What Is Composting? Compost vs Fertilizer and Making Compost Tea

Backyard Farming: Composting by Kim Pezza
Author: Kim Pezza | ISBN: 978-1-57826-587-9

Previous: History of Composting | Next: Selecting a Compost System

Chapter 2 answers the question people skip too fast: what is composting, actually? Pezza keeps it simple. Natural decomposition, sped up in your yard.

Decomposition in a bin

Anything that was once alive will break down. Composting channels that process. Finished compost looks dark brown or black, crumbly, and full of nutrients. Backyard composting takes weeks to months. Nature alone might need centuries to build an inch of humus.

Humus is fully decayed organic matter. Not hummus the dip. Pezza makes that joke so you don’t mix them up at dinner.

What goes in

Yard debris, kitchen scraps, manure if you have it. Manure isn’t required. Roughly 30% of household waste can compost. Hot piles can kill pathogens, weed seeds, and some harmful organisms if temperatures get high enough.

Compost feeds soil, fertilizer feeds plants

This distinction matters. Compost improves soil structure and feeds the ecosystem underground. Fertilizer targets specific plant hunger.

Pezza’s analogy: compost is your daily balanced meals. Fertilizer is a prescription for a specific deficiency. Compost still delivers nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and trace minerals, just in smaller, broader doses.

Clay, sand, and tired dirt

Clay gets less compact and drains better with compost mixed in. Sandy soil holds water longer. Soil that gets regular compost often needs less bagged fertilizer over time.

Compost tea

You can brew compost tea even if you don’t have space for a full pile. Put finished compost in a permeable bag (burlap works), tie it off, and soak it in a bucket of water for 24 to 48 hours until the water darkens.

Apply undiluted with a watering can or sprayer. It won’t burn leaves or roots. Use whenever the ground isn’t frozen. The spent bag contents go back into the garden soil.

Tea carries beneficial microbes and micronutrients and may help suppress disease. No energy input. Few materials. That’s a win for small gardens.

The landfill angle

Repurposing that 30% of household waste adds up across neighborhoods. Less truck traffic. Less methane from buried organics. Better dirt at home.

My thoughts

Chapter 2 is short and clear. The compost-vs-fertilizer section alone saves beginners from dumping compost on a magnesium deficiency and wondering why tomatoes still look sad.

Compost tea sounds almost too easy. Pezza doesn’t oversell disease control, which I respect. “May help suppress disease” is honest.

If you remember one thing from this chapter: compost is soil food, not plant candy.

Previous: History of Composting | Next: Selecting a Compost System