Creating organic compost can be a very fun and satisfying project for everyone in the family. It’s a great way to spend quality time outside, while getting some Vitamin D. You’ll reap many benefits from composting such as a healthier, less expensive alternative to many garden and potting soil products. Composting is such a simple process that utilizes your table and kitchen scraps to make an incredible super soil for your garden. There are several different techniques to use and finding out which one suits you best is easy. And as always, our greatest friend, Mother Nature, will greatly appreciate your contributions in more than one way.
When it comes to setting up an area to start composting, there are several ways to go about it. The first step is to locate an area where you’ll either use a composting container or an area in the ground to place your scraps. Whether you choose to use the composting container or not, your scraps will eventually end up on the ground, so you’ll need an easy-to-access location for this process. There are a few different methods for the actual composting process.
The simplest way is to go from table scraps to soil, bypassing any containers. This is the method I use when composting; it’s so straightforward and easy. What I do is take all my scraps such as fish bones, chicken bones, egg shells, coffee grounds, banana peels, etc… place them in a plastic bag in a designated container inside my house. Then at the end of the week, I go to my compost pile, dig a few feet down and dump the matter inside. After I dump everything inside, I stir the compost pile up to spread all the nutrients around the ground soil, and this also helps aid the decomposition of the organic materials.
Another method is using a composting container outside that holds all the organic matter either on the ground surface or up on a stand to prevent critters and pest from scavenging and creating a mess. You can purchase containers made for composting or create your own by using trash cans with a few holes in the lid. You can’t go wrong with either of these.
If you decide to use a container, let the matter build up to fill the container and stir once a week. You’ll let the material sit there for 3-4 months which is enough time to start to decomposition before you dump everything in the ground to start the next step of breaking the materials down. Usually, you’ll use this process in larger scale operations.
Now that we’ve established what set up we’ll use and the location of our compost piles, we can talk about what type of stuff we can use. The basics are any scraps you might have from cooking such as egg shells, the leftovers from any fruits and veggies. Some of the not so basics you can use are grass clippings, and weeds you’ve pulled from flower beds spent vegetable crops and fish and chicken carcasses.
What a lot of people don’t know is that you can also use recycled newspaper and shredded mail. It’s a little too much to tackle in this blog, but you can check out more info here. Now to create a solid base, you can use starters such as leaves from the lawn or coffee grounds. The cool thing about coffee grounds is many places like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts bag up their used coffee grounds for people to come pick up for FREE!
You should allow 8-12 months for everything to break down and decompose before using the compost for any gardens or flower beds. Once everything is broken down and installed in your garden, yields and health will increase and most of all; IT’S FREE!! You’ll save so much money each year by eliminating bagged soil purchased for your needs.
By choosing to start organic compost, you’ll save money, upgrade the health and quality of your gardens, get involved in a self-efficient lifestyle and the most important of all, the positive environmental impact. Most landscape materials use peat moss that is being harvested at an alarming rate. Peat moss cycles through 30-33% all known carbon emissions. That’s the number one contributor on this planet, including our forest and we all need to do our part in trying to protect them, one bag at a time. There are other peat moss alternatives to use if you still choose to purchase bagged and loose products. Get out there and start your organic compost garden today!!
We hired Marc to do our backyard because of our dogs digging. He was there!
4 years ago
