Composting Program Aids Gardens, Gardeners
Les Graham’s North Side yard bursts with beans, carrots, peas, zucchini, 15 tomato plants and “enough cucumbers to feed half the state.”
He attributes his vegetable bounty to composting - a recycling process that turns yard waste like leaves and grass to a nutrient-rich soil additive.
“It makes everything grow better,” Graham said.
Graham is part of the Master Composter program, run by the Spokane Regional Solid Waste Department. Though he had been composting for many years, Graham joined the program last year to make sure he was doing it right.
He says any pile of yard waste will eventually turn to compost, but with regular weekly turning, a fine, finished product can be achieved in six weeks.
The Master Composter program was started by Jessie Lang, recycling coordinator with the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System, about 10 years ago as a low-cost way to help handle yard waste. She thought if she trained people to be good composters, they could do it themselves and pass the information along.
Program trainers teach citizen volunteers during a trio of Saturdays in April. They learn how to make compost piles and how to diagnose problems with piles. Trainees receive supplies and reference materials and, in return, commit to 40 hours of teaching throughout the following year. The county-wide program trains about 15 people a year and is always seeking volunteers.
”(Master composters) teach at seminars, set up booths at community events, talk to groups that need speakers and sometimes just to a next-door neighbor over the back fence,” explained Lang.
Most people don’t think about composting until winter’s end, but since a mix of materials makes the best compost, Lang suggested a little forethought.
“If people are going to start a compost pile in the spring, they should start thinking about it in the fall. Save your leaves to add to the pile,” she advised. “That way you’ll have something to add to the grass and won’t end up with a green, slimy mess.”
Composting is recycling at its finest.
“Why waste all that resource?” asked Lang. “You use fertilizer in the yard, then cut the grass and most people throw all those nutrients away. It’s a high-quality soil with good texture.”
Most soil in Spokane tends to be either pure sand or clay. Compost helps give both of those types texture and helps them retain water.
Composting also aids immensely in solid waste reduction.
“On a year-round basis, about 16 or 17 percent of solid waste is yard waste,” Lang said. “The more people compost, the less there is to be disposed of.”
GIVE THEM A CALL For more information about the Master Composter program, call 747-0242.