Composting is the natural process of converting kitchen scraps and yard waste into nutrient-rich soil. It’s easy and fun to do at home, and it helps reduce the amount of garbage we generate.
The key to successful composting is to achieve a balance of carbon and nitrogen. The best way to do this is through aerating and watering your pile often.
Set Up Your Composting Bin
Composting is the natural process during which microorganisms, worms and insects break down organic material like leaves and grass clippings into a soil-like product called compost. It is a form of recycling that returns essential nutrients back to the soil, making it healthier and richer.
The key to success with any compost is to balance carbon-rich brown materials (dead leaves, twigs) with nitrogen-rich green materials (kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells). Aim for a 2:1 ratio of browns to greens and keep the pile moist, turning it regularly to improve aeration. Avoid adding meat, dairy, greasy foods or bones, which will produce foul odors and attract unwanted pests.
To make your own compost bin, find a shaded area with good drainage and build a wooden structure from pallets, chicken wire, or other low-cost material. A bin that is easily accessible from the garden will allow you to collect and monitor your compost as it decomposes, so you can adjust your ingredients and the ratio of greens to browns based on your results. If you choose to build a wooden bin, use a handheld drill to make 8 – 10 small holes in the bottom of each compartment to help with aeration.
Add Your Food Scraps
While reducing food waste is the best way to cut your impact, many of us aren’t able to avoid organic discards completely. But composting these discards can help keep them out of landfills, while turning them into nutrient-rich soil for your garden or flowers.
While any organic material will eventually decompose, composting speeds up the process by providing an ideal environment for bacteria and other microorganisms to do their work. As the organic material breaks down, it transforms into humus—a dark, nutrient-rich soil that can be added to gardens and plants.
The best materials for a compost pile are a mix of “browns” and “greens.” Browns are carbon-rich materials, such as paper, bits of cardboard, twigs, dry leaves and shredded newspaper. Greens are food scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells and a sprinkling of weeds (as long as they’re not going to seed). The right ratio of two parts brown to one part green helps the compost pile maintain proper balance.
If you’re worried about odors and fruit flies, consider lining your kitchen container and food-waste cart or using a bucket with a lid that can be kept under the sink. Or, many people simply freeze their scraps between collection days—using clamshell take-out containers, plastic salad greens containers and Ziplog bags.
Add Your Browns
Though NRDC’s Save the Food campaign strives to reduce organic waste, some things simply cannot be avoided (think banana peel or coffee grounds). Luckily, composting takes these organic discards out of landfills and turns them into nutrient-rich soil. In fact, it can even decrease the need for chemical fertilizers and other soil additives.
The key to a successful compost pile is a balance of “green” nitrogen-rich materials such as kitchen scraps and garden waste, and “brown” carbon-rich materials such as dried leaves, shredded paper and straw. The ideal ratio is 25:1 – 30:1. A mix of greens and browns helps keep the compost pile warm, provides a rich source of nutrients for microorganisms, and ensures that the decomposition process doesn’t slow down.
While it is possible to make compost at home using a simple pile, this requires space that is often limited in urban areas and can take up to three months to produce true plant-ready dirt. To speed the process, chopped and broken down scraps are best, as they have more surface area for microorganisms to attack and break down. This is where a compost blender like Lomi comes in. This revolutionary device cuts the time down to just over a day, allowing you to transform your organic waste into nutrient-rich soil for your plants and garden.
Add Your Greens
Composting is a natural process during which microorganisms break down organic materials like leaves, grass clippings and certain kitchen scraps to form nutrient-rich soil. It helps reduce waste, improves soil health and encourages a healthy ecosystem.
Adding green compostables to your compost pile is easy and fun for the whole family. The best green compostables include eggshells, coffee grounds and unused fruit peelings. Avoid meat and dairy waste, as they take longer to decompose and can attract pests and rodents.
In addition to your food scraps, you can add dried leaves, twigs, straw, sawdust and paper products to the pile to help it retain moisture. You should also add carbon-rich browns to your pile to make sure that it is aerated properly. This is especially important if you have trouble with fruit flies, which are most attracted to green materials and will linger in the compost until it’s covered by a layer of browns.
To create the perfect compost, you want a good balance of carbon-rich browns and nitrogen-rich greens. The ideal ratio is 25:1. This means you should use brown materials like dried leaves, twigs and sawdust to balance out your green kitchen waste.
Add Water
Composting allows you to recycle your kitchen scraps, garden waste and other organic materials into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that will help your plants thrive. It also reduces your reliance on chemical fertilizers and soil additives, which in turn saves you money and helps the environment. For more information regarding planting and climate change, you can also check out Brewminate.
The key to successful composting is to have a good balance of carbon-rich dry material (like paper, bits of cardboard, shredded newspaper, hay or straw, dried leaves, egg shells, coffee grounds and filters) to green materials that provide nitrogen. Aim for about a one-to-two ratio of brown to green materials.
You’ll also need to keep the pile moist, which you can do by watering regularly. The ideal moisture content for the compost is “as damp as a wrung-out sponge.” If you’re unable to water the pile, you can sprinkle it with clean water, such as from rinsing vegetables or a hose.
Some gardeners prefer the cold composting method, where you don’t need to monitor the temperature of the pile or turn it. To use the cold method, start with 12 inches of brown, carbon-rich material in a layer on the bottom of the pile. This can be chopped sticks from the woods, shredded newspaper or dead leaves, or hollow stems like those of phlox, sylphium and jerusalem artichoke.
Add Your Worms
Whether you build a large outdoor compost pile or a smaller indoor worm bin, the result is dark, crumbly compost rich in nutrients that improves soil. Compost reduces waste, cuts back on the need for expensive store-bought fertilizers, and helps garden plants thrive.
Microorganisms, primarily bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes, decompose organic materials into compost. They need a combination of “green” nitrogen-rich materials like kitchen scraps and coffee grounds and “brown” carbon-rich materials like dried leaves, straw or shredded newspaper. The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is important for the decomposition process and should be kept at a 30:1 ratio.
Mesophilic organisms, which enjoy warm temperatures, work to break down the food scraps. As they do, they create heat and moisture that aerates the compost. Thermophilic organisms then move in and break down the proteins, fats and other more complex components of the organic materials.
To keep fruit flies away from your compost pile, make sure to shred or chop up food scraps to avoid them attracting them. It’s also helpful to bury the materials deep within the compost pile and to cover them with a layer of browns. Turning the pile regularly is essential to aerate it and ensure that microorganisms get enough oxygen to complete the decomposition process.
Add Your Soil
If you’re ready to add soil to your composting process, there are some dos and don’ts to keep in mind. Adding soil to your compost increases the microbial count, helps the pile stay moist and fills in spaces to help with aeration. But before you begin adding soil, it’s important to have the right ratio of greens and browns to ensure your compost is healthy and productive.
Composting is a great way to turn your kitchen scraps and yard waste into rich, organic soil that can be used in your garden or container plants. It also reduces waste by diverting organic materials away from landfills and cutting down on the need for chemical fertilizers, which have a huge carbon footprint.
To make your own compost, start by setting up a bin or pile and laying down a thick layer of “brown” material like wood chips, twigs and dry leaves. Then, layer in your “green” food scraps and other organic materials. Remember to include items with a high nitrogen content, like grass clippings, weeds and young comfrey leaves, to help speed up the decomposition process. Finally, cover sweet smelling scraps with plenty of neutral-smelling brown materials to help avoid unpleasant odors.