Composting At Home
What This Site Is About
I am an undergraduate landscape horticulture student at The Ohio State University. I developed this site for a class project in computers in horticulture. My goal is to help the homeowner design and start their very own compost pile in their yard, and to let them see what the benefits that come from doing so.
Why Compost?
Proper composting is the gradual aerobic microbial decomposition of
organic material. When the finished product, compost
(also known as humus), is removed from the bin or pile it is a dark,
friable, odorless product, very similar to the organic matter
found in the soil. The quickly available nutrient value in compost
is generally very low, but its major influence is on the
improvement of physical conditions in the soil structure and slow release
of nutrients (especially nitrogen).
Adding properly aged compost to the soil will improve its water holding
capacity and enrich the soil bacterial activity which, in
turn, has a direct affect on the availability of some mineral salts
to plants.
If fresh organic matter were added to garden or flower bed soil, the
microbes which carry out the decomposing process would
compete with the growing plants for the available nitrogen. When this
occurs, the plants usually show a nitrogen deficiency as a
yellowing of the older foliage.
Today's typical homeowner has an aversion to establishing a compost
pile: "It will attract rodents"; "It will draw flies"; "I don't
want to offend my neighbors with the smell"; go the typical comments.
Actually, the properly managed compost pile has none of
these problems.
Basically, there are two acceptable systems for compost production:
a very simple, cool, low production method utilizing only
dry organic wastes, such as lawn clippings, leaves and corn husks,
and a more rapid, sophisticated, high temperature
production system, utilizing most organic kitchen waste as well as
yard and garden refuse.