Matthew Webb, County Extension Coordinator
As we are into the windy days of autumn, many trees have given up their leaves prior to the cold winter days that will be upon us soon. In addition, many flowers and other plants in our landscapes and vegetable gardens are past done for the season. What can be done with all of the leaves, stems and leftover plant material? Now would be a good time to consider composting and making your own fertilizer for your gardens for next year.
Compost is a mixture of plant materials that have been piled up, moisture added and has been partially decomposed. The end product of compost to use as a fertilizer and soil amendment is dark, crumbly with a humus-like characteristics. Those characteristics that are favorable include an improvement in soil structure and fertility, minimizes soil temperature swings, may help control weeds, protects soil from erosion, improves drainage in clay soils, holds moisture in sandy soils, provides good soil bugs (bacteria and encourages earthworms) and may prevent plant disease. Another advantage is that composting leaves and other plant residues at home or farm reduces the amount of materials that may be sent to local landfills.
Getting started in making compost is easy this time of the year because there is a lot of plant material to work with. If you read many publications about making compost, you will read something about the C to N ratio which is the carbon to nitrogen ratio with the ideal being a ratio of 30 to 1. The C to N ratio is simply your brown plant material vs. your green plant material. Carbon or your browns are important because it feeds the soil bugs and bacteria with energy. Nitrogen or your greens provide the protein that the soil bugs and bacteria need to break down the carbon. Brown materials would include dry leaves, small sticks, crop residues, straw, wood chips and sawdust and newspaper. Green materials are grass clippings, shrub clippings, fresh plants stems/leaves, vegetable and fruit scraps and livestock manures. DO NOT use butter, bones, cheese, chicken, fish, lard, mayonnaise, meat, milk, peanut butter, salad dressing, sour cream, vegetable oil, yogurt or any carnivore or omnivore manure.
Once you have your plant materials that you plan to compost, it is now time to consider your set up. The simplest form is to start a pile that is layered browns, greens, browns, etc. The pile needs to be at least 3 feet long by 3 feet wide by 3 feet tall minimum. The reason for this minimum size is that the compost pile needs to be deep enough to be able to hold some moisture and go through a heat. At some point during the composting process, if correctly constructed, the pile should reach a temperature between 130 to 150 degrees. At this temperature, many weed seeds and plant diseases will be destroyed. It would help to occasionally stir the pile with a garden fork to add air and/or add a little water if the pile is dry to help continue the heating process.
Your compost will be ready in a matter of weeks or a few months. Properly cured compost will have a dark color with a crumbly, loose texture. There are many options to use your compost. It works great as part of soil medium for starting plants such as vegetable slips or maintaining plants in flower pots. It can be used as a mulch when adding ½ to 1 inch yearly to flower beds. It really does well as a soil amendment and works extremely well if 2 to 4 inches are added and tilled into soil for flower beds or gardens. Compost is a great way to reduce fertility needs in gardens and landscapes in an inexpensive and ecological responsible way. If you have any questions be sure to reach out to the Alabama Cooperative Extension Office in Jackson County at (256) 574-2143.
