Composting! Not just for hippies!

It’s an excellent alternative to trash.  It’s called compost.  First, a definition.  Compost is “decayed organic material used as fertilizer.”  It really is just that.  It’s all the vegetable food detritus from your kitchen, all the pulled weeds from your garden, and all the manure you can acquire from local farms.  It’s so much better for your plants than any NPK fertilizer you can find it’s almost laughable. 

When the organic movement started some 20 years ago, there was a distinct outcry against all things artificial—this included fertilizers.  The boycott led to a need for new forms of fertilizer.  Enter compost.  The communes in California would use their food waste along with the weeds that they pulled to make a decaying heap of vegetation that would release their nutrients back to the soil as it decomposed. 

Compost allows for the food to be grown by the soil (the plants take the nutrients), and for the soil (the plants are composted after they’re done growing). 

One of the more common fears about composting is the odor.  It’s a heap of decaying matter, doesn’t it smell?  I promise it doesn’t smell that bad!  Really, as you don’t put any meat-material except eggshells in the heap, it doesn’t take on the pungent rotting smell that is so expected with detritus.  It’s not a trash pile!  It’s a compost.  It does not waft like the garbage trucks. 

I suppose you’re wondering about the how.  There are many different types of compost actually.  My family uses two.  We have one pile that all our food detritus, our plants, and any other organic material is tossed in, and the other is a barrel of organic matter that houses worms.  The worms eat the material, and turn it into loamy soil matter that spreads nicely. 

For those of you looking to start a compost, the easiest manner is to set aside a small area of land, just a square, then ring it with a wire fencing, and toss stuff in it.  Grass clippings make the best start up for compost, as the clippings tend to be rather numerous.  Then keep a bucket on your counter (we have our buckets from berry picking), or a large bowl, and chuck the detritus in there instead of the trash.  Remember though, that meat products do need to be thrown in the garbage, or they attract flies, maggots, and all sorts of nasties that you don’t want to spread on your garden. 

Once you’ve gotten a compost that has been, for lack of a better word, fermenting for a season, it’s ready to be spread on your beds.  If you aren’t totally up for the idea of straight compost on your plants, you can always mix artificial fertilizer with compost.  Some is always better than none!

Also published on The Herndon Environmental Network Blog