Just what is composting? It is the process of managing organic waste in a way that encourages the help of microorganisms and larger bugs to break it down into a useful garden product. Compost, the result of composting, is a humus-rich soil amendment that is full of nutrients that can help your plants be healthy and strong.
There are so many good reasons for making composting a part of your gardening ritual. It is an inexpensive and natural way to enrich your garden soil. Composting cuts down on household garbage and what goes into landfills. It attracts beneficial organisms that will improve the general health and quality of your garden. It is also a very good way to amend our sandy central Oregon soil and make it more able to retain moisture and nutrients so plants can use them.
What can you compost? Well, just about anything as long as you avoid dairy, animal fats, processed foods, diseased plants, weed seeds, and the manure of pets such as cats and dogs, as they can carry pathogens like E. coli. The most important thing to remember when choosing your compost ingredients is to get the carbon to nitrogen ratio correct. Ideally you want 2 parts Carbon to 1 part Nitrogen ingredients. Carbon ingredients (or
“brown”) you might use include dry materials like straw, dry leaves, sawdust (from untreated wood), newspaper or cardboard, wood chips and pine needles. Nitrogen (or “green”) ingredients include grass clippings, livestock manures, kitchen scraps, nitrogen fertilizers, alfalfa, and weeds without seed heads.
Now just add some air and water and you are ready to start composting.
There are three basic methods of composting: hot and cold composting and vermicomposting (worm composting). Hot composting, as the name implies, “cooks” the organic materials which results in more rapid breakdown. Hot composting, however, requires more effort since temperature must be monitored with a compost thermometer to ensure that the minimum temperature (130-160F degrees) is reached repeatedly in order to kill pathogens and sterilize any weed seeds. The big advantage with hot composting is that it results in usable compost more quickly than cold composting and in the process of reaching the right temperature, pathogens and seeds are broken down and eliminated. If carefully monitored for temperature and turned regularly. hot compost can provide a usable product within 3 months. One very important thing to keep in mind when making compost - it cannot be rushed. If hot compost is applied to soil and it has not had at least 5 weeks to cure after cooking it will rob nitrogen from any plants it is meant to help resulting in stunted growth and other problems. Patience is truly a necessity when composting.
Cold composting is simply allowing nature to take its course and break down organic materials over time without disturbance. It is very low maintenance as long as the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio is correct and the pile is kept moist like a wrung-out sponge.

The big disadvantage is that it takes time - up to a year before you will have compost that is fit to use in your garden. You also must have all the compost ingredients together before you can start cold composting. It is a long-term commitment with very few demands but great rewards at the end.
The second part of this 3-part series on composting will air on July 8. I will talk about vermicomposting and various ways to hot compost and cold compost. If you are wanting to join the swelling ranks of backyard composters tune in on July 8 for some great ideas on how to make compost, health food for your soil.
For more information on composting and other gardening topics go to our website, gocomga.com
and click on the KPOV tab on the orange bar or call the OSU Extension Plant Clinic at 541-548-6088.
This has been Gardening: Get Good At It. Thanks for tuning in!
REFERENCES
The Composting Council of Oregon, pamphlet Home Composting
OSU Extension Service publication EC 1561 Improving Garden Soils with Organic Matter
Pleasant, Barbara & Martin, Deborah L., The Complete Compost Gardening Guide, Storey Publishing, 2008