K.I.S.S. Your Compost (Keep it Scientifically Simple)

I imagine I first heard the word "compost" about 40 years ago. Around the same time, I first encountered the word "organic." Since then, the concepts represented by those words have become hopelessly complex and even ambiguous. As "organic" gardening steadily grew in popularity, the word inevitably was adopted by corporate advertisers, and it's meaning was diluted. Government regulation soon followed to complete the destruction of what once was a simple idea and a common, useful word.

"Compost" still has a definition on which most of us can agree, but it's anything but simple. Over the years, I've seen scores of articles providing basic instruction, personal experiences, abstract theories and advanced, scholarly, annotated tutorials on making organic compost. Apparently, people ponder and worry endlessly about the exact temperature, moisture content and chemical composition of their rotting piles. Just as with nutrition, the literature on the topic has accumulated until the indecisive are doomed to remain so. Every imaginable theory and formula, and an endless parade of dubious and even preposterous assertions about the decomposition of matter are available for the curious and the gullible to consider. Just to get on with the business of growing the garden and eating well, therefore, I've resolved to rely on instinct over scholarship, and my first instinct is to keep it simple.

What could be simpler than compost? I want it to turn my garden soil into a better growing medium by providing texture and nutrition. I cultivate a variety of plants for food and decoration, big and small, annual and perennial, deciduous and evergreen, cooked and raw, roots and fruits, leaves and stems, flowers and seeds. Perennials come and go occasionally, annuals more frequently. If I were obsessively scientific, I could custom make a little compost for the specific needs of each plant, but in my varied but simple garden, one size must fit all.

I keep livestock and chickens, so an ample supply of manure and used bedding is always available and forms the bulk of my compost. I eschew science in its application, although I'm vaguely aware of the nitrogen content in various types of manure. I apply fresh manure to the compost whenever the impulse strikes me and whenever I clean the chicken house. A compost pile is a lot like a stomach; whatever you put in at the top looks remarkably similar when it comes out at the bottom. You just can't go wrong with manure.

With the exception of a few things which have been conceived in laboratories, everything decomposes, but some things take a little longer. Metals and plastics, for example, are of no use because, unless they are ground as fine as flour, they provide neither texture nor nutrition, and they are unlikely to decompose in my lifetime. Of course, I studiously avoid anything I suspect is poisonous, and my domestic critters get first right of refusal on anything I suspect is nutritious. I can compost it after it passes through the animal. Beyond those simple rules, almost anything goes.

The advice against composting meat and dairy products is rampant to the point of religious fervor, especially among vegetarians. The only simple and reasonable explanation for this advice is that some unwelcome wild animals—black bears, coyotes, raccoons and rodents, for example—may be attracted. I'm not especially concerned because my pile is inside the fence and because I suspect these omnivores are just as likely to be curious about a vegetarian pile. I don't create concentrated masses of rotting meat, but I'm not concerned if some leftover flesh finds its way into the pile from time to time.

Paper products are virtually void of nutrition, but I don't take any particular care to separate them. At worst, they are neutral, they may provide desirable texture and most of them decompose quickly with even a small amount of moisture. Other fibrous material, such as stems and stalks, decompose slowly and are difficult to move with a shovel or a pitchfork unless they are chipped, so I keep a separate, long-term pile for things like pruned vines and fruit tree branches, large garden plants like corn and sunflowers, etc. I cut them down to lengths of about three feet, and whenever I sweep up the sawdust in my wood shop or empty the ashes from the wood stove, I dump them into that pile to hold moisture and, thus, speed up decomposition. Yes, I hear the advice against sawdust and ashes—something about acidity and pH balance—but after a couple of years, when the bottom layers of my long-term pile start looking like dirt ready to be added to the garden beds, it doesn't seem to matter.

On those rare occasions when I use a chipper, and I don't want to leave the product where it lays, I can use it to mulch walkways rather than put it directly in the compost or the garden beds.

Sure. Gotta have it, but you don't have to measure it. If your pile dries out sometimes or never gets enough water, the organisms which cause the pile to decompose won't thrive, and you'll have to wait longer for a pile of garbage and manure to become a pile of fertile dirt. If you are impatient and a bit compulsive, you'll want to carefully measure and control the moisture in your pile, but if you have better things to worry about, you still can have a fertile garden, sooner or later.

