Compost

It’s early July and the garden has entered the mid-summer doldrums. Not too
much is going on, and for now most plants are in survival mode. Some of us have
begun to think of our fall garden and some have even begun to make preparations
for it. For those of us who are organic gardeners, it is time to make compost! At
least it is for me. I guess there are as many ways to make compost as there are
gardeners. The trick is to find a way that suits your gardening style, physical
ability, and produces enough compost to supply your garden needs. For me that
is between a cubic yard, and one and a half cubic yards. A cubic yard is 27 cubic
feet. To put that into perspective that is the equivalent of 27 bags of manure! I
need to make the equivalent of between 30 and 40 bags of compost for my
garden. This provides the fertility required to maintain my garden in good health.

Before I go any farther, I want to tell you about my first adventure in composting
and why it just didn’t work out. I built this nice, conventional compost bin. The idea
was to put the compost in one side and then
turn it into the other. I think this is the way
most people envision making compost. You
toss your yard and kitchen waste in and
before you know it you have a lifetime
supply of wonderful compost. Things don’t
quite happen that way though. The part
that I completely misjudged was how much
work that would be, and how long it would
take.

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Speed turned out to be an important factor for me. I needed to make a little over
a yard of compost to supply my garden for a year. I wanted to use about half a
yard at a time to spread over my beds two times a year. I wanted to use one
application in the late summer for my fall garden and another in the late winter
for my spring garden. I was just not physically able to turn the compost often
enough to produce finished compost in the time I had allotted.

It helps to understand what composting is, and how it works, so get prepared for
a little science lesson. Go to the bathroom, get yourself a drink and maybe a
snack! Composting is a natural process that breaks down organic matter and
turns it into a blend of nutrients we call humus. In nature that is what provides
fertility for the soil. This occurs over long periods of time as leaves, animal waste,
and other organic materials make their way into the soil. What drives this process
of decomposition are the organisms in the soil. Fertile soil is a living microscopic
ecosystem that processes organic matter into food that plants can use. The
plants grow, die and return their nutrients to the soil thus perpetuating the cycle.
That is the basic process in simplified terms. To delve a little deeper in the process
not all the organisms responsible for composting are microscopic. Some are large
herbivores like cattle, sheep, deer, or rabbits that eat plants and deposit their
manure on the ground where it is spread out and dispersed by insects like dung
beetles. Other small animals like earthworms, and pill bugs also contribute to
breaking the organic material down into smaller and smaller particles. Then the
microscopic organisms take over. Fungi, protozoa, and bacteria complete the
chemical process by digesting the remains of the organic material that fall to the
ground. It might surprise you to learn that bacteria are responsible for the
majority of this work. Bacteria exist in fertile soil by the billions! There are two
groups of bacteria that do most of the work. Mesophilic bacteria which are most
active at temperatures between 50˚F and 113˚F and thermophilic bacteria which

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are most active at temperatures between 113˚F and 158˚F. These are the two
groups of organisms we will be concerned with in composting. If we provide the
conditions that are right for them the rest will fall into place. Now that we know
what does the work let’s see what conditions we need to provide to make the
process work to our advantage.

In composting we are giving the organic material a head start on the

decomposition process. It is partially decomposed when it goes in the garden soil
and is finally broken down by the organisms in the soil. It is important to remember
that soil is a colony of living organisms. We feed the soil with compost and the
living organisms in the soil break it down further and their waste in the form of
nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium compounds in turn feed the plants. By
adding compost each season the soil fertility is maintained and the soil is not
depleted of nutrients. In addition, compost builds soil structure. The organic
material decomposes into smaller and smaller particles and mixes with the soil.
The great thing about compost is that it improves the soil no matter what kind of
soil you have. There is not much clay soil in West Texas, but it improves the
drainage of clay soil. In sandy soil it holds the moisture and so it does not dry out
as quickly. The best soil has the unique capability of holding moisture in it’s
structure, but it also has air spaces which allow excess water to drain away
quickly. Compost contributes to that goal regardless of the type of soil you have
so it is hard to go wrong adding compost. The air space is important as well
because in addition to any gas exchange that may occur in the plants roots the
organisms that live in soil are aerobic, that is they live in the presence of oxygen.
If oxygen is cut off, they will die, and anaerobic organisms will take their place. It
is what happens in a bog, or swamp. It is not what you want for your garden. Now
that we know what does the work of composting let’s get back to the nuts and
bolts of making compost for our garden.

