Kitchen to Garden Compost

Many people wonder about composting when they start to get serious about gardening. After all, a liberal addition of compost can change the soil around the plants, the very foundation of the garden. Wet soil can be made looser and more able to let the moisture move away from the roots while letting vital air in and dry soil can be made to hold more moisture so as to keep the plants in constant health. In other words, as far as plants and the garden are concerned, compost is "good for what ails you."

Recent efforts on the part of many municipalities to have and to promote composting programs have brought the subject to the forefront of people's minds. Unfortunately many also regard composting as a mysterious business. Food waste is placed in a green box in the yard, moved to the curb when full, and then becomes a dark, rich smelling compound used on the garden. One goes and picks it up from a large, black pile that resembles nothing like those potato peels back in the kitchen. Where did it come from and how did it get like this?

Most of our kitchens hold the answer to the mystery. Perhaps it is time to clean out the refrigerator and solve a puzzle. For most of us, there will be a forgotten bit of stew from a couple of weeks ago or a little pudding that someone put away because it was too much to throw out, but too little for anyone to want. Someone had some toast, put the jam jar in front of the little container, and it got forgotten on the back of the second shelf where no one could see it. Cleaning day had to come.

There it is. The mystery of composting solved. Open the container and the smell hits you between the nostrils. Mysterious molds are growing whiskers on the top and a liquid from breakdown is all around the sides. We call it rot but if we moved it outdoors we could call it composting at work.

Simply put, material from dead plants and animals rots. Pile it up and the pile rots away. Keep it moist and aerated and it rots fast. When the rotting is finished there is little or nothing left. If we interrupt it along the way, there is a pile of black, rich material that the garden loves. We call it compost.

So move all that stuff you might throw away in the green box, like apple peelings, potato eyes, vegetable and fruit leavings of any kind, and pile them in the back yard. Keep it moist and toss it every now and then to get the air in it. In a short while you will have black gold for the garden and be ready for the next pile.