Autumn is the Ideal Time To Start a Compost Pile
By T. Jeff Williams
With autumn coming on, the leaves start to fall but the grass keeps growing-a happy coincidence that allows you to make perfect garden compost material. This ideal compost mixture of dead leaves and green grass is easily prepared by mowing leaves and grass together and then adding the mix to a compost pile.
Compost adds nutrients to your soil, helps break up clay material, and markedly enhances water retention in your garden soil. So raking leaves just to put in the trash bin along with freshly mown grass is nearly the same as throwing money away. Once you see that first shovel full of loamy, soil-enriching mulch coming from your compost pile, you'll wonder why you didn't start sooner.
Composting is the natural-but speeded up-process of breaking down organic matter with bacteria and other soil microorganisms. The final result is a light, nutrient-rich humus that makes an ideal garden soil conditioner.
The composting process is spelled out below, and the garden consultants at your nearest OSH will be glad to answer any questions you have.
Chief ingredients: There are two main ingredients for compost material. The first are so-called brown materials that are rich in carbon. These include organic material such as dry leaves, straw, coffee grounds, and even shredded paper. The second key ingredients are green materials, namely freshly cut grass, vegetable and fruit waste from the kitchen, and manure from any herbivore.
Do not add dog or cat droppings because they may add disease-causing organisms to the mix. And don't add meat or fat, which will just attract pests.
Ideally the compost mix should be about 70 percent brown materials and 30 percent green, but a 50-50 mix is fine. With this in mind, now is a great time to start a compost pile because you can mow the lawn and the leaves at the same time. If you have a lot of leaves, rake them into rows, run the mower over them and mix the result in with the grass.
The more you chop up kitchen vegetable waste, the faster it will turn to compost. Green grass alone should not be used as compost. It will just turn into a slimy green mass.
The Compost Process
A properly working compost pile will heat up within two or three days to 130 degrees or more. If you doubt it, just thrust your hand deep into the compost pile once it gets going. To really begin cooking, a compost pile requires both mass and moisture. At a minimum, a good compost pile should be 2 to 3 feet across and about 3 to 4 feet high.
Moisture: As you start the composting process, each layer of dry grass and leaves must be thoroughly dampened. As you add 3 or 4 inches of material into your bin, soak it well with a spray nozzle. Wet each layer as you go. After a couple layers, open up the compost material with your shovel; you may be surprised to see how little water has actually penetrated the layers.
Aeration: Air must penetrate the compost mix for it to work properly. Without sufficient air circulating from the sides of the compost pile, it will turn into a wet mess. When composting properly, the pile will heat up in the first few days and then begin to cool down. When the cooling begins, take the pile apart and put it back together again, dampening each layer as you go.
To greatly speed up the composting process, turn the pile twice a week. During these warm, sun-filled autumn days, you can turn leaves and grass into good compost in about six weeks.
Compost Bins
Almost anything that will contain the vegetation and still allow air to circulate will work as a compost bin. A roll of chicken wire about three feet across and four feet high filled with a mix of leaves and grass is a simple but effective compost bin. To turn this pile, just tip the cage over, rake out the material, wet it, and then repack it.u
tFor more large scale production, build three adjoining bins, each about 4-feet square, with chicken wire separating the bins to aid aeration. The compost pile is started in the first bin and then moved to the second bin as it is first turned. When turned again, it goes to the last bin. Meanwhile, new piles can be started as soon as one bin is emptied.
A commercially available compost bin, such as the Garden Gourmet composter, is highly effective, easy to store, and keeps the compost pile neatly contained. The bin, made of recycled plastic, is two feet on each side and three feet high. It has a patented adjustable aeration system which is essential to effective composting. The material is added at the top and removed from the bottom when the composting is complete.u
And, after all this you're still not sure you want to bother with this, you can still compost the old fashioned way: just dig a hole in your garden and put the vegetation in there, and cover with dirt. By spring, it will be composted and your garden soil will be the better for it.