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Backyard Composting By Paul Reid,
Botanical Educator
The Louisville Zoo received a partial grant from the USDA Forest
Service Urban and community Forestry program in cooperation with the
Kentucky Division of Forestry, for the Zoo to continue developing
new botanical education programs. The grant funded a part-time
educator to help increase public knowledge about backyard habitats,
composting, the importance of trees and plants in urban habitats,
and to help create and implement new curriculum.
When it comes to backyard composting, many residential gardeners
imagine a messy, timeconsuming and space-occupying addition to their
landscape. In reality, processing organic waste on your own can
actually save time, money, and natural resources by reclaiming the
many tons of material that end up in local municipal landfills. By
understanding how we can take advantage of the natural process of
decomposition of matter, our gardens and environment will be
healthier, and fewer fertilizers will have to be purchased to
replace nutrients that are thrown away.
The breakdown of organic matter is a process that in nature is done
by worms, insects, bacteria, and fungi already present in the
environment. Composting is just supplying the key ingredients in the
proper amounts to activate the break down of organic materials into
usable nutrients. These can then be returned directly to the garden
in the form of an organic, slow-release fertilizer. Adding compost
also improves the structure of the soil, making it drain better,
hold moisture and suppresses the growth of weeds.
One of the easiest ways to save time and energy in the garden is to
use a mulching mower. Mulching your grass clippings reduces them to
fine pieces that dissolve, returning nutrients back into the lawn.
Adding an occasional bag of saved grass clippings to your compost
pile also facilitates the process of decomposition. Weeds can be
used, but be sure to add them before they go to seed or you’ll
be putting the weeds back into the garden at some point.
Another great source of green matter is the scraps of vegetables and
peelings that come out of the kitchen. (Never include meat scraps in
your compost, as this can invite unwanted animal guests to your
yard.) The other element of the compost pile is brown matter in the
form of raked leaves, twigs, branches, and even shredded newspapers.
There are two kinds of composting. The first is a cold, slow, and
passive process in which the green and brown matter is put in
a pile to allow decomposition to take place. This slow process is
the easiest to do, as the material is added gradually, but the
process may take months or perhaps a year to create a usable result.
The second kind of composting is a hot, fast, and more active
process that can create a usable product for your garden in a matter
of weeks. The hot compost pile is created by first layering the
green and brown matter much like lasagna, adding moisture as needed,
and most importantly turning or aerating the pile.
Whether you use a slow to-rot pile or a fast-layered one, a compost
bin is a useful tool to contain your material and make it easier to
turn the pile. There are many varieties of bins that can be
purchased.
Simple bins can be constructed using a piece of hardware cloth
clipped together to form a circle. In order to turn the pile, the
bin is unclipped, set up next to the pile and the contents
transferred back into it. The multiple or two-bin system can be
constructed using cement blocks or a constructed wood frame.
Regardless of what method you use, composting at home can, in the
long run, save time, money, and our landfills, while returning many
needed nutrients to the garden. There are many great books on
composting and numerous websites that offer greater detail about the
process of decomposition. On your next visit to the Zoo, stop by the
MetaZoo Education Center and see the demonstration compost exhibit
behind the building.
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