A Compost Primer

Turning Over an Old Leaf for the New Year Green Parenting (January 2009)

A Compost Primer

01/26/2009

Gwen Hubner

Turning Over an Old Leaf for the New Year Green Parenting (January 2009)

We human beings generate a lot of waste, and nowhere is this more noticeable than in a busy family kitchen. A lot of us take the time to separate the plastics and the paper from the rest of the trash, but how many take it one step further? What about all those apple cores, coffee grounds, lettuce scraps and bread crusts?

You can start a compost pile in your backyard at any time of the year. In fact, the New Year is a good time to make a commitment to reduce your garbage. It’s also a way to reduce the money you spend on garden fertilizer and to increase your child’s knowledge about nature in your own backyard.

What Is Compost?

Compost is a mixture of decaying organic substances that create vitamin-rich mulch that’s vital to gardening. The breakdown from solid food leftovers and plant clippings is an intense and amazing process involving hundreds of species - from worms to fungi to microorganisms.

The organic matter in the compost supplies food for all different types of critters, which in turn contribute something of their own. As microorganisms feed, they naturally produce nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, all of which are critical for healthy root development and the growth of strong plants.

What You Need To Compost

• A flat, open area with enough sunlight to keep the pile “cooking,” but not enough to dry it out.

• A compost bin.

What Can Be Composted?

Most organic materials can be composted and contribute something to the mixture. A compost pile needs to maintain a proper mixture between carbon rich materials, which are dead stuff (leaves and wood chips), and nitrogen rich materials, which are alive (grass clippings and kitchen scraps). The carbon materials are called brown matter, the nitrogen, green. The right proportions will be different for everyone and are found through practice and experience. However, the average is around 30 (brown): 1 (green).

Things To Compost

Fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells, manure (only from horses, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and rabbits), sawdust, pine cones, dryer lint and hair.

Be careful with weeds. Dry them out first so that they don’t continue to grow in your pile. You can also compost cardboard and newspaper, but you need to add extra moisture and shred them first.

Don’t compost the following:

• Meat, fat, grease, oil, or bones – which attract rats.

• Dog and cat droppings – which can carry diseases.

• Ashes or coal – which can contain materials bad for plants.

Kids Love Worms

Red wigglers and red earthworms can be found at most fishing shops and are often used as bait, but they serve another purpose. These worms are one of the most important species in the breakdown of the compost, and you can add them to speed up the process.

If using worms, avoid too may citrus peels because they can be hurtful to your worm population. Vermicomposting can be done on a smaller scale, and the compost can be kept in a smaller bin in a shady area.

For question about vermicompost, call Santa Cruz County’s Worm Doctor at 831-427-3452. n

Gwen Hubner is a college student who lives in Santa Cruz.

What about all those apple cores, coffee grounds, lettuce scraps and bread crusts?

What Is Compost?

What You Need To Compost

A flat, open area with enough sunlight to keep the pile “cooking,” but not enough to dry it out.

A compost bin.

What Can Be Composted?

Things To Compost

Fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells, manure (only from horses, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and rabbits), sawdust, pine cones, dryer lint and hair.

Be careful with weeds. Dry them out first so that they don’t continue to grow in your pile. You can also compost cardboard and newspaper, but you need to add extra moisture and shred them first.

Don’t compost the following:

Meat, fat, grease, oil, or bones – which attract rats.

Dog and cat droppings – which can carry diseases.

Ashes or coal – which can contain materials bad for plants.

Kids Love Worms

For question about vermicompost, call Santa Cruz County’s Worm Doctor at 831-427-3452.

Gwen Hubner is a college student who lives in Santa Cruz.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One Silicon Valley Family’s Compost Tale

*Editor’s Note: Veronica Sullivan is a San Jose mother of three. A relative newcomer to composting, Sullivan shares her family’s experience.

Q: Why did you decide to start composting?

A: A friend of mine bought a compost bin from the city. She told me that the city offers classes on composting and that they also sell compost bins. I noticed how much garbage my family was producing. We eat a lot of fresh stuff, and I noticed how many food scraps we were throwing away. I also like to garden and I know that composting is good for that.

I called the city of San Jose. I’m really up on how to recycle plastics and electronics, but I wanted to know more about composting. The person I talked to was very helpful.

Q: Walk me through the process of how your family composts from the kitchen to the garden.

A: Whenever we are preparing food, anything that can go into the compost gets put into a Tupperware bowl that sits on the counter. We put in produce scraps, coffee filters, tubes from the paper towel rolls, almost everything except for meat, bones, oil, or fat.

You can buy containers that are supposed to contain the smell, but compost isn’t really supposed to smell. It should smell just like the fruit or the vegetables. We then bring the scraps out to the bin. I’ll usually put dried leaves, soil, or some of the compost in the bin that has already biodegraded over the new scraps.

