Guest blogger: Jenny Lohmann
Some people
like it slow and easy, others fast and furious. It’s the yin and yang of life.
What’s this got to do with composting, you ask?
Well like life, sometimes the way you treat your compost pile changes with the
times.
Your leaves are
ready to come down and you can happily collect them for a year’s worth of brown
stuff (carbon). What you do next is up to you-slow and easy or fast and
furious.
photo courtesy of
thebikegarden.com
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Any seasoned
composter knows decomposition occurs quicker when leaves are shredded and food
scraps chopped. This type of composting is for those who fit the fast and
furious type. When you decide raking is all you need, not bothersome shredding
and chopping, you’re of the slow and easy persona.
Either way,
you’re guaranteed to generate compost, it’s just a matter of how quickly. I get
frustrated with my slow decomposing oak leaves, so I’ve taken to running them
over with the mulching mower to shred them. Others have nice chippers and
shredders but until I come upon one at a flea market or the like, it’s not in
my budget.
Besides the size of your leaves and
food scraps, turning and watering are other factors which will determine the
rate of decomposition, but please remember not to turn in the winter .
No matter your
type or if you fluctuate between the two, in the end you will create an
organic, microbial love fest for your soil.
Will these topics be covered in tonight's (Thursday, 10/9) composting presentation at Terwilliger Lodge (10530 Deerfield Road, Montgomery, OH, 45242) at 7pm?
ReplyDeleteMore on the City's website at montgomeryohio.org/2014/09/12/fall-into-compost-get-the-dirt-on-backyard-composting/