Compost, the Free Wonder-Working Plant Food

Composting is one of the most important things we gardeners can do. A good compost pile recycles vegetable scraps and other wastes from the garden and yard. We can “harvest” some free fertilizer for the garden, save money, and lessen our need for outside fertilizers. Composting also helps the community because it reduces the amount of garbage other people have to deal with. One of my dreams is to see every household in a town with a compost pile.

Good compost makes excellent fertilizer because in addition to some important nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, it often contains trace elements you don’t ordinarily find in commercial fertilizer. With a wide variety of materials (coffee grounds, wastes from fruits and vegetables, wood ashes, etc.) in your compost pile, you’re apt to get a good sampling of the secondary and minor nutrients needed for plant growth. You shouldn’t have any worries about deficiencies of trace minerals in your soil.

The best compost pile will heat up and start to decompose the material in it quickly. Research shows that the longer a compost pile sits, the less useful it will be for your garden. What happens is that the nutrients leach steadily through the pile into the ground. Later, when you put the compost in the garden, it hasn’t got much fertilizer zing to it. If you compost the way I do, the pile will start to heat up in a day or two and you can start using the material in about 15 days. You won’t lose much fertilizer through leaching.

In the decomposition process, a compost pile gets pretty hot. On a cool fall morning I can see the steam rising from the center of my compost pile. A pile that is decomposing well, or “cooking,” will produce temperatures of 140-160°F. At these temperatures weed seeds and many plant disease organisms are killed. But high heat is not crucial; a good compost pile will break down material at much lower temperatures.

Compost piles rarely have a bad smell and shouldn’t attract pests if you never put meat scraps or bones in the pile. Odors can occur when a pile is too big or packed too tightly and air can’t circulate. Provide a good flow of air into and through the pile.

All compost piles need an activator— alfalfa meal is the best

To get a compost pile working, it’s essential to have several layers of an activator throughout the pile. An activator is a source of both nitrogen and protein—ingredients that help all the various micro-organisms and bacteria break down compost material. Most old compost directions tell you to mix in horse or cow manure as the activator; today that’s impractical for many people.

I’ve found alfalfa meal to be about the cheapest, quickest-acting activator. If you can’t find any at your garden or feed store, look in the supermarket for “Litter Green,” a kitty litter product that’s 100 percent alfalfa meal.

Every time I add new material to the compost pile, I dust it thoroughly with alfalfa meal and moisten the pile a little. Alfalfa meal is an excellent source of nitrogen and protein. It is made from alfalfa hay and is usually 14 to 16 percent protein.

If you have had problems getting your compost pile to work, dust the pile with alfalfa meal as you add material. It not only improves the performance of a compost pile, but also cuts down any odor.

Alfalfa meal is the best way to break down a big pile of leaves quickly. Leaves stored in a big bin or stashed behind the garage may take years to break down. For this reason many people avoid putting them in their compost pile. Mix a thin layer of alfalfa meal between 4-inch layers of leaves, keep the pile moist, and you’ll get a rich crumbly leaf compost in a hurry.

When you haven’t got alfalfa meal• • •

Once I was invited to give a talk on composting and to start a model compost pile at a school about 2 hours from my home. When the day of the talk came, I loaded up my truck with everything I needed for the demonstration and drove to the school. As I was setting up my materials before the talk I realized I had forgotten my alfalfa meal compost activator. I rushed up to the teacher who had invited me. “Do you happen to have any alfalfa meal around here at the college?” I asked. “I’ve got to have it for the compost pile.”

“What’s alfalfa meal?” he asked.

“Never mind,” I said. “I’m going to drive into town for a minute. I’ll be back in a hurry.”

I raced down into the village and dashed into the grocery store. There wasn’t any alfalfa meal kitty litter anywhere on the shelves, so I got the next best thing, a big bag of high-protein dog food. Yes, dog food! It’s a natural activator for a compost pile, too, because of all the protein in it.

Back at the school, it soon was time to talk about activators. So I told the students my story and explained why I was sprinkling dog food over the layers of compost material. A dog was standing at the edge of the students. I don’t think he accepted my explanation too well. To him, I was just throwing good dog food away.

Besides alfalfa meal and dog food, good activators include barnyard manure, natural products such as bone meal, cottonseed meal, blood meal, and good, rich garden soil. If you can get some of these materials, keep them handy. Anytime you add to your compost pile, dust the works with a little activator.

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