Soil

Confusing your Compost with your Mulch?

What is Compost?

Compost is decomposed organic material. It is manmade, commonly using a mix of kitchen scraps and wet & dry garden leaves, grasses and trimmings. When it is ready it is a deep dark brown, almost black, feels moist and crumbly to touch, and does not smell bad, but has an appealing earthy smell.

There are various methods of making compost according to your needs, location, availability of inputs, time available, etc. At it’s simplest, it’s a pile of organic matter that will decompose by itself over a few to many months, depending on the content and season. At it’s most organised, it is a recipe blend of wet & dry materials, a specific ratio of nitrogen & carbon, turned frequently to produce results in as little as 18 days.

Confusing your Compost with your Mulch 01

When organic matter decomposes naturally on the forest floor in nature, it is called humus.

Benefits:
– Increases the soil’s ability to both hold moisture and drain better all at the same time
– Nourishes your plants
– Adds important microorganisms & fungi to the soil (which are part of an important and often overlooked soil foodweb that is actually what is feeding your plants)
– Improves soil texture
– Has insulating qualities against heat and cold
– Helps to break down the mineral elements of your soil (ie pebbles) and contributes to making those nutrients available to the plants
– Compost can be used to make suitable potting mix to germinate seeds
– It can be easily side-dressed into the soil next to a plant that may require a “nutrition boost”

Confusing your Compost with your Mulch 03

What is Mulch?

It is any type of material that is spread or laid over the surface of the soil as a protective covering. It can be in the form of a living mulch, growing in and over the ground, or a layer of mulch material on top of the soil, for example dry leaves or rice paddy straw.

Benefits:
– A thick layer (think at least 2 to 3 inches) of dry leaves or paddy straw will immediately cut your watering requirements by 50%, from Day 1.
– Protects the soil underneath from the harsh sun and lashing monsoon rain.
– Suppresses weeds
– Reduces erosion
– Provides habitat to frogs, lizards and other garden friends
– As it breaks down, it provides food to the microorganisms & fungi already present in the soil
– In the case of living mulches, which can also be in the form of “green manures”, the roots are also benefiting the soil, helping with aeration, and with both drainage and moisture retention equally.

You may find references of compost being used as mulch, but this is more suited to temperate climates. If, here in the Monsoon Tropics, we expose our precious compost to the extreme sun and rain, without mulching, it’s many benefits may be destroyed. We make a point of always covering our soil, or compost that has been applied to the soil, with a protective layer of mulch.

Closeup of Tools on the Forest Path Set up and Ready to Garden

A common mistake is to dig mulch into the soil, instead of placing it on top of the soil. This will cause a temporary nitrogen deficiency as the nitrogen in the soil is used up breaking down the carbon of the un-decomposed or only partially decomposed mulch.

A tip for those with smaller spaces in urban and suburban areas, including those with potted and terrace gardens…..

When people in these areas ask what the best thing that they can do for their soil is, the answer is always Mulch, Mulch, Mulch.

Given the huge quantity of leaves that are burnt or otherwise disposed of every year as part of “tidying” homes and gardens, it’s possible to rapidly collect large quantities of mulch. As much as you may need for a few pots, and way more for those that can use even larger quantities. And you can never have too much mulch. Mulch is absorbed extremely quickly into soils that are poor in organic material, and over time, as the organic material builds up, the rate slows. If ever you really do get your hands on “too much mulch”, then you can compost it.

Rosie Harding

https://www.facebook.com/RosieAndPeter

Note:
Stewardship of our land in Goa, India with it’s Tropical Monsoon climate (Latitude 15 North) is inspired by Permaculture practices, our own observations & experiences, books, articles, papers, films, the great people we meet and other properties that we are lucky enough to visit. If you’re interested in Permaculture, come and join the conversation in the local “Permaculture Goa” Facebook group to share knowledge and questions relevant to all things Permaculture in Goa, and build the local community.

