Composting

Composting is a great way to reduce the volume of your garbage, create an amazing soil amendment, and practice recycling in your own back yard.

How much of what goes in your garbage can is plant material? Think about the food scraps from your kitchen; yard waste like leaves, grass clippings, and stems; old straw and other organic animal bedding; sawdust and wood shavings; shredded newspaper; even dryer lint! Most of those plant wastes can go right into a pile in your yard and – with just a little care – end up as incredible compost that adds new life to your garden soils.

The Recipe
Take one part green material, add one part brown material; add oxygen, some garden soil, a little water, and some bugs and worms. Let it cook for a few weeks, turning frequently. That’s it. Read on for more information.

• Greens
  Greens may not actually be green. Green material is stuff that is high in nitrogen. You can tell it’s a green because it is moist and flexible. So, for example, all your kitchen scraps are greens (including the brown stuff like coffee grounds and tea bags). If you add manures to your compost pile, they are greens – because they are moist and flexible – even though they look brown. (Be sure you only add manure from vegetarian animals like cows, horses, rabbits, and lamas. Dog and cat waste goes in the trash or in the toilet.)
  
  
• Browns
  Browns are usually brown. They are also crispy. Browns include things like autumn leaves, straw, wood products, and shredded paper. Dryer lint is a brown.
  
  
• Water
  Your compost pile should be as moist as a wrung-out kitchen sponge. No more, no less. Yes, you do have to put your hand in there and feel it. It’s only gross the first few times – you’ll get used to it. In the summer, you will definitely need to add water to your pile. In the winter and spring, you might want to keep the pile covered when it’s raining and snowing a lot.
  
  
• Oxygen
  You add oxygen to the pile by turning it regularly. A pitchfork is the very best tool for turning your pile, but a potato fork or a shovel works fine too. If you don’t ever turn your pile, you will eventually get compost. It will just take a very long time. The more often you turn the pile, the faster the organic materials will break down, and the sooner you will have a beautiful pile of compost to put in your garden.
  
  
• Bugs and Worms
  These guys come on their own. Your compost pile should be sitting on the ground (not on your patio), so the worms, bugs, and soil bacteria will move into this luscious pile of delectable food. Well, they think it’s great. All the other items in the recipe are really there to encourage the bugs and worms and bacteria. They are your compost friends. They do all the work – except they won’t turn the pile for you. You’re on your own with that.

When you can’t recognize the things you put in the pile; when the pile is uniformly brown and crumbly; when the temperature of the pile is the same as the air temperature – you’re ready to use your compost.

Till it into your vegetable garden or your new perennial bed. Use it in the planting holes when you add new plants to your garden. Top-dress or mulch your beds with compost. Add an eight to a quarter of an inch to your turf each spring and fall. A broadcast spreader works just fine for that.

For more information on composting, visit the University of Idaho Extension website.