A Quick Guide To Composting At Home

Guest Post by Kevin Hilton

Around the house, there’s a lot of potential to waste food and food scraps. However, did you know you can help the environment, sustain your garden, reduce food waste and save money gardening all at once through composting?

What is composting? It is a natural process that turns organic matter to compost or “humus”. It is all about microbial activity. When your food and garden waste are put together, the bacteria present in the soil will break down the matter, turning it into compost. This can then be used as a fertiliser giving rich nutrients to your plants and condition the soil for planting.

Poor soil can hinder or prevent plant growth so it’s always best to have an idea of the kind of soil you have in your garden. If you’re not sure, you might want to give soil testing a try, either using a kit or a DIY method. These tests can also reveal what kind of pH your soil is, which also has a big effect on whether your plants will grow or not.

Compost can be used to improve your soil quality, and if you do it at home you’ll get compost for free instead of having to buy it from a shop.

Composting is satisfying because, not only will it help you in terms of cultivation, it will also help you in reducing food waste that ends up in landfill. You’ll be doing your bit to fight the pollution problem.

Composting at home may sound daunting, and many assume it to be dirty or smelly, but this doesn’t have to be the case if you manage your compost pile properly.

Composting At Home

Firstly you’ll want to choose what kind of compost bin you’d like to use. There are lots of different types, but the main three are a plastic bin, a homemade bin, or a tumbler. Here is a good guide for choosing which one is best for you. Once you have your bin ready, you can get started.

Composting your kitchen scraps is easy, especially if you set up a small container in your kitchen where you can quickly throw scraps. Every few days you can empty the container into your compost pile. But did you know that you can compost more than just kitchen scraps? Here is a list of everyday things you add to your pile.

What to compost:

• Loose tea or plastic free tea bags
• Cereal boxes, brown paper bags
• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Coffee grounds
• Hay or straw
• Nutshells
• Eggshells
• Hair and fur
• Shredded newspaper
• Burnt matches, toothpicks
• Grass and plant clippings
• Dry leaves
• Bark chips, sawdust

However, there are also some things you’ll want to avoid putting on your compost pile.

What not to compost:

• Cat or dog faeces (not ideal as they might contain germs or parasites)
• Meat, poultry scraps, fish or anything with grease, oil and fat (prone to pests and odour problems)
• Dairy products (prone to pests and odour problems)
• Wood chips, trimmings or sawdust treated with pesticide (could possibly harm the organisms needed for composting)
• Diseased plants (some unhealthy organisms are not easily destroyed and can survive in the compost)
• Coal ash (contains sulfur and iron in high amounts that can ruin the plants)
• Coloured paper (coloured inks contain toxic materials and heavy metals not ideal for composting)

Steps to Easy Composting:

STEP 1: Lay your compost pile on bare soil

Starting your compost pile on bare soil will allow worms and other organisms to access the materials and help in the composting process. In fact these organisms are crucial to making completed compost.

Most types of compost bin will have an open bottom allowing these organisms to get in, but this isn’t the case with a tumbler.

STEP 2: Add compost materials in layers (a combination of green and brown materials)

Make your organic compost pile by alternating damp and dry items. It is advised to combine wet green materials such as grass clippings, tea bags, and food scraps with dry brown materials such as sawdust and wood ashes.

Estimate the amount of green and brown items in your compost. If you notice your compost to be damp, add the dry brown items and if it is too dry, do the opposite.

STEP 3: Maintain a moist compost pile

Water your compost pile every so often, but not too much. The goal is just to maintain the moistness as this helps the composting process. Rain would also help you here if your bin doesn’t have a lid. Just keep in mind that adding too much water will drown the organisms in your pile and will cause the pile to rot.

STEP 4: Cover your compost pile

Compost should be moist but not drenched or soggy. If your compost pile doesn’t have a lid you can cover it with a plastic tarp weighed down with stones or scraps of carpet, or whatever else you can deem as viable. This should also protect your compost from heavy rain.

To check if your batch is properly composting, reach into the middle of your pile and check if your compost pile is warm.

STEP 5: Turn or stir up your pile

Using a pitchfork or shovel, turn your pile every few weeks. This will help add oxygen to your pile which is vital to the composting process. Turning your pile also helps prevent your compost from developing an odour and speeding up the composting process.

STEP 6: Use as garden fertiliser

You know your compost pile is ready when it is dry, dark brown, crumbly, almost soil-like texture. Spread out the compost on your garden beds, lawn, into your pots, or even in your seed-starting mix. The compost will give your plants the nutrients they need to grow. This lessens the need for pesticides and chemical fertilisers. #

The Benefits of Composting

Now that you know how to maintain a compost pile, let’s talk more about the benefits composting can bring.

Recycles Garden And Kitchen Waste

When your food waste is thrown in the rubbish, it ends up in landfill. Contrary to popular belief, kitchen and garden waste cannot compost in landfill. This is because the composting process requires oxygen and landfills become so compacted that aeration isn’t possible. Therefore your waste won’t decompose and will contribute to the mass of pollution landfills create..

Composting reduces kitchen waste by up to 30-40% and doesn’t produce harmful pollutants.

Reduce Landfill Methane Emissions

Since landfills do not have conditions for decomposing, as soon as your waste starts to break down, this will emit harmful methane gas. Composting helps reduce these very harmful emissions, so you can contribute to saving the world from climate change and global warming.

Enriches Soil

Compost contains nutrients for your plants and helps to retain the moisture in soil. Your plants can grow to their full potential and keep them healthy and green. Compost is also great for enriching your fruit and vegetable crops if you choose to grow your own.

There you have it!

Composting is straightforward, cheap, and very beneficial to the Earth. It’s a win/win scenario. It will provide proper nutrients for your soil and lessen waste in the household. It is a challenge to recycle and reduce, but there is no limit as to how much compost you can add to your garden. Composting is indeed one of the best solutions to both gardening and eliminating kitchen waste.

Happy composting!