Composting 101: All You Need to Know About Composting
Composting: Mother Nature’s favorite hobby! If you’re considering getting into composting, you’re not alone. Many people are making the move to a more sustainable way to keep their gardens greener and make a positive impact on the environment. Plus, composting helps you connect with the natural order of things.
Making your own compost is anything but difficult. Start composting today with our simple suggestions for creating your own compost to enrich your garden and yard.
Composting In Nature
Believe it or not, some animals are into composting. Alligator moms build a massive pile of compost, then use the heat that it gives off to keep their eggs warm. The brush-turkey in Australia does the same thing, so they don’t have to spend as much time minding their eggs.
Getting Started with DIY Composting
When you think of composting, you likely think of a container in the kitchen with organic waste and an outdoor bin where it turns into garden magic. And you’d be correct! However, many people aren’t aware that there are three basic types of composting: hot, cold, and bokashi. Since the hot method is the easiest and most effective, it is the only one we are going to cover here. So remember, if nature can compost, so can you.
Are Mulching and Composting the Same?
While not composting, mulching is similar in many respects. When you mulch, you add organic matter (leaves, clippings, etc.) to retain water, control weeds, and add nutrients to the soil. Unlike compost, mulching can deplete nitrogen in the soil, so keep an eye on your plants for poor growth and yellowing leaves.
Why Should Every Gardener Compost?
Because it is good for you and good for the planet. According to the North Carolina Composting Council, “About 25% of the average home trash can is filled with food and yard waste that can be composted” [1].
The Benefits of At-Home Composting:
- Save money on soil and fertilizer
- Reduce landfill waste
- Produce less methane
- Improve your soil’s moisture retention without the risk of it becoming too wet
- Provide your plants with nutrient-rich material
- Produce bountiful fruits, veggies, and blooms
Composting Microbes & Composting Techniques
With the right microbes, it takes about 6 months to a year to break plant matter down into good compost. Of the three methods, hot composting is the easiest (and least smelly), and that is what most people choose.
Hot–Aerobic
The most common form of composting, hot composting, is simple and effective. Here are the basics that beginning composters should know:
- Microorganisms need oxygen to digest the material and break it down
- Use oxygen to convert to organic material that your plants can use and carbon dioxide, giving out heat in the process.
- A compost activator will quicken the process
- Apply a little to each layer as you add material
Cold–Anaerobic-without oxygen
Cold composting offers a unique approach to turning your organic waste into gardening gold. It is similar to hot composting but takes a bit more time. Here are the basics of cold-composting:
- Microorganisms do not need oxygen to digest the material and break it down into carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulfide, and energy
- Effective but can smell bad due to the hydrogen sulfide
- Slower than aerobic composting
Bokashi–Pickling your leftovers
With this method, you can use all your kitchen scraps, but you need a bokashi inoculant and an airtight bucket that also has a spigot at the bottom. Basically, you let the scraps ferment, and in a short amount of time they are ready to bury outdoors–but it can be very acidic and can damage your plants’ root systems.
Composting Containment: Pre-Made, Homemade, or Just an Informal Pile
Are you buying or making a container for your compost or are you just going to pile it up in some out-of-the-way spot? All are good choices. If you have neighbors close by or within sight of your bin, you might want to buy an attractive container for your composting. There are a number of them on the market and they make turning your compost much easier.
If you build your own, it needs to be at least 3 feet by 3 feet, and you can make it up to 5 feet by 4 feet. The larger it is, the better it will maintain the heat needed to break down the plant matter as well as kill any unwanted seeds and any disease pathogens. Wood, metal fencing, concrete blocks, and old pallets are all materials that you can use. Be creative and use your imagination.
You can also just pile it up. If you do, make sure that it isn’t near the edge of your property and cover any kitchen scraps when you bring them out so that they aren’t visible. This will reduce smells and complaints from your neighbors.
Where to Locate Your Composting Bin?
You want to put your compost pile where the neighbors won’t notice it–they aren’t always the prettiest sight and sometimes the smell can be a little strong (however, a balance of greens and browns does wonders to reduce the odor). If you are using a pile or frame, put it near the garden where it won’t be seen and you don’t have to carry the compost far when it’s time to add it to your garden.
Tumblers and other containers, because they are more attractive, can be closer to the house so it is easier to use.
Just add water
Most compost needs water. But like the story of Goldilocks–not too much, not too little, it needs to be just right. You want it moist but not wet. If needed, add water, but remember that too much water and rain can leach nutrients out of the compost.
The best way to tell if you have the right amount of water is to squeeze a handful–just a few drops of water should drip out. Water when necessary, and if you are getting a lot of rain, you might want to cover it to prevent nutrient leach.
Add a little heat
The key to the hot method is head. A compost can heat up to temperatures of 140-160˚F. This will kill seeds and most diseases along with helping the microorganisms to break down the plant matter. You can use a thermometer or just push your hand in–it should be hot enough so that you can’t keep your hand in for more than 5 or 6 seconds.
Give it a quick tumble
You need to turn your compost frequently to make sure that you have plenty of oxygen for the microorganisms. If you have a tumbler, just give it a spin. Otherwise, use a pitchfork or flat shovel to open it up and add oxygen.
Turning more often during the first few weeks will help break down faster, and you will have to turn it less often after that.
If your compost starts to smell, that is a sign that you need to turn it. So spin it or get the pitchfork out.
What to compost and what not to compost
There are a lot of opinions about what to include and what not to include in your compost. In general, ask yourself if you want to eat food fertilized by what you are adding. You need to do your best to keep pathogens and harmful chemicals out, so use your best judgment.
Don’t use:
- Meat
- Fish
- Dairy products
- Whole eggs
- Cooking grease and oil
- Bones
- Slick and colored paper
- Human and pet feces
- Fire ash
- Diseased plant clippings
- meat, fish, dairy products, grease, oil, blood meal or bones, colored paper
- Pressure-treated lumber
- Plant matter that has been treated with pesticides and herbicides
Do use:
- Leaves
- Trimmings
- Kitchen scraps
- Newspaper
- Paper towels
- Cardboard
- Sawdust
- Farm animal manure
- Coffee grounds and tea bags
- Egg shells
- Hair and fur
- Straw
You want to balance the greens (30-40%) and browns (60-70%). You might not be able to do this, but balancing it will give you a more balanced compost nutrient-wise later.
Greens include things like vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, and tea bags along with grass clippings and plant trimmings.
Browns are things like dried leaves, wood clippings, paper, cardboard, newspaper, and sawdust.
Filling your bin
As you fill your bin, do your best to balance the greens and browns. Don’t pack it down because that reduces the amount of oxygen in your compost and slows the decomposition. Make sure that you cover kitchen scraps to reduce smell, unsightliness, animals, and flies. It will naturally compact as it works, so if it is full today, you should have room for more next week.
Composting: Gardening Goodness & Benefits Beyond the Garden
Few things are good for everyone and everything, but composting might just be one of them. After the initial expense of the container, there is little to no cost. It will give you some rich compost to add to your garden soil or flower beds, full of organic material and micro nutrients, it reduces the load on our public landfills and creates less methane. It is a good carbon sink, storing lots of carbon in the soil instead of in the atmosphere.
So composting can keep everyone, including your plants, happy and healthy.
