Product Description

The essential guide to composting for all gardeners and enviromentally conscious peopleComposting is fast becoming a household word.Gardeners know it is the best way to feed the soil, while others look to composting as a way to dispose of grass clippings, autumn leaves, and tree trimmings.The Rodale Book of Composting offers:* Easy-to-follow instructions for making and using compost* Helpful tips for apartment dwellers, suburbanites, farmers and community leaders* Ecologically sound solutions to growing waste disposal problems

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4537 in Books
• Published on: 1992-01-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 278 pages

From Library Journal
This is an update of Jerry Minnich and others' The Rodale Guide to Composting ( LJ 5/1/79), which itself updated J.L. Rodale's Complete Book of Composting (Rodale Pr., 1960. o.p.). The broad spectrum of information given will be useful from backyard urban gardening on up to industrial, municipal, and farm recycling. The first quarter of the book gives you all you ever wanted to know on the science of composting--and more--along with some history. A discussion of materials, methods, structures, equipment, and uses is followed by a brief look at large-scale composting. The writing is an uneven mix of scientific detail and the anecdotal. Chemical reactions are described in exquisite detail, and yet most quotes, while attributed, are neither dated nor their source given. Stu Campbell and Kathleen Bond Borie's Let It Rot: The Gardener's Guide to Composting ( LJ 1/91) is more readable and inviting for the individual gardener. While useful for its in-depth, detailed coverage, Rodale's almost-textbook is recommended only for comprehensive gardening collections.
- Sharon Levin, Univ. of Vermont Lib., Burlington
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Ingram
A completely revised and updated guide to composting explains what composting is and how it really works; provides detailed, easy-to-follow instructions for making and using compost; and offers ecologically sound solutions to waste disposal problems. Original.

Customer Reviews

I will do it...
Very interesting book... but more a practical book than a biology book on composting... very light scientific content... but full of practical ideas... there some list of composting materials with N and C content...
you will probably start composting after reading that book... we go for a few tons a week...

Worth its weight in manure :-)
Although the bulk of the material contained in this book could be found online, it's still a worthwhile purchase. Indeed, it is a must have. The purchase price of the book will be quickly regained in the money you will save making your own compost rather than purchasing bagged compost or synthetic fertiliser.

A few of the chapters are more interesting than useful to the home gardener. For instance, one of the early chapters discusses the history of composting beginning with the ancient Akkadians. The final chapter discusses managing large scale compost operations (by large scale, I mean tens and hundreds of tons of waste) on the farm or as part of a municipal waste management strategy.

The core of the book, however, is very directly useful. A chapter is provided describing the chemistry of what goes on in composting, and what goes on as plants attempt to take nutrients from the soil. Another chapter describes the various types of life from microbes to insects and worms (including lovely line drawings) that inhabit a compost pile during the various phases of its lifecycle.

By far the most useful chapter is chapter 6, which provides a list of potential ingredients for your pile and suggestions on how to obtain them. Numerous charts are provided that indicate on balance whether an item should be considered a "green" or a "brown", and (should you desire more specifics) the actual NPK content of various ingredients. This is fully a fifth of the book.

The next most useful chapter is chapter 10, which gives suggestions for various sorts of compost bins you can buy or build. Another chapter describes tools like chippers and shredders that might be useful to you if you plan to make a fair amount of compost. Alternatives are suggested for the folks who don't need quite that much labour saving help.

I can't think of anything that is not in this book that I wish it had. Nor for that matter, can I think of anything that needs to be cut from it. It strikes the perfect balance between comprehensiveness and brevity.

Don't throw those coffee grounds away....
I began using the Rodale methods for organic gardening including composting back in the early 1970s and continue to do so today. I swear to you these methods work. If you truly want to be a great gardener and help save the planet from the depredations of the backward and evil, read this book. Rodale's dream of a compost pile in every back yard is alive. We can all make a difference and THE RODALE BOOK OF COMPOSTING shows you how.

In the early pages of the book, the editors Deborah Martin and Grace Gersuny (the book is a composite of excellent articles published over the years in ORGANIC GARDENING) have included a history of composting. Composting was known to the Jews, the Romans, the Greeks, American Indians, and other traditional people. Washington and Jefferson used organic methods to grow their crops, vegetables, fruits, and flowers. Composting was a major activity for farmers until the petro-chemical industry persuaded farmers they needed oil-converted-to-fertilizer-and-poisons to grow crops. Practices are changing, but as the new AG bill shows, not fast enough.

Why should the little guy compost? This book gives you all sorts of reasons for composting, but my response is why not compost. You can compost if you live in an apartment on the 29th floor of a building in New York City, and you might want compost for your house plants after you read this book. I have composted for so long I cannot imagine how anyone gardens and does not compost. First of all you add nuitients not available from man-made sources and these nuitrients help you grow great plants. Think of compost as breast milk. Why would you give your roses canned formula when they can have the real thing? When you use compost on your plants, you strengthen them against disease and predators. Given drought conditions and water shortages which stress plants, it's nice to know that compost enhances moisture retention.

The book identifies the kinds of wastes that work best in the compost pile. For early farmers, manure was the answer. Most of us can still lay our hands on cow manure that has been composted, but it's expensive. There aren't as many farm animals as there once were and there are so many more of us. However, you do have some options even if you don't own your own cow. You produce things that can be converted into plant food.

The book suggests that you may not want use dog "feces" because it smells bad, but I do. My POMS poop and I pick it up and throw it in my black plastic compost container. (I have two kinds of composters and several loose piles--all described in the book). Guess what--dogs can eat a relatively vegetarian diet and they won't have stinky feces and they will be healthier (just like humans!!).

The book recommends against cat litter and feces, and I have used cat box litter after it was used by the cat and created HUGE plants (lots of nitrogen) so we stopped using cat stuff. I have used coco shells and they are great but cannot use them with dogs who are poisoned by the shells (the book does not tell you this, but as a rule of thumb don't let your dog eat compost or mulch). I love coffee grounds and throw them right on my rose bushes. Tea bags work better after they disintegrate in the compost bin. I also throw paper towels and kleenex from the waste baskets into the compost bin. Any vegetable matter can be composted. I avoid animal products except for the dog feces.

A friend of mine complained that her compost pile smelled bad. I asked her if she threw newly mowed grass on the pile. Yes she did. The book suggests you either let the grass lay where it falls (I've done this and it works--it does NOT cause thatch); Let the grass dry before you throw it on the compost pile; or don't grow grass. The latter has been my approach for some time. I do not have a blade of grass in my yard (a few in the brick walks, but that's another matter). Ground covers work well--especially creeping thyme.

This is a great book and a great place to begin if you are a new gardener. A kid can follow these directions. The authors include a chapter on organic gardening "experiments" you could try yourself or with a child--great ideas for science projects for school!! Also, if your family likes to fish, compost piles grow great worms, another benefit of composting.