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Creative Compostingby Hadley Louden, Jungle of Monticello |
I remember being scolded as a child for playing in the dirt, making play dough out of every bit of soil I could touch. My mother, reasonably enough, tried to restrain my earthly cravings. But I'm happy to say, a good many years later, that I'm completely unreformed and still seize every opportunity to play in the dirt. I love to feel the texture of the soils I'm working with. I suspect most gardeners are secretly very tactile, enjoying an intimately physical contact with our world many others miss. Did you know that in some traditional cultures mothers actually encourage their children to eat some dirt—not that they need much encouragement—thereby ingesting local bacteria, microfauna, and flora and enhancing their immune systems? (That's not recommended around here though!)' A home composting system, when managed efficiently, provides more than enough of the best soil any home gardener could want. Environmental constraints now make home composting imperative. This column provides several pointers on how to maintain a good home composting system. My mother taught me composting in the late '60s with egg shells and coffee grounds in our little compost pile. (She also showed me how to stick toothpicks into an avocado pit to get it to root—I now have a bountiful Haas as a result.) I later learned "righteous" composting from some organic Santa Cruz Mountain hippies (one even renamed himself "compost"), many of whom studied with Alan Chadwick at UCSC (http://www.ecotopia.org/ehof/chadwick/bio.html). They taught me about compost starter and maintenance and even an ancient compost elixir (see below).' Make your pile convenient. The handier it is, the more likely you will use it. Keep a garbage pail nearby, as bits of trash will inevitably find their way into your pile. You need two spaces side by side, so you can turn it. The discounted compost bins from Alameda County (http://www.stopwaste.org.) work great, but many people just use a hole in the ground with plywood sides.' Get your compost pile rolling with a bucket of starter compost from a friend. Grab every worm you can find and throw them in. Keep it moist. Turning your pile every week or two gets rid of flies and smells and keeps critters away. Applying a periodic layer of manure will do likewise and speed things along. (You can get free manure at Piedmont Stables, 336-0850).' What goes into your compost pile? Anything organic will work: dirt, kitchen scraps (avoid animal fats), green and brown yard waste. Does it have to be in any order or proportions? No, just a good mix. Unusual but good additions: shells, clean bones, recycled potting soil, natural charcoal ash, shredded paper, and elixir. Things to avoid: too much of anything, weeds with seeds including lawn clippings (many will grow in your compost), indestructible plants like Wandering Jew (Tradescantia fluminesis—it'll sprout everywhere), and thick wood. You can make a sifting screen out of some 2X2s and cover it with chicken wire, but I don't bother.' For the nittygritty on your soil, the Ecology Center in Berkeley provides tremendous resources including references for soil testing: http://www.ecologycenter.org/directory/results.php?sFAQ=soil 20testing. |
