One of the things I recommend over and over is adding compost to your vegetable garden each season. Compost adds nutrients to the soil, breaks up clay, and helps the soil hold water longer. All compost is not created equal, however. Some compost is made in hot piles that sterilizes the result so you do not get weed seeds or pathogens in your garden, and some is barely compost at all. What is a consumer to do to find the good stuff?
Composting Standards
Fortunately, the US Composting Council, a trade and professional organization, has come up with some standards that are research based and objective and can be used to pick good compost from bad compost. As part of the Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) program, compost will carry one or more of three tags: trees & shrubs, flower and vegetable gardens, and lawn. Each icon is linked to test results performed on the compost batch by the producer. These tests look at the chemical, physical, and biological components of the compost. They also test for compliance with the EPA standards for heavy metals and pathogens.
What is Tested For?
The specific things tested for are as follows:
- pH
- soluble salts
- nutrient content
- organic matter
- moisture percent
- maturity
- stability
- inerts
- trace metals
- weed seed and pathogens
Compost Standards
Using ten years of data from the STA program, standards were drawn up for minimum and maximum values for each of the three categories of compost. The categories are represented by easy to understand icons that will begin to appear on the compost bags, literature, and signage. For more information, see the Consumer Compost Use Program.
Why It Matters
With the surge in gardening, especially organic gardening for food, the demand for compost has risen considerably. Some unscrupious dealers are bagging the compost before it is ready. Green compost has uncomposted things in it like horse manure. If you can tell what went into the compost, it is green. Do not use it as it may burn your plants as well as contain viable weed seeds.
What Compost Is Supposed To Look Like
Compost should be black or dark brown with an earthy smell. There should not be any particles larger than a BB in it. If your compost doesn’t look that way and smell that way, it is not done. Take it back to the dealer and get some that is finished. If youi want to make your own compost, this article discusses how to compost at home.
Want to learn to garden? My first attempt at gardening ended up in failure. The weeds took over and squeezed the vegetables out. I was very frustrated by this waste of good seed, time, and money. So I became a master gardener and spent a lot of time helping other people avoid or overcome problems in their garden.
In order to help others garden successfully, I have written a book, Vegetable Gardening from the Ground Up, available in an ebook or a paperback from Amazon. It is also in Kindle Unlimited.
