COMPOSTING is
almost as old as home gardening. Roman farms had their compost pits, where human
and animal excrement were piled up along with weeds, leaves, and whatever
household wastes had accumulated. From time to time, water was added to assist
in the process of decay. A thousand years later, in Moorish Spain, an
agricultural treatise described three methods for making heaps of “artificial
dung,” as the compost was called—pigeon dung being added to hasten decay.
With the
advent of community landfills for waste disposal and no-fuss-no-muss chemical
fertilizers for easy use on lawns and gardens, home composting in general became
almost a rarity. But composting has recently made a comeback. Landfills were
beginning to overflow, states were putting restrictions on what and how much
could be dumped, and dumping fees might range from $30 to $100 a ton. Moreover,
environmental concerns have increased, and this also has made composting
fashionable once more.
Not only
is composting back, it is back bigger than ever. Its eye is on landfills as the
next target. “Composting is a promising technology that may end up helping to
solve the ever-growing waste-disposal problem,” said an article in The
New York
Times Magazine. “Its
proponents believe it is capable of making use of up to half the
garbage—kitchen waste, yard trimmings, even some waste paper—that most
Americans now throw out. They believe composting can create farms that build the
soil instead of destroying it, that compost can replace eroded or damaged soils,
protect young plants from disease and reduce dependence on pesticides and
synthetic fertilizers.”—September 8, 1991.
“The
new composters are seeking to understand and direct an already existing process:
microbial digestion. Essentially, they are making meals for bugs,” the Times
article explains and gives details:
"Composting is simple in
essence, but complex in detail. Basically, it is the means by which the earth
turns raw organic leavings into material that is useful to plants. The
microbes that live in the land—a billion of them in a gram of good
soil—have a tremendous appetite for organic compounds, which are themselves
made largely out of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms. The bacteria and
fungi burn the carbon for energy and use the nitrogen and some of the carbon
to build their cellular bodies. Most work in the presence of oxygen, but some
do better without. When they run low on raw compounds, they begin to eat each
other. Out of all this mutual gobbling and engulfing comes heat, water, carbon
dioxide and the substance called humus, a complex of organic molecules that
attracts and holds the nutrients, water and air that plants need for
growth.”
With the
right mixture in the compost, the microbes can even devour diesel oil, TNT
hydrocarbons, and uranium. Certainly, they are potent little microorganisms, but
in your backyard composting, they will not face such challenges.
A bin is preferable for composting, since it holds the material together
and allows for better ventilation, which increases the efficiency of the
decomposition process. Gaps or holes should be made in the sides of the bin to
allow entry of the oxygen needed for the bacteria. Also, the dampness should be
controlled. The bin should be elevated from the ground, and the right location
chosen. The composting process does not work well if exposed all day to the full
force of the sun, yet neither does it thrive in total shade.
The composting mixture itself may be thought of as a
many-tiered sandwich: one layer of garden debris, one layer of soil, one layer
of household waste, with this composition repeated until you have a pile some
four or five feet (1.2 to 1.5 m) high. Finally, the completed stack might be
covered with sod or similar material.
After
two years you will have very good humus and the gardener’s best
friends—lots of earthworms. They will work tirelessly to break up and
oxygenate the topsoil of your garden. The composting process can be accelerated
by turning the pile over every once in a while or by adding products to hasten
decay, such as small quantities of manure. With a properly constructed bin
and the right mixture of materials, the decomposition process can be speeded up
until the compost is ready for use after only three or four months
instead of two years.
And remember, the compost needs to breathe, so adequate
ventilation, with the right humidity, will reduce the mixture to the mulch so
delectable to your plants. When you spread it on the topsoil, the table is set,
and the feast for your flowers and vegetables can begin. Give your garden such a
treat, and it will reward you with a bountiful harvest of beauty for your eyes
and taste delights for your palate.
First of
all, forget about those untidy heaps of garden refuse, where you used to dump,
year after year, all the leaves, grass clippings, straw, old hay, and weeds and
which were likely to sprawl out of control. When kitchen debris was added to
such a heap, an obnoxious odor used to be unavoidable, as any gardening sage
well knows. To address this issue, PlantChow Organic
Plant Food is almost order free, replenishes worn out soil (by supplying the
removed and necessary nutrients back to the soil organically), can be
applied and ready to grow plants INSTANTLY!
No waiting for composts to break down mixtures to create mulch.
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