Don't Trash Yard Waste...Compost It!

By Bob Fitzsimmons
Yard waste such as leaves, grass clippings and shrub pruning accounts for 20 percent of garbage we create every year. During the summer and fall months, yard waste can represent up to HALF of the municipal waste rapidly filling up our landfills.

What can the average homeowner do with all of those falling leaves and yearly tree and yard trimmings?

Don’t waste your waste. Compost it instead!

A simple definition of ‘compost’ is “a mixture of decaying organic matter such as leaves and manure used as fertilizer or mulch.”

Homemade compost is the best way to recycle and return nutrients to flower beds and the soil where it is needed. The more your compost is broken down, the more it becomes fertilizer for your plants and soil. These elements also act as a blanket that insulates and warms soil and roots during winter and cools things down during the summer.

All living things will eventually die and decompose without any assistance from man. Just raking and piling grass and leaves together will speed up the natural breaking-down process. You can speed decomposition more by shredding the materials into smaller pieces and mixing in various other organic matter such as manure and kitchen scraps.

Add air, water and dirt, and a little molasses, and the act of decaying really accelerates. You could finish your compost in as little as eight weeks if you watch and maintain temperature and moisture levels and turn the pile once a week. The end result is free fertilizer and a great soil conditioner.

Essentials for homemade compost include:

• Nitrogen materials – green grass, yard trimmings, kitchen scraps, animal manure, blood meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal.
• Carbon materials – dried grass, leaves, hay, straw, sawdust, seed hulls, corn cobs, shucks, paper.
• Air (oxygen).
• Moisture (not too wet or too dry).
• Soil (contains the microorganisms that do the actual breakdown).

Containers and methods to consider:

• Enclosure should be 3x3x3-foot minimum size (wooden pallets, concrete blocks, hay bales, small wire mesh cages)
• 32-gallon cans or larger
• Sheet composting
• Trench composting

The nutrients applied as fertilizers during the spring and summer are contained in the green grass and leaves that are collected all year. It makes good common sense when you recycle these important nutrients back to the plants that need them.

All organic matter eventually decomposes without the help of man. But if you want to speed up the process, all you need to add is a little air, water and elbow grease.

Happy gardening!