Lynne Cim wrote:Thank you Kate! We have a 4' X 4' compost pile that we have been using mainly to discard our food waste (no meat or dairy, lots of coffee grounds and plant matter). We don't tend the pile in any way. My thought was to unearth the lower area and use that for our garden. Do I need to do anything to it first? Should I plop it on top of my garden hugelkultur this fall or wait until spring?
Hi Lynne,
Ideally you should be adding carbon-rich organic matter into your compost bays each time you add food scraps or green plant matter. Here's an edited extract of my book to explain why
"We’re all becoming concerned about the environmental impact that throwing our food waste into landfill is having on our planet. So, it can be tempting to simply load up your compost bin with your food scraps alone. It may feel like you’re doing the right thing by diverting this waste away from landfill, but if you have a nitrogen-heavy compost it will turn into a mini landfill in your own backyard and release methane. Totally shocking, but true! It’s essential to balance your food and green garden waste with
carbon, also known as browns.
Adding carbon is the secret to making good compost and is often the solution to composting problems. Putting in a generous amount of brown matter with every
bucket of food waste is a must. Adding carbon is important because provides compost microorganisms with the
energy they need to multiply and consume your waste. Carbon helps to create structure and bulk in your pile, which means more compost. It makes the finished product far more moisture retentive. Carbon also creates air pockets in your pile, which ensures that your bin won’t stink. Your neighbourhood will be grateful!
A lot of what you put in your paper recycling bin could instead be placed in your compost bin. Shockingly, paper products account for more than 40 per cent of landfill volume, as a lot of them are contaminated with grease and can’t be recycled. Like food waste, paper products stubbornly resist breaking down in the anaerobic environment of landfill. So, taking ownership of our household carbon means that these nutrients are actually kept in circulation and returned to the soil.
I’ll talk about composting ratios in more detail later, but to lay it out simply, all you need to do is follow my mantra: ‘Brown is best, then chuck in the rest.’ This means that you need to add at least an equal amount of browns (carbon) to greens (nitrogen) every time you add scraps to your compost. You’ll
experience the sweet smell of successful compost when you follow this simple rule. Carbon is often the missing link in helping to create well‑balanced compost that is full of life, has a rich deep brown colour and has a deliciously distinctive earthy scent."
If your compost has been slowly decomposing over several months, the bottom broken down scraps should have cured long
enough to be safe to apply to your garden. Just be aware that seeds will likely germinate after applying your compost, as you need heat in a hot compost pile to make things like tomato seeds non-viable.
Hope this helps.
Kate
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