Composting In An Urban Setting

Hey Garden Guru’s! Let’s talk dirty for a moment….

It’s Spring and even the cooler parts of the world are defrosting and sprouting. Here at the guild home that means we are refreshing our gardens and that means really making sure we have healthy dirt. That is right!

DIRT. SOIL. EARTH. THE (sometimes) BROWN STUFF YOU WALK ON.

Soil really is a living ecosystem and needs to be kept healthy to have a thriving garden. You can either spend money and buy fertilizers and compost and a whole slew of things from the store OR keep reading and find out how to compost at home for an eco-friendly way to boost your garden whether you are on a farm or in urban setting.

WHAT IS COMPOSTING?

So, the short and skinny of it is that composting is you taking scrap organic matter and speeding up its decomposition to give you nutrient rich soil. The more in-depth science-y answer is that it is a controlled, aerobic (needing oxygen) process where microorganisms feed on materials (brown’s, green’s, and water) and digest them down into compost. However, you want to define it, if done correctly, you end up with a dark, crumbly, earthly smelling material that your plants will love.

WHY COMPOST? PROS AND CONS

Let’s talk about why you should compost AND maybe why you shouldn’t. I know I said let’s talk dirty, but I won’t do you dirty. There can be cons and things to look out for when composting and I like to play devils advocate sometimes.

Let’s start with the pros and why we love composting in our own home. The first reason is usually why people start composting in the first place; improvements in soil quality, nutrient density, and structure. Most people who compost have a yard or garden and they are doing this to augment that. Composting is organic, can cause higher yields in crops, and is rather cheap as it uses what you are already throwing away. This brings me to my next pro; it cuts down on waste. This means less trash pickup needed and is also a very eco friendly way to reduce your carbon footprint. Composting also makes for an easy educational tool for your kids. Lastly, composting honestly just makes me feel good like I am doing something to give back to mother nature and allows me to soak in some homesteader vibes even when being stuck in the city.

Next let’s touch on cons. I do want to mention that some of these are worst case OR if you aren’t composting correctly but they do deserve a mention. The reason it looks so big is because I touch on a couple of those fixes. Let’s start with the fact that it does in most cases require an initial investment. This is either in you digging a large hole to compost in or purchasing bins or lumber to build compost boxes. The good news is that if you are a serious green thumb (or want to be), spending the extra money/time up front will pay off in the long run. Next is that the efficiency and quality of your composting depends on multiple factors… but mostly you. It does require some work, knowledge, and monitoring. You need to make sure it is aerated, kept moist, and that the proper types/amounts of materials are included. If you have too much or too little of certain nutrients it can cause smells, slow down the decomposition, or even reduce the effectiveness of the compost. The silver lining to this con is that this is super easy to learn about and some trial error will make you a pro in no time. Also, the whole point is that we will help you know what to compost. Some other things to just consider when thinking about WHERE to compost is that it does require space and at the end of the day you are decomposing organic matter which can cause the spread of disease, be a fire hazard, attract pests (rats, snakes, bugs), look gross or smell bad which is unpleasant for you but can also cause neighbors to complain. It takes some planning on where it is placed and how to keep it covered/contained so that it doesn’t become the neighborhood biohazard eyesore. Lastly, composting isn’t a fix all. You can’t compost every single organic thing (like meat/dairy) and it won’t always provide everything you need to garden (will depend on the already existing soil if anything else is needed).  

PRO	CON
Improved soil quality, nutrients, and density	Initial investment of time and money
Cheap	Efficiency and quality depends on what and how much material goes into the compost
Organic	Is not without work
Higher yields	Needs to be monitored
Less waste	Can spread disease
Fewer garbage pickups	Can be a fire hazard
Easy	Can attract pests (snakes, rats, insects)
Eco- friendly	Look gross or smell bad
Educational for kids	Complaints from neighbors
Good feeling doing something to give back to nature	Can’t compost everything
	May still need additional fertilizers

HOW TO COMPOST: THE DOES AND DON’TS

There are two main types of composting:

Within those two categories though there limitless variations! Indoor and outdoor options, bins, cages, pits, keyhole gardens, manual, automatic… you get the point. I am NOT going to get into all the types and pros/cons of the different types (maybe in the future?). I am going to do is start with the basics; What backyard bin/pile composting and vermiculture have in common. Most of the process and “Ingredients” for composting are the same regardless of which route you choose to take. You need the following:

Organic Material (Brown’s vs Greens)

We are actually going to break this down into 2 different categories.

1. Browns (Carbon or C rich materials): This would include dry leaves, plant stalks, and twigs that the microorganisms eat. 
2. Greens (Nitrogen or N rich materials): This includes food scraps, grass clippings, and some manures which will help keep the heat in your pile at ideal conditions for material breakdown. 

