some of that built up moisture, with an end result of drying it up some. The other fix would be to add more carbon to the mix. Brown/carbon material has a tendency to be more on the drier side, adding more carbon to the pile will help soak up some of the moisture.

Pesky Pests

A compost piles should not attract animals to it. If you are adding the wrong stuff to your pile, then you might have unwanted visitors. You should NEVER add any meat or dairy products to your pile. Not only will you have problems with them decomposing, but it will attract pests. Do yourself a favor and just stick with adding only green and brown to your pile, anything other than those might cause problems.

I think we covered plenty today, so I will leave other composting topics for another occasion. We will be discussing other composting ideas and links on our Facebook page, checking out our other platforms would be a great way to stay more updated and involved. I hope today’s post was fun and informative. Just remember: The only person that should be responsible for our future is our self. Problems do not fix themselves; it is up to us to fix them.   

Happy composting,

-Daniel