Welcome back to the Compost Conversation for 2025, and a happy new year to all our readers.
Here at YIMBY we are still bursting with ideas for compost articles, so will keep the conversation going into 2025.
Do let us know if there is a compost-related article you’d like to read, or burning compost questions you have – many of our articles are sparked from reader’s questions. Remember all our articles (nearly 70 now) are available on the YIMBY website.
Perhaps you started the year with some resolutions to do things differently, or to take up new practices in 2025. Perhaps being a better composter was on your list. If it was, we hope things are going well. But, if your compost is still not what you want it to be, don’t be disheartened, the good news is; there is really no compost pile, no matter how stinky and sludgy, or dry and lifeless that can’t be remediated back into a wonderful rich compost that will feed your garden.
To weave this restorative compost magic we just need to consider what is not working with our existing pile, what are the characteristics that make it a poor pile?
We then ask, what can we add and combine with our existing pile to counter, or balance, this characteristic?
If we are falling for the classic ‘tip and run’ compost approach, where food scraps make up the majority of our pile, our compost will be heavy, stinky and sludgy. The counter, or balance, is to add lots more carbon-rich ingredients like straw, dry autumn leaves, aged wood-chips and woody garden prunings. These will blend beautifully with the food scraps, add texture and aeration, dry the pile a bit and dramatically reduce the bad smells.
When we see (and smell) the improvement, we’ll be adding those balancing carbon-rich ingredients every time we add to our pile.
At the other end of the spectrum, if our compost is mostly woody garden prunings that have not been well chopped up, our pile will likely be dry and looking pretty lifeless. Time to add more nitrogen-rich ingredients, bringing more moisture and extra density to our pile.
Woody garden prunings are a great addition to our compost, but they do need to be chopped up fine to be effective.
Overly woody compost piles benefit from layers of food scraps, wet manures and coffee grounds, all nitrogen-rich, moist and heavy, to balance or counter our lighter, dryer and carbon-rich woody compost.
What does your compost need to get it balanced and cranking in 2025?
If you are needing inspiration, YIMBY is offering workshops in our continuous hot compost method in March and April.
– Joel Meadows works with *Yes In My Back Yard, (YIMBY), a community-scale composting initiative in Castlemaine and surrounds. Send questions or comments to hello@yimbycompost.com, or to book in for a compost workshop!