My compost piles are near my garden beds and adjacent to a small patch of lawn. They get moisture during the dry season whenever I put the sprinkler on the grass. When I'm watering potted plants, I turn the hose on the compost piles if they look dry.

I never do it, not because I don't believe in it; I'm just too lazy to remove a cover and put it back every time I feed the pile. If you're up to it, a dark plastic cover will hold the moisture and raise the temperature, resulting in faster decomposition. A cover also is essential if you're intent on controlling the moisture content and preventing the rain and snow from washing the nutrients into the soil beneath the pile. For me, the nutrients which leach off are just the cost of doing business. I still get high quality compost for my garden beds. If you have the space to rotate the location of your piles, you'll find a superior place for a new garden bed where your compost used to be. The same is true for your poultry run.

All the known literature about composting insists on the necessity of turning the pile. Disturbing the pile once in a while distributes the heat and moisture more evenly, and aerates the pile, generally mixing the various materials more thoroughly, resulting in a consistent blend. When you move a well-turned pile to the garden, every shovel full looks the same. Turning, like covering and other steps in controlling moisture content, also promotes faster decomposition. In fact, a more tedious, scientific approach to compost usually is at least as much about impatience as it is about nutrients.

Esthetic considerations also lead to the scientific compost pile. My uncovered, unturned pile of random ingredients isn't pretty, and around the edges, it doesn't decompose as quickly as the steamy core. When I move it to the garden beds, I still can identify some egg shells, citrus peels and avocado pits, but my garden doesn't mind. The corn grows just as tall, the tomatoes just as firm and sweet, and I cover it with mulch anyway.

Material that is not fully decomposed is likely to contain active, unwanted seeds leading to the dreaded task of weeding the garden. A properly moistened, well-heated, well-turned, evenly decomposed compost pile will sterilize all the seeds it contains, but no matter how pristine our compost and no matter how thoroughly we mulch, weeds still grow and we still pull them out. Or not. I've harvested a lot of food from plants that have volunteered, but whether I pull them out or let them grow, I just can't distinguish the volunteers out of the compost from the airborne and bird borne varieties.

Serious composters like to test their finished product to help them decide what goes into future piles. Some even use store-bought nutrients to achieve the desired balance. I might do the same if I were in the business of packaging and selling compost, but all I'm doing is growing vegetables. If any or all of the vegetables I plant fail to thrive, I will test my soil and, if necessary, add the store-bought stuff directly to the garden. I wouldn't think of testing the raw manure, so I don't test the compost either. If I'm going to worry about the precise balance of nutrients, the garden beds are where I'll focus my attention. As long as my garden is producing what I'm expecting for my table, I have no need to know what it will produce in a test tube.

Just an improvement on a plastic cover, a tumbler is appealing because it makes the turning so much easier, and it panders to our impatience by turning things like manure, grass, straw and well chopped table scraps into rich loam in as little as a couple of weeks. But it takes many tumblers to equal the quantity which can be produced in piles on the ground. You can buy or build larger containers with convenient doors and lids. Some even have bells and whistles like thermostats, automatic waterers and mechanical cultivators, but if your goal is just to grow some vegetables, the cost is out of proportion to the results. I make three-sided enclosures from salvaged pallets fastened together with zip ties. They last at least three years.

I've never been moved to put anything in my piles for odor control, but if the neighbors a quarter-mile away are offended, and the bears are converging from miles around, your pile must be fermenting without decomposing, and you need to be a little more scientific. On the other hand, it is garbage and manure. If your olfactory sensibilities can't tolerate a modest acquaintance with these fragrances, organic gardening may not be the hobby for you.

The simple, basic truth about composting is that the best fertilizer is free, and you don't need to be a scientist or a tireless laborer to get it. Without studying too often, worrying too much, or working too hard, I make fine compost, grow successful gardens, and I never send any organic material to the landfill. From the first time I stuck a shovel into the ground, those have been the simple goals.

Yes!

Going to read this later! I need guidance in composting! The maintenance guy at the courthouse in which I work saves the grass clipping for me! So far, I’ve gotten eight big bags of freshly cut grass to start a compost pile!

I’ve never heard of the book you mention, but I make a mighty good lasagna out of my garden and the only thing I have to buy is the cheese.

