Composting has long been a way for gardeners to enrich soil

Hurricane Helene blew in the beginning of autumn here in Bartholomew County with mighty wind and much needed rain.

Time to clean up those faded summer plantings and the spent vegetable patch. Leaves are coming down too. The city trucks could haul it all off, but there’s another way to use that material. Composting has long been a way for gardeners to enrich their soil and fertilize crops. Hot composting produces heat to help decompose materials quickly but needs careful monitoring of proper proportions of materials and moisture. Cold, or passive composting is an easy, no fuss way to get some free fertilizer for your garden and to “use” your garden waste as well.

If you’ve taken a hike in the woods, you’ve probably seen cold composting at work when you stepped over a rotting log. Materials in nature degrade without our help and “melt” back into the soil, replenishing nutrients to support new and current plant growth. The cold method is good for beginners and doesn’t need much attention after it’s started. So be like Mother Nature and do it the easy way.

Nearly 30 percent of our garbage is food and yard waste. This can easily be converted into fertilizer with just a little effort. There are many pros for passive composting. Landfill space is saved and methane gas can be reduced. It’s simple and flexible- no time to turn it today? Next week or never will do. It can be done year round since heat in the pile need not be maintained. Materials can be added bit by bit rather building the pile all at once. Bacteria and fungi in the cold compost pile are the same ones your plants need. The resulting product is free and the technique is cheap, since no bin or barrel is necessary.

As always, some not-so-good comes along with the good. The passive method is slow, often taking up to a year. Since the materials do not heat, weed seeds can still be viable and plant diseases may not be destroyed. It decomposes from the bottom up so the compost may be inconsistent in texture, unless sifted. In spite of the useful final product, It’s not the prettiest thing in the garden if not contained in a bin of some sort.

Decide where to put your compost operation. Cold composting takes a while so choose an out of the way spot. It can be started directly on the ground if you like although a bin can quickly be made with pallets. A trash can with some holes drilled near the bottom can keep the pile contained as well. The compost area can go in the sun or shade. You can make a big pile all at once, but an advantage to the cold method is you needn’t start big. It may take longer to decompose, but you can keep adding materials as they accumulate during the fall.

Materials going in are of two types and are easy to remember by their colors. Carbon rich, or brown organic matter should be greater than green or nitrogen rich matter. Browns include, dry leaves and other dry plant material, shredded paper, small twigs and cardboard with no color printing. Though not brown, straw is included in that group. Vegetable and fruit trimmings, coffee grounds and tea bags (just be sure to remove the metal staple found on some tea bags) grass clippings, weeds with the seed heads clipped off are the nitrogen contributors which are the greens. Eggshells add calcium to the compost so crush and toss them in, too. Another tip is to chop large pieces of green material. A large watermelon rind takes a long time to decompose, a 2-inch piece composts much more quickly.

Greens and browns can be layered to speed things up a bit, but tossing things in as you collect them works too. If very dry they can be sprinkled with a little water, but don’t make the drippy or soggy. It may be covered with a tarp to keep it from becoming too wet. Turning the material with a fork now and then is certainly not necessary but might make materials decompose more quickly.

Certain materials should never go in either hot or cold compost piles. Meat scraps and bones or dairy could attract skunks or other vermin so those go in the trash bin. Since cold composting produces no heat, diseases on plants will not be killed so add them to the trash too. Never add pet waste and glossy paper like magazine are taboo too.

Depending in the size of the materials you added, they could be compost in as little as four months, but usually it’s closer to a year. If some parts are not fully decomposed, it can be sifted through hardware cloth for a consistent texture. Some gardeners have two bins. One has last year’s decomposing material and one for adding your current garden’s offal.

Your patience will be rewarded with a rich brown substance that is crumbly and full of plant nutrients and beneficial bacteria and fungi. Compost lightens heavy clay soils and improves nutrient and water retention in sandy soils. It contains nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, providing three primary needs of plants. Essential elements for plant growth found in compost include calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. So how can you use it?

Compost can be used as a side dressing for heavy feeding plants like broccoli and tomatoes. A few scoops or a shovelful can be worked into the soil around them. It can be mixed in a 1-1 ratio with potting soil for house plants, hanging baskets or used as a seed starting medium. If you have a large quantity, it can be spread over an entire area like a flower bed. Compost tea can be made by soaking a cup or so in a gallon of water. After a week, pour off the tea and use weekly to water plants.

With just a little work on your part, your plants can reap big benefits from the lazy way to compost.

Emily Baker is a Purdue Extension master gardener and has been gardening nearly 50 years. She is member and past president of South Central Indiana Master Gardener Association. More information about the association is available at scimga.org. Sources for this article include information from Purdue University Extension, Illinois State Extension and The Ohio State University. Send comments to therepublic.com.