If you're new to composting, learn more here. It's an easy way to turn your kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich soil to get your garden going and growing.
Composting is a great solution for keeping yard waste and kitchen scraps from ending up in the landfill. According to the EPA, food waste makes up 22% of discarded municipal solid waste in landfills - a fact that is mostly avoidable if a few key steps are followed! With some fallen leaves, a sturdy bin, and vegetable trimmings, we can re-purpose that waste into healthy soil for any house plant or garden as an effective tool for zero waste.
Choose Your Compost Bin
There are many options when choosing a compost bin, however it all depends on your lifestyle and living situation. You can use plastic bins, wooden homemade bins, or rotating tumbler style bins. If you have access to a backyard or any area of soil at your home, purchase or build a compost bin which can be stored in a shaded corner of your yard over bare soil.
For an urban or apartment living situation, store your kitchen scraps or plant waste in a sealed container in the freezer to avoid smelling up the kitchen and attracting pests. From here you can take advantage of local compost pick-up if available in your county, or drop off at your local farmers market to be composted.
Consider joining a community composting group in your neighborhood! These groups are able to function locally while engaging urban, rural, and suburban communities.
Choose What to Compost
Your compost will need an equal amount of “green” and “brown” materials, which both contain different chemical elements crucial to the decomposition process.
Greens, which are high in nitrogen, are made up from grass clippings, plant scraps, coffee grounds, and tea bags. Browns, which are rich in carbon, are made up from dead leaves, branches, twigs, and any dry garden trimmings. These should be alternated in layers and ideally made from organic materials. Water is also an important element to incorporate as it provides moisture to help break down the organic matter.
What Not to Compost
Look out for stickers, twisty-ties, and any residual plastic or packaging that can be stuck on kitchen scraps. Avoid composting meats, bones, pet feces, dairy products, and vegetable fats as they can contain harmful bacteria that slows down the composting process as well as create odor problems and attract pests. Any plant waste that has been treated with either pesticides or chemicals should also be avoided.
Trench “Lazy Man” Composting
Trench composting is essentially digging a hole, filling it with compost materials, and then covering it back up with more soil. This undemanding method involves burying your kitchen scraps right into the garden without the odors, turning, and watering while avoiding the unattractive view of a large compost bin or pile in your backyard.
This no-frills method of composting is not only inexpensive and low maintenance, it has been used to enrich soil by almost every civilization for thousands of years. In fact, Native Americans were known to trench compost by burying fish under their mounds of corn. It is completely invisible, undetectable by smell, and can fit anywhere in your garden.
After you collect about a produce bag worth of compost materials, dig a hole about 12-16 inches deep in your garden or yard, acknowledging where any underground utility lines are. Dump the kitchen waste in and top off with a foot of soil to keep any critters out.
Using Your Compost
Visually a healthy compost appears as black, crumbly dirt, and no longer resembles food waste. It will smell nice and earthy. This can take as long as 3 weeks to 2 months, depending on the volume of the original waste, balance of food waste to brown yard scraps, and amount of water in the compost.
There are enormous benefits to soil structure by adding important micronutrients and bacterial activity. Composting builds rich, organic soil that is perfect for growing plants or herbs completing a sustainable zero-waste food cycle. Use this nutrient-rich compost to plant and grow strong and healthy flowers, vegetables or trees.
References:
https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g6957
If you're new to composting, learn more here. It's an easy way to turn your kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich soil to get your garden going and growing.
Composting is a great solution for keeping yard waste and kitchen scraps from ending up in the landfill. According to the EPA, food waste makes up 22% of discarded municipal solid waste in landfills - a fact that is mostly avoidable if a few key steps are followed! With some fallen leaves, a sturdy bin, and vegetable trimmings, we can re-purpose that waste into healthy soil for any house plant or garden as an effective tool for zero waste.
Choose Your Compost Bin
There are many options when choosing a compost bin, however it all depends on your lifestyle and living situation. You can use plastic bins, wooden homemade bins, or rotating tumbler style bins. If you have access to a backyard or any area of soil at your home, purchase or build a compost bin which can be stored in a shaded corner of your yard over bare soil.
For an urban or apartment living situation, store your kitchen scraps or plant waste in a sealed container in the freezer to avoid smelling up the kitchen and attracting pests. From here you can take advantage of local compost pick-up if available in your county, or drop off at your local farmers market to be composted.
Consider joining a community composting group in your neighborhood! These groups are able to function locally while engaging urban, rural, and suburban communities.
Choose What to Compost
Your compost will need an equal amount of “green” and “brown” materials, which both contain different chemical elements crucial to the decomposition process.
Greens, which are high in nitrogen, are made up from grass clippings, plant scraps, coffee grounds, and tea bags. Browns, which are rich in carbon, are made up from dead leaves, branches, twigs, and any dry garden trimmings. These should be alternated in layers and ideally made from organic materials. Water is also an important element to incorporate as it provides moisture to help break down the organic matter.
What Not to Compost
Look out for stickers, twisty-ties, and any residual plastic or packaging that can be stuck on kitchen scraps. Avoid composting meats, bones, pet feces, dairy products, and vegetable fats as they can contain harmful bacteria that slows down the composting process as well as create odor problems and attract pests. Any plant waste that has been treated with either pesticides or chemicals should also be avoided.
Trench “Lazy Man” Composting
Trench composting is essentially digging a hole, filling it with compost materials, and then covering it back up with more soil. This undemanding method involves burying your kitchen scraps right into the garden without the odors, turning, and watering while avoiding the unattractive view of a large compost bin or pile in your backyard.
This no-frills method of composting is not only inexpensive and low maintenance, it has been used to enrich soil by almost every civilization for thousands of years. In fact, Native Americans were known to trench compost by burying fish under their mounds of corn. It is completely invisible, undetectable by smell, and can fit anywhere in your garden.
After you collect about a produce bag worth of compost materials, dig a hole about 12-16 inches deep in your garden or yard, acknowledging where any underground utility lines are. Dump the kitchen waste in and top off with a foot of soil to keep any critters out.
Using Your Compost
Visually a healthy compost appears as black, crumbly dirt, and no longer resembles food waste. It will smell nice and earthy. This can take as long as 3 weeks to 2 months, depending on the volume of the original waste, balance of food waste to brown yard scraps, and amount of water in the compost.
There are enormous benefits to soil structure by adding important micronutrients and bacterial activity. Composting builds rich, organic soil that is perfect for growing plants or herbs completing a sustainable zero-waste food cycle. Use this nutrient-rich compost to plant and grow strong and healthy flowers, vegetables or trees.
References:
https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g6957
