The compost bin is no boring back corner of the lot . There ’s a lot go bad on , whether we watch the process or not . We shake off out the worst parts of our ripe solid food , and often the best division too : juicy , balmy , fibrous tidbits that our human body ca n’t digest . We offer the pieces to the component , which freely work them down into a rich hummus — black gold — that restores fertility to our gardens . It ’s no wonder that compost attracts a certain population of scavengers , decomposers , detritivores and opportunist . What have you find in the compost that you were n’t expecting ?
Wildlife In Garden Compost
from time to time the heat and aroma of a compost pile attracts mammals other than homo . A friend found an opossum ’s nest in her compost . This rambling marsupial was probably enjoy the protection of a semi - lasting social structure for a change , as it is not adapted to hold up cold winters and relies on scavenging . The time value of this helpful decomposer might be worth leaving a little space for in the compost bin , or well yet , give it a bank identification number of its own if you may give up the room . ( There arepros of get an opossum in the garden . )
gnawer might not be quite as welcome as the opossum . In a residential area garden where I volunteered , I come up one babe rodent in a compost bin . I powerfully discouraged the management from using rodenticide — I could n’t opine spend the travail to produce an organic garden and then setting rat poison along the perimeter . We waitress a few days , though , and the next time I bring down this urban garden , a red - tailed hawk circled above and landed on a soapbox . I hoped it would find the food for thought it sought and off our undesirable compost residents . This razzing of prey regularly visited the neighborhood for the rest of the time of year , and as we gardened we would break and watch over it soar . We did n’t see the hawk catch anything , but the gnawer did n’t show up in the compost again . The managers and I were beaming the mortarboard was not inadvertently poison by rodenticides , and we were well-chosen to see wildlife on a regular basis — wildlife that mystify no menace to our garden and that our garden might serve in a small way .
Domestic Animals In Deep Litter Compost
In the state of nature , animals are part of the compost unconscious process . Their skin , fur and pearl break down into the mineral that feed the industrial plant . beast also participate in decomposition , mixing up and contributing to the grunge recipe . Thefour basic ingredientsfor compost are carbon ( browns ) , nitrogen ( greens ) , melodic line ( turn ) and water ( rainwater or other liquids ) . risky pigs root around , small mammals burrow , raspberry scrape and pot , and big animals such as bears knock down bushed Sir Henry Wood and break up tree bark . Meanwhile , everything poops and pees . All the leaf litter , grass and dead flora in a forest would be a molder , stinky batch if all the animals , with child and microscopical , did n’t get need and mix it up , break it down , stomp it and stir it around . It ’s only born that farm animals can help with the same process in mystifying bedding material composting .
Many people are surprised when they learn this obvious approach . I ’ve seen it at a public Education Department farm : a Gallus gallus coop basicallyinsidea compost wad . Another angle is a chicken campaign ( or any type of fenced livestock area ) being one big compost pile . In the model I ’m intimate with , chicken , grunter and ducks coexist inside a little wall grounds . The land inside the fencing is pad with about 2 feet of dry straw , which provide the Brown of the compost recipe . The greens are the minute from the farm : the competently named Chenopodium album and Lamium amplexicaule that are weeded from the rows , overripe tomatoes , kitchen scraps and other deficient foods . Aeration occur as pigs shovel the straw and filth around with their noses , looking for chuck or beetles as a rootage of protein . Same for the ducks , although they care to have a muddier consistency for finding buried gem . As it happens , ducks are loaded poopers , plus the fuzz make a grownup splattering in the duck ’s wad pool , so moisture is usually present in the deep litter . If it gets too wet and soggy , more leaves from dusk cleanup spot , grass press clipping , or a span of straw bales can top it off and absorb some wet . Harvesting the end up compost happens once a year , and fresh straw is bring in to start the process over . Surprisingly , this compost method has no odor , as the natural balance of microbes and speed of decomposition is generally gentle to maintain .
Domestic Plants Gone Wild
Unless you are meticulous about removing seeds before toss out food bit , you ’ll be blessed with a surprise plant every once in awhile . When I experience in Colorado , I tried to save the a shoot avocado that await quite level-headed in the dank compost . Potted up in a gay windowpane with a lot view , far from its tropical native land , the plant did n’t survive the desiccated conditions and gamey elevation . On the other hand , many a gardener has tangled with the uninvited yet curiously vigorous mystery squash racquets .
Hybrid squash or gourdsmight be the most common unpaid worker sprouting from compost . From my experience , butternut and delicata varieties are counted among the unfearing . Often , a vine arising from a compost pile is unidentifiable until it ready fruit , and even then , the identity can mystify the nurseryman . Karen Lanier
Take our mystery compost squash , for example . It began innocently enough , and we decided to permit it rise and see what became of it . In about a month , it has go from ground level , up over the fence onto the neighbor ’s side , puzzle out its manner along the top of the fencing for about 9 human foot , then reach up and climbed up a 30 - substructure holly tree . It could be work its style toward the light , and it has about 10 foot to go before it reaches the top of the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . How will we harvest the fruit ? What will it even be ? We might just impart the fruit of this vine for the birds , because those holly leaves are not worth combat , and I do n’t want to call a firetruck for a ladder that tall .
Another squash racquets arose from the compost at a community garden . At my postulation , a tenacious vine that survived a grown compost harvest was give its own outer space to grow . I created a supportive trellis for it by bending wire fencing panel into a downhearted archway that small fry could creep through . The Tunnel of Squash was an impromptu magical land that hung heavy with invigorated , healthy food in a position pronounce as a food desert . The big challenge was introducing butternut squash to folks who ’d never had it , did n’t make love when to reap it and did n’t know how to cook it .
Compost Philosophy
Reflecting on the procedure of compost convey up thoughts on the cycles of living , gifts of fertility , inevitable disintegration and unending restorative power of nature . When you add to , sour or reap your compost , I invite you to embrace unexpected invitee that seem in the gook and morass of your discards and at least allow place to study their significance . It ’s pretty awe-inspiring what can develop out of the debris when given a chance .
Karen Lanier
Karen Lanier
