Autumn, a fine time for composting

by Michael Sweet

It’s harvest time! The season brings a lot of potential material for your compost. If you are new to composting, this is a great time to start your first pile.

First, consider the location. You will need a minimum area of 3 feet by 3 feet in a fairly sunny area. This is where you will pile scraps and waste.

Start by placing a layer of “browns” on the ground. Browns are the dry, dead plant material from around your yard and garden.

On top of that, add a layer of “greens.” Greens are wet, still colorful fruit cores and other scraps usually from your kitchen, but they can also be freshly cut grass or plants from the yard. At a minimum, try to keep your brown to green ratio at 50-50. More browns are better.

To speed up composting:

• Cut the material up into small pieces.
• Keep the pile moist (not wet).
• Stir/turn over the pile once per week to keep it aerated.

For winter composting, make sure you bag and save as much brown material as you can. Generally, in winter, all of your compost material is coming from your kitchen. This material is usually the green, wet material. The browns you save in the fall will be needed to offset this material.

Tarp the pile in the winter to prevent excessive moisture and to help contain heat to keep the process going. Try to turn the pile once per week, but don’t stress if you can’t.

Some things to remember: 

• Do NOT put any chemically treated material in your compost.
• Only put plant material in your compost.
• Put healthy material into your compost.
• Keep your brown to green ration at 50-50.
• Save some brown material for winter composting.

Last but not least, on those really cold and snowy nights, curl up with a good seed catalog and plot out what you will grow with all of your beautiful new compost in the spring.

Photo Credit: US Environmental Protection Agency