Create a supply of ‘black gold’ — even in winter

As I have touched on already this win­ter, gar­den­ers eas­ily grow rest­less this time of year. Forc­ing bulbs inside helps but unfor­tu­nately there are few sub­sti­tutes for work­ing earth between one’s hands. There is, how­ever, one easy project that is a fab­u­lous way to start the sum­mer gar­den in the quiet lull of win­ter: composting.

The beauty of com­post­ing is that it can be effec­tively done any time of the year. A gen­eral mis­con­cep­tion is that com­post­ing must occur when tem­per­a­tures are above freez­ing. While it does require a touch more effort, the com­post­ing process can def­i­nitely be started even in weather under freez­ing. Back­track­ing a bit, for those unaware exactly what com­post­ing is: decayed organic mat­ter used as a plant fertilizer.

Most gar­den­ers would agree that the addi­tion of organic mat­ter (com­post) to their gar­dens is one of the most vital ele­ments to the suc­cess of their gar­dens. Soil amended with com­post is less sus­cep­ti­ble to dis­ease, requires less fer­til­izer and holds water bet­ter. The advan­tages of win­ter com­post­ing far out­weigh the cons. Win­ter is the per­fect time for some­one who has never com­posted before because in the cool tem­per­a­tures mis­takes can be more eas­ily fixed and risk of con­t­a­m­i­nat­ing the pile is much lower. With­out a doubt, the most appeal­ing aspect of win­ter com­post­ing is hav­ing your very own sup­ply of “black gold” (as sev­eral other Mas­ter Gar­den­ers call it­ an enthu­si­as­tic bunch, we are) by the time plant­ing begins around May 15. The keys to suc­cess­ful com­post­ing are sim­ple: air, water and ratio of nitro­gen (N) to carbon ©.

First and most impor­tantly, the size of your com­post pile is an impor­tant com­po­nent to begin­ning the process below freez­ing. Accord­ing to OSU Fact­Sheet HYG 1189–99: “A large com­post pile insu­lates itself and holds the heat of micro­bial activ­ity. Its cen­ter will be warmer than its edges. Piles smaller than three feet cubed (27 cu. ft.; 3–4 ft tall) have trou­ble hold­ing this heat in the win­ter, while piles larger than five feet cubed (125 cu. ft.; 5–6 ft tall) do not allow enough air to reach the microbes at the center.”

A strong and incon­spic­u­ous con­tainer that is a perfectly-suited ves­sel in which to com­post is a large trash bin. It will also pro­vide addi­tional insu­la­tion and pro­tec­tion from excess water. How­ever pro­tec­tion from water also means pro­tec­tion from air ­which is not a good thing. The eas­i­est way to com­bat this is to drill sev­eral small holes into the sides of the con­tainer so that air may come in but excess water may not. Because a com­post pile is essen­tially a small-scale land­fill, cov­er­ing it in a con­tainer is a friendly ges­ture to neigh­bors not nec­es­sar­ily inter­ested in your sci­ence project; as well as keep­ing out curi­ous animals.

A brief overview on what is desir­able com­post mate­r­ial and what is not, again from OSU Fact­Sheet HYG 1189–99: “kitchen scraps such as fruit and veg­etable peel­ings, egg shells, and cof­fee grounds that would oth­er­wise be thrown in the garbage. Care must be taken when com­post­ing kitchen scraps. Do not com­post meat, bones, and fatty foods such as cheese, salad dress­ing, and cook­ing oil. These foods fer­ment or putrify, cause odors, and can attract rodents and other noc­tur­nal ani­mals that can be pests.” Some com­post yard clip­pings, but this is a point of con­tention con­sid­er­ing lawns are treated with pes­ti­cides and fer­til­iz­ers. Luck­ily at this time of year, there are no yard clip­pings so that is a debate we need not wage.

Read­ing this, one might think “how am I going to fill a 3 to 4 foot tall pile with my own kitchen waste?” Luck­ily in the com­post­ing process, much more car­bon is required than nitro­gen. One of the eas­i­est to gather and most abun­dant sources of viable car­bon to com­post are dry, brown leaves. The ideal ratio for kitchen scraps like veg­etable and fruit trim­mings is 15 parts car­bon (brown leaves) to one part nitro­gen (kitchen scraps). Sources of car­bon can also be found in your house: news­pa­per and cof­fee grounds are per­fectly acceptable.

One of the eas­i­est ele­ments to con­trol in your com­post pile is water; espe­cially if your com­post bin has a lid. Com­post piles should be about as wet as a wrung-out sponge. Too much water will inhibit the process and cause odor. In win­ter com­post­ing, the lid stops the accu­mu­la­tion of snow­fall which in turn water­logs the pile. Turn­ing the pile peri­od­i­cally will help keep the mois­ture evenly dis­trib­uted and incor­po­rate air.

“A prop­erly made heap will reach tem­per­a­tures of about 140 degrees F in four to five days. At this time, you will notice the pile “set­tling.” This is a good sign that your heap is work­ing prop­erly. After three to four weeks, fork the mate­ri­als into a new pile, turn­ing the out­side of the old heap into the cen­ter of the new pile. Add water if nec­es­sary. It is best to turn your com­post a sec­ond or third time. The com­post should be ready to use within three to four months” OSU Fact­Sheet HYG 1189–99

While unfor­tu­nately I can­not offer any solu­tion for grow­ing toma­toes in the snow, one easy and very green way to put anx­ious gar­den­ers to work is start a com­post pile this early in the year. Com­post­ing is one of the most ben­e­fi­cial projects for the gar­den and hap­pens to also be one of the eas­i­est. Instead of spend­ing this time cooped up inside, col­lect kitchen scraps, brave the weather and set up your com­post now. Your sum­mer gar­den will reward your effort in spades.

Com­mu­nity gar­den program

Join the Delaware County Mas­ter Gar­den­ers and OSU Exten­sion for a pro­gram from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Feb. 4, at the Colum­bus State Col­lege, Delaware Cam­pus. Our keynote speaker will be Bill Daw­son, Grow­ing to Green Coor­di­na­tor at Franklin Park Con­ser­va­tory. He will speak about the Fun­da­men­tals of Com­mu­nity Gar­den­ing. Other top­ics for the day will be Soils and Com­post, Com­pan­ion plant­ing, Suc­ces­sion plant­ing and an expert panel group. Call the Exten­sion office at 740–833-2030 to reserve. The price is $15 which includes lunch, cof­fee and water.

Stephen Jones is an OSU Exten­sion Mas­ter Gar­dener volunteer.

Posted by Master Gardener on Jan 21 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.