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1d • Family Permaculture
Start the Decomposition Process
Combine Materials for Air, Moisture, and Contact
Last week we looked at what individual compost materials bring to the mix. A handful of grass clippings behaves differently from dry leaves, straw, woody stems, or kitchen scraps. This week we take the next step. We begin arranging those different materials so decomposition has a workable place to begin.
Microorganisms need more than carbon and nitrogen. They also need moisture, oxygen, and access to the materials they are breaking down. That means the physical structure of our starting mix drives the process.
Wet, soft materials such as fresh grass can settle tightly together. When too much material becomes dense and matted, the spaces that hold air begin to disappear.
Dry leaves, straw, shredded stems, and other coarse carbon-rich materials can help absorb moisture and maintain spaces for air. However, a pile made mostly from large, dry, coarse pieces may have plenty of air while lacking enough moisture and close contact for decomposition to proceed readily.
Particle size is also a big piece. Smaller pieces create more surface area for microorganisms to work on, but chopping everything too finely can allow the pile to settle and compact. Larger pieces help maintain structure, but pieces that are very large provide less surface contact.
The goal is not a perfect ingredient list. It is a workable relationship. As we combine materials, we can ask if we have enough moisture for the materials to feel damp without becoming saturated, and enough coarse or springy materials to keep the pile from collapsing into a dense mass. We observe whether wet or fine materials are distributed among drier, and the structure whether the pieces are small enough to provide good contact without removing the spaces that allow air to move?
A simple starting mix might combine a moist nitrogen-rich material with drier carbon-rich material and enough coarse structure to keep the mixture open. We can mix as we build rather than depending on perfect layers.
Before adding anything else, pick up a handful and look at what you have created. Squeeze it, loosen it, and notice how it behaves. Too wet, add more dry carbon, too dry add more fresh grass cuttings or step up the watering.
We are not building compost by perfecting an ingredient list, we are arranging materials to create conditions in which decomposition can proceed.
You have just combined several different compost materials. Which observation gives the best evidence that you have applied this week’s principle?
The pile contains an equal amount of greens and browns.
The materials are damp, mixed together, and still have visible spaces between them.
The pile has been built in neat, even layers.
Every material has been chopped into small pieces.
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Start the Decomposition Process
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