Let's talk compost, today. You know I loves me some magical transformation of trash into treasure- art, that is. But today we're going to talk about another kind of treasure from trash. Compost. Black gold, baybee!

There are about a million different ways to make compost, it sometimes seems. if you Google it you may soon be overwhelmed by the variety of opinion and the types of composters; barrels and bins and cages; above or below ground. To turn or not to turn? To add newspaper? To layer or not to layer?

You might, like me, find yourself lost in a sea of terms; anaerobic, biologic factors, microbial activity...

It's really not that difficult.

Left to its own devices nature creates compost anywhere a pile of leaves or bracken rests long enough. I think we tend to make things too difficult sometimes. It's true that the way you do your compost and the materials you add will affect the temperature and amount of time it takes to degrade and become good for your garden, but when it comes to compost a little common sense goes a long way.

Out here on the ranch, We have a variety of compost areas and methods, but since we have plenty of space and lots of time, I don't worry too much about my compost. I have BIG piles of weeds and bracken that are patiently awaiting the lawnmower to chop them down to size. They are, of course, composting in their nether reaches while they wait.

I have the heap in the corner of the pumpkin yard of wild mustard, green tumbleweeds, tamarisk rakings and the mess of newspapers and bird seed, food and droppings that I clean from the bottoms of my 6 rescued parrot cages.

Then there is the load of wood chips that is slowly turning to compost, and the horse manure that my partner brings home from the dude ranch where she works as a builder. These large piles will be mixed and mashed and shredded and mown and watered and turned eventually to compost.

I can almost hear you all yelling,

"But we don't have that much space, (or time, or patience)!"

It's okay.

The biggest problem most folks seem to have tends to happen when their compost piles get too big to deal with. My advice is to start small and take what you learn with you as your composting "grows up"! Probably the easiest and most quickly efficient method is what I call my bag method.

I start with a plastic or vinyl feed or potting soil bag, but a heavy duty lawn bag or two works just as well. Start with a few inches of soil in the bag. I generally use the worn out potting soil from when I'm re-potting in the spring and throughout the year.

First I toss in all the brown clippings and trimmings from the potted plants I'm sprucing up. Then the weeds I pull walking back and forth to the mailbox or taking the dogs for a run.

Coffee grounds and kitchen waste (I tend to avoid meat products in all of my compost, although that is another matter for much controversy. I'd just as soon skip the flies, and maggots are just gross) When there's a sloppy bunch of kitchen scraps- coffee grounds, tea bags, potato or other vegetable peels and fruit trimmings I usually toss in some more soil to keep the smell and flies down. This does sort of follow the "layered" technique, but not because I really work at it, it just seems to happen that way. It usually takes me only a few days to a week at most to fill the bag. I water it a bit and then tie the top up tight and set the bag in the garden in the sun.

As soon as one bag is done, I start another. If you run the kitchen waste through a food processor each bag becomes pretty much fully composted in 2 weeks or so. If you toss larger pieces of kitchen waste in your compost bag give it a month. If there are any large chunks of plant matter that haven't fully broken down when I open the bags, I sift them into a working bag and let them go another round!

This quick and easy compost method makes great potting soil, compost for flower beds, raised vegetable beds; just about any small gardening area you can think of.

Once you have mastered the compost bag technique, it is pretty simple to move to larger quantities as space permits. Just keep the same balance going that works for the bags.

Here are a few really good information links to get you started!

Veg Web has a super easy to read site with step by step instructions, types of compost bins and loads of info as does Avant Gardening along with videos.

Got a special method that works for you? I'd love to hear your experiences with composting so don't be shy, leave me a comment! And if you just can't get enough of gardening today, stop by Thorne's World for my list of Green Garden Tips.

© Terese Hartjoy, 2009