Composting Basics

WHAT IS COMPOST

Compost is a pile of organic waste that over time breaks down or decomposes into nutrient rich soil. A compost pile is made of a mixture of “green” organic materials like food scraps and garden trimmings and “brown” organic materials like dead or dry leaves, and wood chips. The “green” materials contain a chemical called nitrogen and the “brown” materials contain a chemical called carbon.

These chemicals, plus air and water, make the perfect living conditions for tiny organisms, like bacteria and molds, as well as creatures like worms and insects. They feed on the organic matter and help to break it down into a dark nutrient rich soil called Humus.  You can use this humus as a fertilizer for your garden and raised beds.

WHY COMPOST

Composting reduces your overall waste which reduces landfill waste. This is good for the environment because food that is trapped inside a landfill doesn’t get the air it needs to break down and it releases a gas called methane. Methane warms the Earth’s atmosphere and causes climate change. The soil that is produced helps make your garden grow bigger and better without using chemicals by providing essential nutrients for your garden.

WHAT TO COMPOST

Composting kitchen scraps is an easy thing to do.  You just need to store your organic kitchen scraps in a closed container in your kitchen and periodically bring it outside to your compost bin. I use a very large plastic coffee grounds container to store my food scraps and keep it in the freezer. This method produces no smell or mess in the kitchen. Here is a list of things that you can compost. Do not compost meat or cooked and processed foods. These will attract animals and produce smells in your backyard.

• All vegetable and fruit waste, including cores, peels, pits, rinds, and skins
• Coffee grounds and filters
• tea and tea bags
• Corn husks
• Egg shells
• Flowers from bouquets
• Juicer pulp
• Healthy household plant clippings and leaves

HOW TO COMPOST

Collect Organic material

Composting is a year-round activity. Once you get into the habit of saving the kitchen scraps it doesn’t become an extra chore. Place the organic waste into a plastic or glass container and keep it in the freezer. I have several containers in my freezer. Once the containers are full, I thaw them for an hour or so and dump them in my compost bin in the backyard.

Place in compost bin outside

There are several different ways to compost. You can dig a hole in the ground and cover the kitchen waste with dirt. Or you can buy an above ground composter that you can turn on a regular basis to help the material degrade to soil. I have a composter that is open on the bottom so the insects and microbes in the ground can make their way through the organic waste and turn the scraps into nutrient rich humus.

It takes several months for the organic material to break down. What I like about the composter bin that I have (See link above to purchase from my affiliate link) is that it has a trap door by the ground so that I can remove the soil from the bottom of the composter while the in-process material above continues to break down into soil.

Happy composting!