Seven

Early spring plants are poking through the soil. Black Gold Part 4.

Greetings fellow gardeners,

As of today, my plant stand looks like a jungle. It is time to start hardening off these babies. I will start putting some seedlings outside in a sheltered spot for the day and bring them in for the night. The nights are still too cold for my tender vegetables and patience is important.

Usually around this time of year my sump pump is singing its merry song twenty-four hours a day. Lately it has been very quiet. This is disconcerting as I live next to a swamp and am used to a lot of water coming in. The quiet indicates that not only is this spring extremely cold it is also dry. This means that I have made it a point to water the areas and pots where I have planted seeds as well as all the bulbs that are blooming. I also have water for the birds and insects that I add to every day so that it does not become stagnant. I am continuing to have issues with squirrels and chipmunks. The netting seems to be helping and I am hoping that once the plants are growing the digging will calm down. Generally, you find more digging when it is dry as these creatures are looking for water along with snacks.

This morning I noticed that my cherry tree is starting to bloom. It starts slowly but soon the trees will be covered with blossoms and bees and the occasional hummingbird. This may be the year that more people use their fruits and berries along with the harvests from their vegetable gardens. The first harvest of the season is usually rhubarb. Be sure you have weeded under the plant and that it has room to expand. Add a good load of compost or composted manure because rhubarb is a heavy feeder in the spring. When you pick your rhubarb pull the stalk right at the base. It should release easily. Harvest about a third at a time so you do not stress the plant. Twist the leaves off right by the patch and put them in the compost. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous but decompose quickly and safely. Rhubarb can be stewed, canned, juiced, and frozen and apparently contains many beneficial antioxidants. If you have just purchased a rhubarb crown, give it a year to establish or you may find yourself pulling up the whole plant when you try to pick it.

It has been slow with this cold weather, but the peas and lettuces are finally starting to push forward, and a number of perennial herbs are ready to use. Herbs like oregano and chives have been ready for a while. This is a good time to start harvesting chives and dry them or freeze them in ice cube trays in olive oil. Early oregano makes an excellent pesto.

This week I am going to do another planting of my cool weather crops, peas, radish, chard, and spinach. With the weather being so cool I could do another planting in two weeks. With the tender vegetables starting to harden off let’s hope that our tomatoes will be growing outside really soon.

Have a great week! Arlene Rowe’s Compost Part Four follows.

Judith.

Email: lapisdragonarts@gmail.com

Compost: Black Gold

(Part 4)

In previous articles, I discussed the science and methods of composting, now it is time to put these into practice. But before I do that, let's just recap:

The composing process needs:

• Decomposers - bacteria, particularly Thermophiles,

• Organic material - NO meat, dairy or meat by-products,

• Air and Moisture.

Methods for creating compost piles (Simplest to the Cadillac) are:

• Trench

• Tumblers

• Single pile

• California – three bin method

Let's get started...

Step 1: Preparation:

Tools you need:

· Collection pail & compostable bags

· Clippers / loppers

· Lawn mower and/or leaf blower

· Fork/shovel

· Thermometer

Optional Tools

· Screen/Sifter

· Aerator

· Woodchipper

Step 2: Choose a composting method

This choice should be based on your experience level, how much you need and how much time and effort you are willing to invest.

If you are a beginner and are not certain whether you want to do this, start with the trenching method. It takes little time or initial investment, and if you decide it is not for you, you are not saddled with a structure you no longer want. Nothing says you cannot graduate to the next level. In fact, you can use a mixture of methods.

If you are the average gardener, then the tumbler or single pile method will be suitable. It gives you a couple of wheelbarrows full of compost each year without taking up a lot of real estate.

If you are adventurous, the California method can give you plenty (several wheelbarrow full) of compost twice a year, but it will take up a significant amount of real estate and the structure will last a long time. Ours lasted over thirty years and that's with two moves. To really get the most of this method, each bin should be at least 3' x 3' x 3'. If you can arrange it, make the boards between the bins removal; it will make forking the material to the next bin easier on your back.

