Garden Composting
Composting is an excellent way to reduce, reuse, and recycle!
Don't throw away your kitchen and garden waste! Composting these organic materials creates a rich, black fertilizer full of nutrients and conditioners for your garden. Why spend money on expensive fertilizers when you already have all the ingredients you need to make a wonderful soil conditioner--ingredients that would otherwise end up in an already overflowing landfill?
Compost heaps may be contained in a homemade bin, a commercial bin, or simply in an open pile near your garden, but bear in mind these materials will rot and will therefore create an odor. For that reason, you may prefer an enclosed bin.Storing the material in an enclosed bin will also create much more heat, which will speed up the decomposition process.
Checklist
- Lifetime composter
- organic vegetable matter from your kitchen, including coffee grounds and egg shells
- manure
- grass clippings
- dead leaves
- sticks and twigs
Starting Your Compost Heap
- Keep a plastic bag or container in the kitchen to store your vegetable peelings, fruit rinds, and egg shells for later disposal into your compost heap.
- If possible, use a bag on your lawnmower so that grass clippings can be easily dumped into your compost heap.
- Rake up those dead leaves and twigs in your lawn and flowerbeds and add them to your compost heap.
Maintaining Your Compost Heap
- Regularly mix the materials in your compost heap to distribute the heat that is necessary to decomposition. This can be done with a pitchfork or shovel if you are not using an enclosed commercial bin If you are using a commercial bin, the material can be easily rotated within the tumbler with a few turns of a handle.
- It will take a few weeks for your compost material to decompose into a rich, black crumbly loam that is ready to be spread onto your garden.
Important Tips!
Some organic material is not suitable for composting and can actually harm your plants.Do not put the following materials in your compost heap!
- Meat (including grease) and dairy products because they create a very strong odor that will attract pests and insects to your garden
- Yard vegetation that has been chemically treated with pesticides because that is harmful to the organisms in your compost
- Dog or cat *** because they may contain parasites harmful to humans
- Black walnut leaves and twigs because they release a substance that may be harmful to plants
- Coal or ash because it might contain a substance that is harmful to plants
- Diseased vegetation because it may transfer diseases or bugs to your garden plants