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In order to make compost we have to have the right materials. We need a dry
brown or carbon component, and we need a green or nitrogen component, we
need moisture or water, and lastly, we need air. These are the things the bacteria
need to complete the decomposition process, which is a bio-chemical process of
oxidation. The speed that this reaction takes place is dependent on the ratio of
each of these materials. In nature this process is more or less random and
happens slowly. It may take a few years for the fallen leaves from the trees to
decompose, and it may take decades for a fallen tree to finally decompose! From
a practical standpoint I can’t wait that long. I need to add compost twice a year!
To speed the process up we must provide the components in the ideal ratios. The
right ratio is 25 to 30 parts of the carbon component to 1 part of the nitrogen
component. Let’s just call it 25 to 1 or 25/1. The next component is water, and
it should be about 50% to 60% by weight. Who can tell what that is? Without a
lot of trouble and large scales it would be impossible to measure. Fortunately,
there is a simple way to tell what the right amount of water is. As I add the
materials in layers, I wet the material using a garden hose with a shower head.
When I am done, I mix the compost well and take a handful and give it a good
squeeze. No water should drip out, but the compost should stay together when you
open your hand. It will crumble easily but it will hold together when you give it a
good squeeze. Air requires no measuring, but it is vitally important that it be
present in adequate quantities, or the reaction will come to a grinding halt! While
it requires no measuring, it may be the most physically difficult to provide because
it requires turning the compost often. We don’t have to look far to find water and
air, but the carbon and nitrogen materials may be harder to come by than you
think. I am an urban gardener, and my home is surrounded by very large trees, and
so I always have an adequate supply of dry leaves for the carbon component, but
the green nitrogen material is a different story altogether. I have no cattle or
chickens to provide manure, my grass clippings stay on my yard, so the nitrogen

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component was problematic for me. Finally, after much searching, I discovered
alfalfa pellets to be the perfect solution to my problem. Alfalfa is a legume and is
high in nitrogen and the pelleting process preserves it so that a bag of alfalfa
pellets is a very convenient and stable source of nitrogen that I can keep on hand.
The pellets are already small and when they get wet, they fall apart even more.
You will have to find sources of materials that you have easy access to and work
for you.

Way back on page 1 I told you that I built that lovely compost bin, but I quickly gave
it up because it was much too hard to turn it every few days. I never told you what
the solution was! For me it was a very large tumbler type composter. This enables
me to turn the compost every morning providing air to all the compost. This is vital
for speed. Now it is a matter of mixing the components, adding the right amount
of water and turning the tumbler about three revolutions each morning. To speed
things up even more I break down the materials into small particles. Leaves are
somewhat slow to decompose so the smaller they are broken down the faster they
compost. As I mentioned before the alfalfa pellets are small to begin with and they
break into smaller pieces when they get wet. I use various tools to break up the
leaves. A leaf vacuum works well to
pulverize the leaves or a garden leaf
shredder work well too. Even a lawnmower
will do the job. By breaking the materials
down and mixing them to the proper ratio I
can make compost in as little as two weeks.
I make compost in the middle of the summer
when it is warm. Remember that the
bacteria is most active at warm
temperatures.

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I make it a routine to go out first thing in the morning and take the temperature of
the compost before I turn it. By doing this I can track the progress and ensure
that it is working properly. If you get the ratios and water content right the
temperature should rise 50˚F or 60˚F above the ambient temperature in the first
24 hours. If I mix the compost first thing in the morning as I usually do the next
morning the compost should be 130˚F to 140˚F perhaps just a little hotter. The
next morning the temperature should be around 150˚F, and on the third or fourth
morning it should reach 160˚F. After that it should begin to slowly cool. The
cooling process will be slower than
the initial heating. At the end of two
weeks the compost should be close
to ambient temperature and the
composting process is complete. I
usually leave the compost in the
tumbler and allow it to dry. Now is a
good time to add things like Texas
Greensand, or soft rock phosphate.
You can add any supplemental soil
amendments you like to provide
trace minerals. You can also mix
bagged composted cattle manure and or composted cotton burr to stretch your
compost and give your mix some added diversity. There are a couple of other
things I add to the initial mix. I add crushed eggshells, and a few pounds of wood
ashes. The oak leaves that I use are pretty acid, so I add wood ashes which are
alkaline to counter act some of the acidity. The ashes also contain potassium, so
it provides the third component of the NPK ratio. The eggshells will eventually
break down in the soil to provide calcium.

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I consider the heat an important part of my composting process because it kills
any weed seeds that may have found their way in the mix, and it kills any harmful
pathogens that may have been present. 160˚F for several hours will effectively
pasteurize the compost. The last thing I want to do is introduce weeds to my
raised beds through my compost!

Once the compost is dry, I grind it one final time, and bag it for future use, then I
begin another batch. Two batches is enough to keep my garden fertile for the
entire year. I apply it once in late summer as I
prepare my garden for fall planting and again
in late winter when I am preparing the garden
for spring planting.

Because of the texture of the compost, I

often use it on top as mulch and then work it
into the top layer of soil at the end of the
season. By doing so I eliminate the need for
additional mulch. If I do feel that additional
mulch
is in
order,
then I usually use composted cotton burr
as mulch. It does a great job, and I can
work it into the soil at the end of the
season and it just adds to the diversity of
the compost in my raised beds. If you are
an organic gardener your mantra should
be compost, compost, compost!

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I recommend that you get a good book on
Composting. The Rodale Book of
Composting is a classic and is the one I
use. It was written in 70s at the beginning
of the organic gardening movement, but it
has been revised and is up to date. It is a
great source of information. It must
describe 50 ways to make compost.

Most importantly I want you to

understand that the way I make compost
is what works for me. What works for you
may be entirely different. You may prefer
to just throw scraps and yard waste in a
pile and let nature take care of the rest. If you can produce enough compost for
your needs by doing it that way, then that is perfect. The way I make compost
works well for my garden and my style of gardening, perhaps it will work for you
too, if not there are at least 49 other ways to try!