Composting At Home

Composting at Home

1. Only compost organic materials such as fruit, vegetable scraps, small twigs, yard/garden clippings, and leaves.
   Materials not suitable for home composting

   • Meat, dairy products, oils or greasy cooked foods.

   • Large tree branches. Small twigs are alright, they can help aerate the compost bin or pile.

   • Weeds that have gone to seed, sick or diseased plants. This is to prevent the spread of weeds and diseases in your garden. Place these items in a leaf bag or container marked “Yard Waste Only” for pick-up on your City of Cincinnati pick-up day.

   • Liquids containing non-biodegradable soaps, bleach, or solvents.

2. After adding green material high in nitrogen (i.e. young weeds, vegetable and fruit scraps or cuttings) layer them with brown materials that are high in carbon (i.e. dead leaves or straw). Layering green and brown material is important to facilitate the composting process and prevent odors.

3. Once the compost bin or pile is full, the material needs to be moved into an empty bin or new pile area to aerate the pile.

4. After all materials have decomposed, the composting process is finished. Your compost can now be screened and used in your vegetable garden, flower garden, and landscaping.

Composting Basics

A compost pile is host to a wide variety of beneficial organisms, bacteria, and fungi, as well as insects and worms that a garden needs to thrive. The pile acts as a nursery/habitat for this web of life to grow.

Five ingredients for a healthy compost

• Oxygen

• Water

• Microorganisms

• Carbon

• Nitrogen

To facilitate organic matter decomposing efficiently in your compost bin or pile, remember the following basics:

• Space - A minimum of 3 x 3 x 3 feet.

• Food - A mix of carbon (brown material) and nitrogen (green material).

• Water - Make sure it stays moist, like a damp sponge.

• Oxygen - Aerate, turn, or rotate your compost bin every month or two.

• Life - Having the compost pile in contact with the earth allows microorganisms, fungi, worms and beneficial insects to enter the process - this is an important contributor to the decomposition of organic matter and its transformation into humus.

The Three Phases of Composting

In the process of composting, microorganisms break down organic matter and produce carbon dioxide, water, heat, and humus. Composting proceeds through three phases:

1. Mesophilic: Moderate-temperature phase, lasts for a couple of days. Temperature is under 104 Fahrenheit / 40 Celsius.

2. Thermophilic: High-temperature phase, can last from a few days to several months. Temperature is over 104 Fahrenheit / 40 Celsius.

3. Cooling and maturation phase: Several-months

Golden Ratio for Composting

30 Parts 1 Part
Dried Leaves Fresh Grass Clippings
Dried Grass Plant Debris
Clippings Brewed Coffee Grounds
Newspaper Manure
Small Twigs
Straw

Compost’s Role

Adding mature compost to your garden soil is important for three reasons:

1. It is a source of nitrogen an important nutrient for growing healthy crops.

2. It provides garden soil with a wide variety of beneficial microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, insects, and worms that are necessary for plants to thrive.

3. Soils with High Bulk Density (a lot of solid matter, including clay, with little pore space) lead to compaction - a difficult environment for plants to grow. A healthy soil structure consists of a combination of solid matter (mineral and organic) and open-pore space (spaces where air and water infiltrate the soil). Compost is a soil conditioner it adds organic matter to garden soil which increases pore space for plants roots to grow, the storage of water and nutrients as well as creates a healthy environment for microorganisms, bacteria, fungi in addition to beneficial insects and worms.

Preparing Compost for Use in the Garden

Turning Compost
There are differing viewpoints about when, how often, or if to turn compost.  Turning compost aerates the pile which facilitates decomposition.  As a rule, the more often compost is turned the faster it decomposes.  A compost pile will decompose on its own if:

1. It is not compacted.

2. It is not saturated with water.

3. it has a balanced composition of nitrogen (green plant material and food scraps) and carbon (dry leaves, straw) The recommended nitrogen/carbon ratio is 1-part nitrogen to 30 parts carbon. If your compost pile has a higher nitrogen ratio this can be compensated to a certain degree by turning the pile - this introduces air (oxygen) into the pile facilitating decomposition.

Screening Compost
Screening compost is optional.  Screening is often done when there is non-organic material in the compost that you would not want in your garden.  For example, in some urban community gardens, pieces of concrete, brick, glass and other undesirable material referred to as "urbanite" make it into the compost bin.  For safety reasons, it is important to screen these materials out of the compost.  Another reason to screen compost is if there are large pieces of undecomposed organic debris such as woodchips or small branches (this debris can be removed and added to another pile in the process) so the finished compost integrated into your garden is uniform which can be beneficial when direct sowing seeds.  A simple screen can be built using 1/2-inch hardware cloth and wood construction grade 2x4 inch lumber.