Ideally we want to have a C:N (Carbon: Nitrogen) ratio of 30:1. This means that you want more Carbon heavy materials than Nitrogen heavy. You do not need to be this precise and start calculating like crazy but it is nice to have some browns and a bit of dirt handy to layer in when you add greens. This will help maintain ratios AND bury the compost that will tend to draw pests.

What You Can Compost at Home & Some C:N Ratios	What to Avoid Composting at Home
Nitrogen-Rich Material (“Greens”)	Meat, fish and bones
Food and vegetable scraps 1:17	Cheese and dairy products
Most grass clippings and yard trim 1:20	Pet waste and cat litter
Coffee grounds and paper filters 1:20	Produce stickers
Paper tea bags (no staples)	Fats, oils and greases
Eggshells (crushed)	Glossy paper
Poultry Manure 1:10	Treated or painted wood
Hair/Fur 1:10	Aggressive weeds/weeds with seeds
Fresh Weeds 1:20	Diseased and pest-infested plants
Cow Manure 1:20	Compostable food service ware and compostable bags*
Horse Manure 1:25	Cooked food (small amounts are fine)
Sheep Manure 1:17	Herbicide treated plants
	Dryer lint
Carbon-Rich Materials (“Browns”)	Ash from coal burning stoves( contains heavy metals)
Dry leaves 80:1
Plant stalks and twigs
Shredded paper (non-glossy, not colored) and shredded brown bags 170:1
Shredded cardboard (no wax coating, tape, or glue) 350:1
Untreated wood chips or sawdust (fresh) 500:1
Corn Cobs 11:1
Straw 110:1
Paper towel 110:1
Pine Needles 70:1

If your ratios are off here are some things you might see:

• too much Carbon rich browns will not provide enough Nitrogen for microbes to eat, the process will stay cool, and the breakdown will slow. 
• too much Nitrogen rich greens will cause the compost to become slimy and smelly. 
• having too many exposed greens with no cover OR having some non-compostable items such as meat, bones, fish or bread will attract rodents and other pests.

Water (Moisture)

The microbes and worms need the moisture to survive but too much water can turn it into a slimy, stinky mess and have it growing molds, pathogens, or mushrooms. The pile or bin needs to stay moist but not wet or drenched which usually means it needs to stay covered. A tight fitting cover will help maintain steady moisture and has the added benefit of keeping stink in and rodents out. 

Air (Oxygen)

Your pile needs to stay aerated so that the worms and microorganisms have enough Oxygen and the air will help regulate the temperature and moisture of your pile/bin. Having it at the correct temperature/churned will also help kill weed seeds and disease organisms as well as discouraging pests from moving in. If I haven’t had to churn it for my weekly moisture check, I definitely churn it every 2 weeks. You do not want to do so too often no matter how tempting it can be. churning too often can actually slow the process down. 

Time

Here’s the thing… composting takes T-I-M-E (unless you have one of those cool countertop machines). But how much time it takes is up to you and how much effort you want to put in. It could take a couple months to a couple years. The more you make sure conditions are ideal when it comes to C:N balance, moisture, and oxygen the quicker the process will go. Is our pile cold and dry? It will eventually break down but it could take a long, long, loooooooong time. 

Above and beyond all that, here are a few more tips and tricks:

• DO monitor the progress of your compost. it could be quicker or slower to mature. It will have shrunk down, have no visible food  scraps. It should look loose, dark, and crumbly. Sometimes it is necessary to sort out ready from not quite mature compost. 
• DO consider where you are putting the compost. Will it be inside or outside? Most likely you want it away from the house and in the shade to keep it from stinking up or drying out too quickly. The South Carolina Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling has a great pdf that covers how to decide what type of composting would be a good idea based on what you are working with. (https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/OR-1705.pdf)
• DO shred, chop, etc. Items broken down will break down quicker. 
• DON’T just use the compost pile as a trash can. There are plenty of things that are NOT good to compost. 
• DON’T assume that it should be composted if you aren’t sure. Look it up! For example, a lot of outdoorsy people know that ash is good for plants and that is why smaller forest fires revitalize forests and lead to a lot of new growth. BUT in composting you do not want a lot of ash. Charcoal ash can contain heavy metals and ash from wood burning stoves in large amounts can raise the pH too much. My point is… RESEARCH!
• DO look up more information. There is a lot out there to find for free online. A couple good resources are:
  • Cornell’s School of Integrative Plant Science
  • The EPA
  • The Institute for Local Self Reliance
  • The North Carolina State Extension

That’s it! That is all it takes. With a little planning and an initial investment you can create a sustainable, feel good project that gives back to your eco footprint, saves waste and money and isn’t expensive or overly work intensive to maintain.

Go make some dirt!

Taylor