Inspired by ecological concerns, the ancient practice of composting has assumed a significant modern role with the potential of easing the problem of overburdened landfills that are at the crisis stage in many areas.
By recycling the windfall of autumn leaves, grass clippings and other garden wastes, which account for much of the bulk of trash dumped at the landfills, the gardener himself gains a priceless soil additive that will make plants grow better. The alternative is to bag all of nature`s bounty, then wait for the garbage man to pick it up.
But this is the last year this alternative is available in Illinois, one of the first states to enact legislation prohibiting landfills from accepting yard wastes. The ban takes effect Jan. 1.
With this in mind, now is a good time to get ahead of the game by converting this fall`s waste accumulations into the rich, crumbly humus that will improve your soil and grow better flowers and vegetables.
Tried and true
Composting is the key to such recycling efforts, and it is less complicated than you may have been led to believe. If you are a new gardener, it may be a vaguely familiar practice, but it has been a phase of good gardening for generations, even as nature has been doing it since the beginning of time.
Don`t be misled by the notion that a compost pile is too much work, unsightly or perhaps smelly. It need not be any of these. It can be as simple or elaborate as you like and situated in an out-of-the-way corner of the yard or screened from view by shrubbery or fencing.
A neat-looking pile can be developed within a concrete block or meshed- wire fence enclosure, but it will be no more efficient than one without any retaining provisions.
Some gardeners merely dig a pit in the ground several feet deep and as wide as necessary to hold waste accumulations. If your yard is small, you may settle for a ready-made composter bin.
How much effort you put into composting is up to you. Just adding layer upon layer of leaves, grass clippings, frost-killed flowers and vegetable tops, seed-free weeds and other yard wastes is all that is necessary to start the pile working. You need not worry about offensive odors if table scraps are excluded from the pile.
It is a good rule to mix leaves with other plant residues to keep the leaves from packing and inhibiting aeration.
Decomposition can be hastened by occasionally adding soil and leftover fertilizer between the layers of litter, using a commercial compost activator, watering the pile during dry spells and turning it over occasionally with a spading fork. But if you let nature take its course, results will be just as good but will take longer.
If a conventional compost pile is impractical, you still can salvage much of the garden wastes by direct composting. This means working them right into the soil in lieu of putting them on a pile. Though this may not use all of autumn`s accumulations, at least a subtantial amount will be put to good use in the garden.
You can, for example, rake the leaves around ornamental shrubs, trees and hedges and between the rows of perennials, then turn them under the soil. Not only will the decomposing leaves enrich the soil, but the spading also will have a beneficial effect. After a hard freeze, more leaves can be used to mulch these plants. Leaves also can be spread over planting sites of spring-flowering bulbs to delay frost penetration until you get around to planting the bulbs. Rake the leaves aside when planting the bulbs, then replace them as a mulch. Stockpile some, too, to cover soil mounds on roses and to mulch newly planted shrubs and trees after a hard freeze.
The direct method
By far the best way to use more prodigious amounts of yard refuse, including the leaves, is to direct-compost it in the vegetable plot and areas set aside for summer annuals. Do this by digging trenches in the plots about 2 feet deep and as wide as you like, piling the dirt between them. Then fill the trenches with the litter, sprinkle some fertilizer over all and cover with several inches of soil.
Within a week or so, the plant wastes will be compacted by the initial layer of soil. Add more soil as the wastes continue to settle to keep the trenches full to the top. By next spring, the wastes will have decomposed sufficiently to be mixed with the soil and thus improve its texture and fertility for the new growing season.
Leaves and other plant litter will decompose more rapidly on the compost pile or when turned under the soil in direct composting if they are put through a shredder first to reduce their bulk.