Step 3: Choose a location

For the trench method, it is a simple decision: you set it up in your garden. For all other methods, pick a location that makes it easy for you to:

• add material to it all year long; otherwise, you will forget or neglect to feed the pile,

• remove the finished product. This means enough room to fork the compost into a wheelbarrow.

It doesn't really need to be in the sun, but it is a good idea not to tuck it away in an area that is the last to thaw in the spring. It is also important to have it open to catch the rain; otherwise, you will need to water the pile with municipal ($) water or from your rain barrel.

Step 4: Construct the container

For the trenching method, the trench is the container. And for the tumbler method, you already have a container.

For the other methods, it is a good idea to confine your compost pile in a container since it is neater, and it helps contain the heat from the composting process. The more heat is retained the more likely the Thermophiles bacteria will predominant, the faster the organic material decomposes, the faster you will get the end product.

On the SGHS Facebook page, there are examples of both DIY and simple designs (that use readily available and inexpensive materials) and elaborate designs. There is also pictures of our first compost system, just before we retired it after 30 years of use and its replacement. Or click on this link to see an endless variety of designs.

Whatever design you choose, make certain that the design promotes good aeration - a must for aerobic bacteria.

Step 5: Feed the pile

Listed in the table below are examples of the two types of organic material you can feed your pile.

Composting Material

Yes, compost in your bin

GREEN FOOD

Bread, coffee, coffee grounds, egg shells, feathers, flowers, house plants, fruit or vegetable scraps (peels, rinds, stems, stalks, spoiled), leaves, grass clippings, green plant trimmings, nut shells, tea leaves and tea bags, hair (animal and human), herbivore (e.g., horse, rabbit) manure/litter, hedge clippings, paper napkins & towels

BROWN FOOD

Cornstalks, dryer lint (natural fiber only), dried grass, dried leaves (e.g. oak), woodchips, real wood ash, sawdust, straw, real bottle corks, paper plates, small paper bags, paper egg cartons

Start with coarse brown material (i.e., branches < 1 inch in diameter, roots) at the bottom. This is the perfect place for old dead roots like rosebushes or hydrangeas. It will take several seasons for them to breakdown, but in the meantime, they provide air pockets to prevent the organic material from matting into a slimy mess. Matting promotes anaerobic bacteria activity - not what you want.

Most composting literature provide the ideal mixture for composing, but let's face it, the material comes when it comes. Unless you want to have bins to store it until you need it, you have to make do.

The brown material usually is plentiful during spring pruning and fall cleanup. For the spring pruning, if the branches are small enough that you can cut them with shears, just throw the material on the lawn and take a lawn mower over it ( it is easier if it is the bagging type). The action of the mower will breakdown most, if not all the material, and make it easier to decompose. Branches that can be cut with a pair of secateurs can be cut into 4-6 inch pieces (the literature recommends 2 inches, but I found the longer length is easier on my hands and works out just as well, although it takes a little longer). A word about lilac branches - cut them up immediately after pruning, before they become dry; otherwise, they become hard as nails! For bigger branches, you can buy or rent a woodchipper; we have an electric one for the past 10 years and found it does well, except for serious tree pruning - then you need professionals to do it. I set aside the wood chips and excess wood prunings in a barrel and use them during the year to mix with any organic material (e.g. lawn clippings) that is prone to matt.

Then as it comes, add the green and brown material from your garden, kitchen and/or office I gather coffee grounds from my office every week; people are surprising cooperative in putting them in a separate container as long as someone else is willing to look after it. You will probably have more green material than brown material throughout the year, so have a place to store brown material to be added after any significant addition of green material. particularly after mowing the lawn. Add the brown matter and mix lightly to ensure the green matter won't matt.

Depending upon how far your compost pile is from your house, you will probably want to have a pail to gather the organic material in the house. I have a pail in the kitchen and one near my light garden. Line your pail(s) with a bag, preferably a decomposable bag, it prevents the material from sticking to the sides of the pail and imparting a smell to the pail. Otherwise, you have to scrap the pail when you empty. A word about compostable bags - not all compostable bags are equal. The ones you usually find in the grocery stores are designed for sophisticated municipal composting; they will breakdown. This is also true for many plastic compostable cutlery and plates. For the home composter, this may be a couple of years, unless you are willing to shred the bag when you add it to the pile. I have used these on occasion, especially for the office coffee grounds and if I am using a large pail and the material will be sitting for a while since the bags are don't breakdown quickly. Instead of putting them in the pile, I use them in the garden as a weed barrier, just cover them with mulch. My preference is to use the corn base bags you find at Lee Valley; they breakdown within a couple of weeks, with no shredding.

