Composting versus Decomposition

Composting, or the idea of it, appealed to me, because it seemed a sort of recycling. I mean, with all the fricking weeding I was doing in the yard, it seemed a waste to just throw it all away. All those nutrients, all the fertilizer and organic compost I had invested in the soil, stolen away by the stinking weeds, not to mention all those HOURS I was hunched over pulling each delicate little weedstalk to coax the whole root out... So, I started making little piles of the stuff, and the piles got bigger and bigger. Eventually, I put everything in a single pile over near the rear wall, all on a piece of black paper... The pile grew humongous. At one point, brilliant idiot that I was, I deposited it all into the blue recycle bin (this was when recycling was put on hold). And then, because I kind of heard that ANY organic waste could be deposited into a compost heap, I started putting waste food into the bin. Trouble was, sometimes I would leave it open, and other times I would close it...

Now, there seems to be a fine line between COMPOSTING and DECOMPOSITION. Composting is supposed to be an AEROBIC process; in other words, you need some air to fuel the process. By "burning" the compost (oxygenation is supposed to be a form of burning) slowly, something magical (in other words, beyond my limited scientific understanding) occurs, and all that "waste" plant matter is reduced to digestible nutrients that you can reintroduce into the soil... DECOMPOSITION, on the other hand, is an ANAEROBIC process, and takes place when there is not sufficient air/oxygen to fuel the "burning" process. Decomposition involves a different set of bacteria than Composting, bacteria that specifically function under conditions of little or no oxygen; it also results in, presumably, different end results...

So, by denying the weeds/etc. adequate light, and also because I flooded the bin (leaving it open during rainstorms), I basically concocted a witch's brew of "stuff." Jeez, when I finally dared to open the bin, there were centipedes, roaches... But there were also some of the longest largest earthworms you ever saw, plus a dark black loamy substance, which, it turns out, is pretty darn fertile...

I don't know what the difference in end products is (between composting and decomposition), but so far I can't tell. Now, I'm trying to compost "in earnest;" I have this awkward set up of plastic trays (with holes like a sieve in their bottoms), and I stack them, filled with weeds and other organic waste. I've been trying to shuffle them every now and then, so that the "oldest" gets an occasional chance to be "on top." Hopefully, we'll see tangible results from this. If nothing else, it cuts down almost completely the yard waste that I produce from my endeavors at weeding... As they say, REDUCE, reuse, recycle.

Speaking of reducing yard waste... I also have been leaving all the cuttings from my hedge trimming right at the base of the snow bush. This produces, I think, a sort of mulch, that hopefully prevents weeds, while "trapping" moisture. Unfortunately for my persnickedy neighbors, I think it also attracts African tree snails who just love to attempt to decompose it all... Oh well.

Sorry about all this... Been working in the yard a lot lately. There are so many responsibilities... When I neglect one thing sufficiently, it demands my attention, and then I temporarily become so engrossed in addressing it that I (of course) probably neglect other things... Ideally, I would be able to routinize everything so that I could pay the proper amount of attention to each and all. But who am I kidding? Besides, as Lynn believes, I thrive on adrenaline, on being "last minute." Nothing inspires passion more than procrastination!