Lengthwise sliced zucchini, yellow squash or eggplant replace the noodles :)

I’ve been logging 60 hour weeks in the endless RAIN, fer Pete’s Sake.

I must have screwed up the HTML yesterday, but if you are sick of rain Diana, please send it to Texas.

Fresh squash sauted in olive oil? HEAVEN on a plate!!!!!!!

Yes, that they are. I told the wife those reminded me of growing up on the farm.

Actually, I have an old 85 gallon trrash bin that I use for compost. It was abandoned near our current home. I cut a hole in the very bottom, added some strips to keep it in place when being filled, and drilled several holes in the front, back and sides. I just toss everything into it and open the bottom to turn it and get out the finished product.

Looks like the weather has really turned for good.

Time to get the tomatoes in today.

WHOO HOO!!!

I’d recommend borrowing Lasagna Gardening. Once you read through it, you’ll get it. I’ve made a number of planting beds using that method. If you’re patient, it works like a charm. “No digging, no tilling, no kidding!”

I’m still not trusting our weather. I have Saturday off (miracle of miracles!) and will get some things in that day, but save the tomatoes and peppers for last.

For our area, the Accuweather long range (15 day) forecast looks wonderful. That puts us solidly in June and it’s exceedingly rare to have any frosts much after Memorial Day.

My garden is not so big that I can’t cover everything adequately if we do get another frost anyway.

37 degrees here at 6 this morning. Hubby actually lit a fire. Temps like that in mid may are utterly ridiculous :(

Mmmm ... sounds good. This is the first year I am planting eggplant. Never ate it growing up, but had my 1st taste this past year. Eggplant parmegiana. It was very good, so decided to try growing some.

We are putting in the biggest garden ever and hubby is actually helping big time this year. Problem is, I think we are going to have more to put in than what we have tilled. We are probably going to have to till another area. The good thing is, we have the space to do it. This will be my 1st attempt at canning. I hope I can keep up with all we are planting. Due to all the rain here in IL, we are putting the majority of our plants/seeds in this week. It’s been too wet to get in the planting beds.

Marking for reference. My mother managed to produce the best compost...she could grow anything. Sure wish I had paid more attention. And chicken manure was the prized ingredient.

I love eggplant. It is really easy to grow, in fact it is easier than tomatoes and peppers, IMO. It’s also easy to cook with. I use it in the same way as zucchini or crookneck squash.....baked, grilled, sauted, fried, etc.

I put in eggplant seeds this morning.....now I’m thinking I might have to start some more :)

**I assure you I will never forget sitting on a pile of them**

You told me! I’d a been comin out of those clothes! Got into a ground hornet nest when I was about 5. I don’t think they ever did find all my clothes. LOL

Actually, I have an old 85 gallon trash bin that I use for compost.

Once again that green-eyed monster is haunting me!!! LOL!

My compost pile is just that, a pile. Hubby did nail together 3 old pallets back behind the barn in order to (semi) contain it, but I just basically toss anything and everything back there in the general vicinity.

And with that, I've got to run. Need to go to the store and then go cut more grass before hubby gets home. Hopefully I can coerce the 10yo into raking up grass clippings to toss into the pile, along with the 2 coffee cans of stuff I have on the kitchen counter!

Later.

“I remember seeing a program years ago on PBS about a woman who had a greenhouse attached to her chicken house. She vented the chicken air, which was very warm, into the greenhouse and had free heat all winter. I believe the her property was somewhere in the northeast but can’t be positive.”

Sounds like what’s described in Solviva. Its a book on solar greenhouses and integrated food production. It has some good ideas, but you kinda have to hold your nose in some chapters, the author gets a bit political.

Thanks for the ping Red.

Good to read all the good reports about gardening success from
fellow freepers! We’ve had some greens (turnip) yellow and acorn squash, radishes and carrots from our little patch so far this spring. Lot of
good rain in the Hill Country.

"This will be my 1st attempt at canning. I hope I can keep up with all we are planting."

Get yourself a copy of 'The Ball Blue Book' and you can't go wrong. It's my bible when it comes to canning anything. Borrow it from the Library for this season, but then you'll want a copy for yourself, I'm sure.

Gabz? Which reference book is your favorite?

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