Fallen leaves make wonderful compost. The best way to add them to the compost pile is to use a lawn mower or a leaf blower (in reverse mode) to vacuum and chop them up. When you add them to the compost, you will find that it will go through another round of intense decomposition.

You really don't have to add bacteria to you pile - if there is food they will show up, but if you want to speed up things, you can add some ( a small pail or two) good garden soil, leftover compost or manure/litter (fresh is fine) to the first layer of green material. It will kick start the process.

Step 6: Maintain the composting process

Summer:

An important tool to monitor the health of your pile is a thermometer made especially for composts; it has a very long probe. If all is going well, the temperature should range from 25°C to 50°C (80°F to 120°F) which is typical for a home composter. If you are really lucky, it will be between 55°C to 70°C (130°F to 160°F), which is a hot compost and is perfect to kill weed seeds. If you don't have a thermometer, you can put your hand in the compost about 6 inches below the surface; you should feel it noticeable warm. In the fall, when turning the compost, I can actually see steam coming off the pile.

Every time you add something to the pile, check:

1. the temperature of the pile is > 25°C,

2. to see if it is damp, not wet - add water if dry, aerate if wet, and

3. whether the pile has a sweet-sour smell which indicates that anaerobic bacteria predominates - break up matts or aerate the pile.

If you are using the California method, mid-summer is a good time to turn the compost piles.

Fall:

This a good time to harvest your pile. Once empty, put all your fall cleanup organic material in the pile.

For the California method, you want to turn the compost piles, so you have the first bin free for the fall cleanup and winter additions.

Winter:

You can still add material to your pile, even if it is frozen. The bacteria are inactive, but the frost will continue the decomposition.

Spring:

In the spring, after the top layer of your pile thaws (yes, I have had a working pile with the bottom layer still frozen even in late May), you can kickstart the process by adding the dried grass from raking your lawn and then adding manure/litter (herbivore only!). You don't need much, a pail or two will do. Anyone with a stable will be more than glad to let you have some, since in most cases they have to pay to have it hauled away.

For the California method, the third bin will be available for harvesting. Rotate the other bins, to free up the first bin for spring additions.

Step 7: Harvest your compost

When the temperature of the pile drops consistently below 80°F (25°C), it is probably time to harvest your compost pile. If your pile never warmed up during the season or you don't have a thermometer, then Fall is the time to harvest. Remember if your pile remained at ambient temperature, the material is still decomposing, just not as fast you would like.

For most gardeners, the end result of their composting is not the perfectly consistent mix that they buy in bags, but rather a soil like mix with many twigs and partially decomposed stalks. You can sift the compost and recycle undecomposed matter back into you compost bin, but it is not necessary. Don’t worry, this is perfectly good for your garden. And especially, if you have clay soil. The undecomposed matter will help prevent the tendency of clay soil to become cement after each rain. The air pockets will give space for the rainwater to reach the roots of your plants. It will also provide much needed air for healthy plant growth – yes, plants need air. Not only that, the undecomposed matter will help feed the earthworms and useful bacteria and provide nutrients to your plants as the organic matter decomposes during the growing season.

When harvesting the pile, I have found a good garden fork is the best. Because the material is not homogenous, like sand or sifted soil, the fork allows you to dig deep into the pile while a shovel is stopped by any obstacle like a branch. The undecomposed material acts as a web to hold the soil on the fork.

If you need to sift it, because you need it, for example, for your lawn, you can make a simple screen that fits over your wheelbarrow using scrap wood and welded wire mesh (12 - 25 mm (.5 - 1 inch) openings). There are a myriad of YouTube videos that will show you how to make one.

You are now set to compost.

In my next article, I shall talk about problems you may encounter and how to deal with them.