Typical misunderstandings about home composting include being too tricky, smelling bad, and being untidy. These statements may be factual if you compost incorrectly; however, composting properly is extremely easy. Layer organic materials, add a dash of soil and a splash of water, and wait for your mixture to transform into humus (the most excellent soil enhancer on the market!). You may then use compost to beautify your flower garden, fertilize your grass, feed your growing vegetables, and more. Once your compost pile is up and running, you'll discover that it's a simple method to turn food waste and other organic materials into something that will benefit your plants.
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1. Composting comes in a variety of forms
Recognize that there are two kinds of composting: cold and hot composting before you start putting it on. Collecting yard waste or pulling out organic things in your garbage (such as fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grinds and filters, and eggshells) and corralling them in a mound or container is all it takes to start cold composting. The substance will disintegrate over a year or so.
Hot composting necessitates a greater level of involvement on your part, but the payoff is a speedier process: you'll get compost in one to three months during warm weather. Nitrogen, carbon, air, and water are the four elements needed for a fast-cooking hot compost. These things, when combined, feed microbes, hastening the degradation process. When there is a lot of garden waste in the spring or autumn, you may make a massive batch of compost and then start another one while the first "cooks."
Worms are used to create vermicompost. These worms produce castings high in nitrogen when they consume your food leftovers. However, you can't simply use any worms for this: Redworms are required (also called "red wigglers"). Worms for composting may be found online or at a garden supply store for a reasonable price.
2. What Should You Compost?
Composting is an excellent method to repurpose items in your refrigerator that have beyond their sell-by date, reducing food waste. Certain types of yard trash may also be composted instead of being dumped. Gather the following ingredients to get your compost pile off to a good start:
- Scraps of fruit
- bits of vegetables
- grinds of coffee
- Shells of eggs (though they can take a while to break down)
- Clippings of grass and plants
- Leaves that have been dried
- Wood and bark chips, finely chopped
- Straw made from shredded newspaper
- Wood sawdust that hasn't been treated
Keeping a composting container in your kitchen, such as this white ceramic compost bucket ($25, World Market), is a simple method to collect debris while preparing meals. You may create your own indoor or outdoor compost bin if you don't want to purchase one. Another alternative for storing kitchen leftovers that can deteriorate fast is to freeze them until you're ready to add them to your more enormous outside pile.
3. Green and brown materials should be combined
Wait until you have enough materials to build a 3-foot-deep pile before starting your hot-compost heap. Combining your moist, green goods with dry, brown ones is a good idea. Dried plant debris, fallen leaves, shredded tree branches, cardboard, or newspaper, hay or straw, and wood shavings, which provide carbon, are examples of "brown" materials. Kitchen wastes and coffee grounds, animal manures (not from dogs or cats), and fresh plant and grass clippings, all of which supply nitrogen, are examples of "green" resources. Start combining three parts brown and one part green materials in your compost pile to get the most outstanding results. Add extra brown things or aerate your compost pile more often if it seems to be too damp and stinks. If it appears to be exceedingly brown and dry, moisten it with green products and water.
4. Your Pile Should Be Watered
Sprinkle water over the pile regularly until it resembles a moist sponge. If you add too much water, your pile's microorganisms will get saturated and drown. If this occurs, instead of composting, your bank will rot. A compost thermometer may be used to check the temperature of your pile to ensure that the materials are degrading appropriately. Alternatively, stretch your hand into the pile's center. Your compost pile should be warm to the touch.
5. Get Your Pile Moving
During the growth season, stir the pile once a week using a garden fork to give it oxygen. When the stack's core feels warm or a thermometer registers between 130 and 150°F, it's time to flip the compost. Stirring the pile helps it cook quicker and prevents the material from getting matted and odor-producing. The layers have accomplished their goal of distributing equal quantities of green and brown ingredients throughout the pile at this time, so stir well.
To speed up the composting process, slice and shred raw components into smaller bits in addition to aerating constantly.
6. Take Care of Your Garden
The compost is thoroughly cooked when it no longer emits heat and turns dry, brown, and crumbly, and is ready to be fed to the garden. At the start of each planting season, add approximately 4 to 6 inches of compost to your flower beds and containers.
Compost tea is a beverage made by some gardeners from completed compost. Allowing completely formed compost to "steep" in water for several days, then straining it as DIY liquid fertilizer, is how this is done.
Every gardener is unique, so you must choose which composting technique best suits your needs. Compost is simple to manufacture and ecologically sound, regardless of your approach. It's also beneficial to your garden. You can have the happiest garden imaginable with only a few food scraps and a little patience.
