Managing Your Bins
Step 8. Using Compost On-site
Using compost made at your school provides the community with a real life model of ecological integrity and function, something any school should be proud of. The compost can be used to amend school gardens, landscaping, or in science experiments. By using compost, you are introducing the same organisms present in the compost, into the soil you’re amending. A single teaspoon of good compost can contain 1 billion bacteria and 900 feet of fungal hyphae, to name only a small portion of the life that’s present. These organisms are the basis of life on the planet, and their life cycles are what feed the plants, which in turn feeds animals, and humans. This food web, which starts with the microbiology in soil is the root of the word “organic”, which in terms of food production is most simply defined as a food web “mediated by life”.
One yard of compost will provide more than a half-inch of compost over 1000 sq. ft. of garden space. This is roughly the equivalent of amending your soil with a fifty pound bag of an 8 – 4 – 2 organic fertilizer although, because the nutrients in compost are so stable you could apply twice the volume without the potential of harming your plants. In addition, adding compost to a garden introduces hundreds of thousands of beneficial microorganisms that would not be introduced by amending your soil with fertilizers. Compost can be applied as often as every three months and as little as every year.
The use of compost:
- Increases organic matter and aggregate stability
- Builds sound root structure
- Aerates clay soils for improved drainage
- Improves moisture retention of sandy soils
- Balances soil pH
- Reduces water demands of plants
- Helps control soil erosion
- Improves plant resilience to disease and weather
- Extends the growing season
- Increases soils vitamin and mineral content
- Replaces the need for petrochemical fertilizers