Why Compost? or Compost Basics
By: B. L. Holland, Master Gardener

All gardens can use more organic material and compost is a handy, easy and inexpensive soil amendment made from grass clippings, leaves and kitchen waste. Composting in your backyard is the right thing to do for your garden and our environment. Done properly it will not smell, and it doesn't need to take a lot of work or time. 

The following basics will help make composting fast and/or easy. 

Use a container -- a bin will allow the pile to be built higher without taking up as much space as a pile, allowing better aeration and improving drainage of excess water.  

Fast compost -- compost will form faster in warm weather. The more often you turn the compost, the faster it will decompose. Grass clippings will decompose in just a few weeks while unshredded oak leaves may take a year or more to fully break down. Keeping the pile moist will help it decompose faster.

Easy compost -- as long as some "wet" and "dry" materials are layered in the pile, you can just keep adding to the bin and leave it alone. Eventually, the material on the bottom and in the middle will be ready to use on the garden.   Examples of wet or nitrogen-rich materials are: grass clippings, manures and vegetable scraps. Dry materials such as fall leaves, newspaper and straw will keep the pile from developing odors. 

Fast and easy compost bin -- use a 10' length of 36" wide welded wire mesh of grid 1x2, 2x4 or between. Connect the two ends of the wire mesh to form a circle bin. You can simply bend the ends of the wire to connect the ends.  Put it in a place where you can easily get to it, with shade in summer  and some sunshine in winter. Fill the bin with organic material, water occasionally if the weather is dry. When you are ready to use the compost or turn it, simply disconnect the ends of the wire and lift the bin from around the pile. Now you can use the bin again to start a new batch.

Make two or more bins -- an established bin can be left to continue decomposing while a new bin is started.

Adding material -- shredding dry leaves with a mower before adding to the pile will help them decompose faster. Materials in the bin will shrink over time then you can add more material to the top. Or start another bin with new material on the bottom and use the shrunk, partially decomposed material to add in layers or place on top of the new bin. This also prevents odors.

Turning -- although turning sounds like hard work, most compost is lightweight. Turning will speed decomposition. It is useful to start a new pile as you turn, placing the outer and top material of the old pile in the bottom of the new bin, then topping it off with nearly finished compost from the middle of the old bin.

Compost Do's and Don'ts: Do add anything organic. That is any material made from purely natural substances. Don't add plastic, metal, glass, or other man-made material. Do water the pile in dry weather or if you are adding a lot of dry material. Don't drown the pile, it should be moist, but not sopping wet. Do make the pile at least three feet high to allow it to retain the heat needed to decompose. Don't add meat, grease, bones or fat to the pile. These materials may attract rodents. Do add a layer of soil or old compost to the top of each addition of new material (prevents odor). Don't add cat, dog or human manures. Do alternate additions of "wet" material (such as grass or manures) with "dry" material (such as leaves or paper). Don't add diseased plants to the pile. Some diseases survive the process and may further disease problems in the garden.

For more detailed information on composting contact the Jasper County Extension Center in Carthage.