Resources: Compost or Rot? by Mike Small

RESOURCES: Soil & Compost Learning how to make good soil that will produce an abundance of nutrient rich food is a hugely valuable thing to learn. Some of the most innovative work on soil nutrition on a garden scale in Scotland is being done by Greenway Consulting. Their pioneering composters and worm tamers, Ron Gilchrist and Sam Jess, have joined the Seed Truck team – here they share some of their knowledge. You can find out more about them at the bottom of the page.

Compost or rot? Written by Sam Jess

t the heart of every garden is break down rapidly, pathogens and seeds are the soil. Good soil will produce destroyed and woody material are tenderised an abundance of nutrient rich and easily broken down by fungi. Aerobic food where poor soil will composting is a batch process, which can be produce low yield, disease susceptible nutrient completed in 12 to 18 days. No methane or deficient plants. other greenhouse gasses are produced during Healthy soil in itself is a vibrant eco-system this process therefore there is no smell. The made up of trillions of microbes, bacteria, resultant material is a nutrient rich food fungi, protozoa, nematodes and arthropods. product for your garden and will help improve All of which breakdown vegetable matter and soil structure, maintain moisture levels while release locked up nutrients into plant food. helping to suppress plant disease. The constant addition of compost to the soil Anaerobic composting feeds this eco-system and maintains a healthy This is composting without air. Anaerobic rich medium in which to grow food plants. composting is low maintenance since you The addition of chemical products to the soil simply throw it in a pile and wait a couple kills this eco-system. of years for the material to “ROT” down. If Composting, often you just stack your described as nature’s debris in a pile it will way of recycling, is generally compact to the biological process the point where there Look deep into of breaking up organic is no available air for waste (such as food Nature and then beneficial organisms to waste, manure, leaves, live. Low temperature you will understand grass cuttings, paper, etc. interrupts the ) into an extremely useful everything better. composting progress, humus-like substance by as it cannot reach the various micro-organisms - Albert Einstein temperature hot enough including bacteria and to kill pathogens or fungi in the presence of weed seeds. It eventually disallows the oxygen. blooming of decomposers and microbes.

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Aerobic composting

This means to compost in the presence of oxygen and can also be referred to as Thermophilic composting due to the bacteria that thrive in the high temperatures involved in the process. High nitrogen waste (like grass clippings or other green material) will grow bacteria that will create high temperatures in excess of 50 degrees C. Organic waste will

Instead you will get a very slow working bacteria growing that does not require air. Your compost may take years to break down. Anaerobic composts create the awful smell most people associate with composting. The bacteria break down the organic materials into harmful compounds like ammonia and methane. Are you a composter or a rotter?

Sam teaching kids at a Fife Primary about how to look after worms

Vermiculture (Worm composting)

This is the most beneficial and environmentally friendly way for the home composter to process food waste generated in the home or small kitchen. The academic name for using worms to compost is Vermiculture – vermi is the Latin name for worm. The role of worms in gardening has long been acknowledged as an indicator as to the health of the soil and their importance in gardening should never be underestimated. Compost worms are specialist worms – not earth worms. They are surface dwelling worms, which in nature live on the forest floor. The resultant “worm poo” or castings are a potent natural fertiliser. Have you ever wondered where all the leaves go which fall in Autumn? Or what fertilises the prolific growth of the world forests? These surface dwellers – litter worms as they are known, have scoffed the lot! They love rotting organic material. What we are seeing in action is vermi-composting as nature intended. They also love your kitchen scraps. What the competent vermiculturalist aims to do is replicate this process in an innovative way. By setting up a wormery or vermiculture unit they can recycle the food waste from the kitchen on a daily basis (so there is no rotting food lying about in the kitchen or compost

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It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as have these lowly organised creatures. - Charles Darwin

heaps). These worms will also munch away quite happily on paper/cardboard waste too. Each worm will consume half its own body weight in food per day. On average each worm weighs in at about 1 gram. In an average sized wormery there can be as many as 1000 worms. That equates to 500grams (1/2 KILO) of worm cast being processed per day!!!!

Want to give it a try?

Here are a couple of easy trials to undertake and judge for yourself which is more effective. 1.

Construct your own thermophilic composter - this is a simple wooden box with a lining of polystyrene insulation - see the Greenway book for details. Make up a batch of material for composting (50/50 Green/brown material) as you would normally do. Divide the batch into two equal amounts . Place one in your thermophilic composter and treat the other half as you would normally do. After 3-4 days observe both batches and record the temperature. Keeping both batches separate re -mix both batches and return to the composters. Repeat this step on day 6-7 and again on day 9-10. Observe the results. Set up a vermiculture unit worm box. On a daily basis divide your kitchen scraps into two equal amounts. Add one amount to your Vermiculture unit and treat the other half as you would normally do. Observe the results.

About Greenway Consulting

We at Greenway Consulting are specialists in Thermophilic composting and Vermiculture and have produced a manual “Grow Food Natures Way” which contains more detailed information about and plans of how to construct both a Thermophilic composter and wormery suitable for the home composter. We also provide training in both disciplines to groups, schools and gardening clubs. It is a privilege to work in partnership with Fife Diet. If you want to find out more about Greenway, have a look at Greenway site, http://www.greenway.org.uk

Building a worm box with the Marie Trust in Glasgow.

Find out more about the Seed Truck: www.fifediet.co.uk/seedtruck