Q: What have you learned from the experience?

A: I’ve learned that it is incredibly easy. You can reduce you garbage two to three times. I realized that by the end of the week now, we really only have one bag of garbage.

I’ve also learned to balance the compost. You can’t just put your fruit scraps in your compost; you will be swarmed with fruit flies. You need to get a good mixture. If you can place your compost bin where you think earthworms are, or put some earthworms into the compost, that helps a lot too.

Q: How have you gotten your kids involved?

A: My whole family is actually very into it. My brother and sister-in-law live a couple blocks away and will bring their scraps over to my house. My kids watch me cook everyday, so they see me put everything into the compost. My 2-year-old could tell you what composting is.

Q: What was their reaction? Have they gotten over the gross factor?

A: At first the kids were really enthusiastic about composting, but because they are kids they lost interest. They are very aware of it though. They know not to throw a banana peel into the trash. They also like to come out with me to the bin and throw the leaves on top. They never seemed to be grossed out by it.

Q: Has composting influenced other aspects of your life, like the types of foods you buy and where you shop?

A: Yes, it has made me conscious of what goes into our landfills. I like to reduce any sort of packaging. I have become more green conscious overall.

– Gwen Hubner

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Resources

• The Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission of Santa Clara County offers free two-hour home composting classes. For information visit www.sccgov.org or call 408-918-4640.

• The Bay Friendly Gardening Program provides workshops and the opportunity to purchase discounted compost bins in order to encourage Bay Area residents to create eco-friendly gardens. For more information, contact 510-444-SOIL.

Published: 01/26/2009

by Gwen Hubner

What Is Compost?

What You Need To Compost

• A flat, open area with enough sunlight to keep the pile “cooking,” but not enough to dry it out.

• A compost bin.

What Can Be Composted?

Things To Compost

Fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells, manure (only from horses, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and rabbits), sawdust, pine cones, dryer lint and hair.

Be careful with weeds. Dry them out first so that they don’t continue to grow in your pile. You can also compost cardboard and newspaper, but you need to add extra moisture and shred them first.

Don’t compost the following:

• Meat, fat, grease, oil, or bones – which attract rats.

• Dog and cat droppings – which can carry diseases.

• Ashes or coal – which can contain materials bad for plants.

Kids Love Worms

For question about vermicompost, call Santa Cruz County’s Worm Doctor at 831-427-3452. n

Gwen Hubner is a college student who lives in Santa Cruz.

What about all those apple cores, coffee grounds, lettuce scraps and bread crusts?

What Is Compost?

What You Need To Compost

A flat, open area with enough sunlight to keep the pile “cooking,” but not enough to dry it out.

A compost bin.

What Can Be Composted?

Things To Compost

Fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells, manure (only from horses, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and rabbits), sawdust, pine cones, dryer lint and hair.

Be careful with weeds. Dry them out first so that they don’t continue to grow in your pile. You can also compost cardboard and newspaper, but you need to add extra moisture and shred them first.

Don’t compost the following:

Meat, fat, grease, oil, or bones – which attract rats.

Dog and cat droppings – which can carry diseases.

Ashes or coal – which can contain materials bad for plants.

Kids Love Worms

For question about vermicompost, call Santa Cruz County’s Worm Doctor at 831-427-3452.

Gwen Hubner is a college student who lives in Santa Cruz.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One Silicon Valley Family’s Compost Tale

*Editor’s Note: Veronica Sullivan is a San Jose mother of three. A relative newcomer to composting, Sullivan shares her family’s experience.

Q: Why did you decide to start composting?

I called the city of San Jose. I’m really up on how to recycle plastics and electronics, but I wanted to know more about composting. The person I talked to was very helpful.

Q: Walk me through the process of how your family composts from the kitchen to the garden.

Q: What have you learned from the experience?

A: I’ve learned that it is incredibly easy. You can reduce you garbage two to three times. I realized that by the end of the week now, we really only have one bag of garbage.

Q: How have you gotten your kids involved?

Q: What was their reaction? Have they gotten over the gross factor?

Q: Has composting influenced other aspects of your life, like the types of foods you buy and where you shop?

A: Yes, it has made me conscious of what goes into our landfills. I like to reduce any sort of packaging. I have become more green conscious overall.

– Gwen Hubner

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Resources

• The Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission of Santa Clara County offers free two-hour home composting classes. For information visit www.sccgov.org or call 408-918-4640.

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A Compost Primer

What Is Compost?

What You Need To Compost

What Can Be Composted?

Things To Compost

Kids Love Worms

One Silicon Valley Family’s Compost Tale

Resources

What Is Compost?

What You Need To Compost

What Can Be Composted?

Things To Compost

Kids Love Worms

One Silicon Valley Family’s Compost Tale

Resources

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