Questions and answers for the composting season

May 20, 2005

It’s compost season, folks—time to start a pile, treat your plants to some organic goodness, and to ask unusual questions about how it’s done.

Dear Marti,

Are you scheduling a compost bin sale this year?

Thanks, Shawna R.

Dear Shawna,

Got worms? If you don’t, you can buy a few dozen squiggly friends as well as a compost bin, a compost thermometer, finished compost, and of course some plants to make good use of it all at the second annual compost bin sale on Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Boulder County Master Gardeners is once again partnering with Boulder County Master Composters and Growing Gardens to give you the opportunity to get goin’ on composting at a one-time low, low price!

This year’s sale will take place on both days at the Iris Center, 3198 North Broadway. On Saturday only bins will also be sold at the Boulder County Recycling Center at 1901 63rd St. in Boulder (63 rd and Arapahoe – you recyclers know where it is). Master Gardeners and Growing Gardens will be selling vegetables, annuals, perennials, Plant Select® perennials, and herbs. Master Composters will be selling the Soilmaker Compost Bin for $60. Grab this chance to troubleshoot in person with experts on your individual planting and composting challenges.

Dear Marti,

I live in an apartment and cannot compost. What’s your take on putting food waste in the garbage disposal? Is that better than landfilling it?

Thanks, Erin

Dear Erin,

Speaking as your compost advisor and not as your plumber, garbage disposal repairperson, or as your wastewater treatment technician, the answer to your question is yes: In general, if you’re not composting, it is better to put your food scraps down the garbage disposal rather than in the trash due to the ground, air and water pollution created when organic material is buried in a landfill. It’s better, BUT…it’s much better to compost that material, both for the environment and for the waste water treatment plant.

You can choose to compost, even as an apartment dweller. There are worm bins specially designed for indoor use. Worms munch your food down in record time and produce castings, a very high quality compost you can use on your houseplants. Visit wormwoman.com for details or head to the compost bin sale mentioned above and talk to the experts there.

If you must go the garbage disposal route, here’s where what happens: In the city of Boulder , your food waste will end up as part of the city’s biosolids program where it will be mixed with sewage sludge and then “land applied.” Though the sludge does eventually break down, t his isn’t the same as composting since the nutrients aren’t as available to the soil.  

In Longmont , biosolids are actually composted through A1 organics in Golden. Composting biosolids is preferred to land application because it can greatly reduce the risks of human pathogens and harmful leachate emissions. 

The City of Boulder does have a biosolids composting proposal up for public discussion, so check it out and let the city know what you think.

Recognizing the importance of keeping organics out of the landfill, the city of Boulder is also working on a solution for food and yard waste, and is currently running a pilot program to explore the curbside collection of recyclables AND compostable materials. Stay tuned, urbanites…

Dear Marti,

If I’m transplanting starter plants and I’m using the Eco-Cycle compost tea, should I also add compost?

Thanks, Kate

Dear Kate,

Sure, give those microbes something to chew on. The idea behind the compost tea (available at the Farmers' Market on Saturdays), is that you’re watering your soil with live microbes, little critters that will eat organic material, like compost or mulch, and further digest it to make the nutrients available for your plants to use. The more organic material in the soil, the more nutrients the microbes generate, the more you’ll have healthy, pest-resistant plant growth.

 

Posted May 2005