Composting

Very few places in Florida have rich, highly organic soils.  Most of us deal with sand of various kinds.  Some plants such as peaches and watermelons do well in sandy soils, but in order for them to thrive, those soils must be amended with organic materials.  You can get organic materials by buying it, which is rather expensive for any quantity, or by making it yourself.  Composting is probably the Florida gardeners' best friend.  What is composting?  "Using the natural process of decay to change organic wastes into a valuable humus-like material call compost."  How do you make it yourself?

Here is an excellent composting PowerPoint Presentation developed at Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences.  Composting  Scroll down to the presentation. 

If you can't open the PowerPoint here are some basics:  To speed up the natural decay of organic materials, you need a compost pile or bin.  In it you can control air, water, food and temperature.  You will also need decomposers and food for the decomposers.  The decomposers are the microbes, mainly bacteria and fungi that do the work for you.  Foods for them are organic materials to be composted and the right amount of air, water and warmth.  Grass clippings, used potting soil, manure, leaves, garden trimmings, kitchen scraps and even hair are food for the microbes.  Materials to avoid are oils, fat, grease, meat, fish, or dairy products and unwashed egg shells.  Dog or cat waste and diseased or insect ridden plants should also be avoided. They tend to attract pests and may introduce diseases.  Also avoid hard to kill weeds and weeds that have gone to seed.  

Bins for composting are many and varied from commercial tumblers to simple fencing circles like this from the blog; Garden Now - Think Later  When you put yours together, remember that it should be in the shade and have a nearby water source.  You will need to turn your compost pile. Be sure there is adequate room.  Your neighbors probably would rather not see it, so conceal it or be sure that it's not unsightly.  Some HOAs do not allow composting, so be sure to check.  If they don't, please work to change the rules.  Landfills get full... what then?

You should plan to give your decomposers a balanced diet of browns and greens.  Browns are high carbon materials such as leaves, straw, paper, sawdust and animal bedding with manure.  Greens are high nitrogen materials such as vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, grass clippings and manures.  The quickest way to make compost is by adding mixed browns plus greens, turning every five to seven days, controlling the water content.  When the pile no longer heats after mixing, allow it to stand without mixing for a least four weeks.  Compost is mature when the color is dark brown, crumbly, loose and humus-like, has an earthly smell, contains no recognizable feedstock and has shrunk to about 1/3 of its original size.  Put some on your garden beds to enrich them, and enjoy the feeling of making something worthwhile out of something that would have been thrown away.