Quiet observers and active participants welcome. We hope that you might find some interesting posts and sharing in the group, and that you might contribute some of your own valuable ideas, experiences, questions, comments etc, that may be relevant to the Goan context, as and when you feel like it. Cross-pollination and friends from places far and wide are also very welcome. :-)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/permaculturegoa/

15 Comments

  1. better to say “decomposed bio-degradable material”…. in countries where ‘organic’ is new and means usually only profits, this distinction is SO important because frequently general waste (biodegradable non-organic) is being used for ‘organic farming’. Please lead the world with this good information with as much understanding and clarity as possible.

    1. Peter Brush Respectfully, what I said is correct. And you’re undoubtedly dealing with first world educated people or better educated than in developing countries where the world ‘organic’ is perhaps only 10 years and grossly misinterpreted. I can site names and opinions here that agree with me.

      With the lack of clear identification, the faith in the organic industry, claims, products (here) is quickly disappearing.

      All it takes by the ‘educators’ is an open mind and a willingness to understand that the world is bigger than their community – if they want to express opinions to the world.

    2. Rosie Harding It’s not the English – it’s the difference between bio-degradable:
      capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.
      and organic: non-chemical.
      In Indonesian, it’s biodegradable and organk.
      It’s the users who use the terms incorrectly.
      Biodegradable waste is called organik and being composted for organic farming. And organic producers are losing credibility as this issue continue to grow and be misunderstood.

    3. I think I’ve got you now….your valid concern about the need to diferentiate between biodegradable garbage…ie chemically treated paper, cardboard, clothing with toxins, and biodegradable natural materials.
      I agree that even though compost has an extraordinary capacity to mitigate toxins, composting waste, and the making of compost as a natural fertilizer, should be kept separate. Have I got you now?

    4. I’m afraid I’m guilty of the latter, although I just grow what I can for myself. My daughter doesn’t buy organically grown produce because it’s not as readily available and it’s more expensive than commercially grown fruits and vegetables. So, all the produce scraps, organic or not, are being thrown into the compost pile. Also, the city water contains chlorine, which is not conducive to organisms for the soil. (Sigh!) Because of economics, though, I can’t worry about these things. I can only try to improve our fast draining, sandy soil with what I have available. On the positive side, the weeds are not sprayed and there are plenty of those to far outweigh the produce scraps that get composted. Ideally, I’d like to have about 12-15 earthworms in a square foot of soil. Right now there aren’t any.

    5. Rosie Harding YES, you got it !! Thank you, I ‘preach’ and preach this. General municipal garbage (veg, fruit, grass trash) that isn’t organic (non-chemical) can’t make organic (non-chemical) compost or be used for organic (non-chemical) farming. There is so much opportunity for this compost (biodegraded not organic) to reduce chemical use in other areas. General horticulture, golf courses, highway medians, on & one.

    6. Marie Flint try getting some rabbit compost. I raise rabbits and my compost pile has a lot of worms. It also helps to start worms in your beds. You can buy ordinary fishing worms or dig some wild ones.

      The worms help loosen the soul and give it tilth

  2. So what is it called when you take dry high carbon organic matter such as leaves and branches and decompose it without adding high nitrogen greens. The results being a rich brown humus rich soil suitable for growing crops? Not mulch anymore.

    1. I’m not sure what it is called but in my dry semi desert location it seems that carpenter ants and termites (with internal microorganisms) are the primary decomposers. They do seem to need some moisture which is more abundant or long lasting when wood is buried under soil or added.

  3. If you mulch, you’re need for compost is greatly diminished since mulch turns to compost naturally without any work on your part. Look at the forest floor and mimic Nature. Since harvesting plants, either annual or perennial, is a mineral extractive process that breaks Nature’s regenerative cycle, micronutrients, ie, trace minerals, must be replaced. Add rock dust directly to the soil before covering with mulch although adding to a compost bin might be a better idea to prevent any initial leaching away.

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