Start a compost pile; garden will appreciate it

Think of a compost pile as a recycling center that turns raw organic matter – leaves, grass, kitchen scraps, weeds, sawdust, etc. – into humus. Humus is soft, dark, moist earth, like the stuff you walk on in the forest. When you make humus in a compost pile, it’s called compost.

When added to the garden, compost improves the soil by increasing water retention, creating air spaces and providing nutrients for plants. Although you can buy compost and similar materials that do the same thing, raw materials for compost are free and readily available.

While the composting process can occur in a freestanding heap in a corner of the garden, it is best to enclose materials in a bin of some sort. The only requirements are that the bin encloses an area 3 or 4 feet across on all sides and that you can get to it to “turn it,” or mix it up. Smaller piles do not generate enough heat to efficiently break down organic matter and larger piles become too difficult to manage.

Compost piles are simply a mix of plant materials, air, moisture and microorganisms. Plant materials contain, among other things, carbon and nitrogen. Basically, you want to have one part brown, high-carbon stuff such as deciduous leaves, sawdust, woodchips, hay and straw to two parts green, high-nitrogen stuff such as grass clippings, garden waste, fruit and vegetable trimmings.

Start with a pile of brown and a pile of green material. Put any amount; say a bucket of brown material into your compost enclosure. Then add twice that amount, say two buckets, of green material. Stir it.

Repeat the process until you have at least a cubic yard of mixed material. A cubic yard is a 3-foot-by-3-foot square pile, 3 feet deep. A round pile about 5 feet across and 3 feet deep is also about a cubic yard.

Occasionally add water to keep the pile about as moist as a wrung-out sponge.

Every week or so, use a pitchfork or spading fork to turn the pile. The more it is turned, the faster compost will happen.

As new material becomes available, add to it following the “two parts green to one part brown” rule.

While turning the pile, notice the interior gets very warm. This is because active microorganisms generate heat. Turning keeps them active by exposing them to fresh supplies of food, water and oxygen. Piles that “cook” hot, up to 150 degrees, compost much faster than those that “cook” at lower temperatures. Hot piles also destroy more weed seeds, insects and disease organisms than cooler piles.

The compost is done when everything is uniformly dark, moist and crumbly. A 4-by-4-foot pile, kept moist and regularly turned, will be good humus material within three to four months.

Cover the pile with a waterproof tarp during wet or snowy weather. This will prevent the pile from becoming so waterlogged the microorganisms within drown. It also keeps precious nutrients from being leached out of the pile.