The Art of Composting
THE ART OF COMPOSTING
Doesn’t compost smell bad?
Doesn’t everything I throw in the garbage go into the land anyway?
How do I include composting in my kitchen routine?
Okay...so now what do I do with compost?
All good questions! Composting is easy, smart, cheap and is a small thing you can do to love the earth with huge benefits.
WHY COMPOST
There are so many reasons to compost!
Those compostable food scraps are going to do a lot more for the planet then being burned in an incinerator along with plastics and other chemicals that then billow into the air we breathe.
If you throw food scraps that could be composted into a plastic bag that is then picked up by your garbage truck and then dumped in a landfill it will rot and be rendered useless well before that plastic bag decomposes (which can take up to 1,000 years [yes, that is a real statistic]).
Composting is a simple and powerful practice in regenerative gardening which helps trap carbon in the soil effectively reversing climate change.
Composting is a free source of mulch for your vegetable, fruit and flower gardens.
Composting reduces your household waste.
WHAT TO COMPOST
Kitchen scraps! Typically called the “greens” of your compost heap (we will get to the “browns” below), these are the nitrogen-rich, “wet” elements of your compost.
You can compost all organic kitchen scraps like the following things:
Tops of fruits and vegetables
Bottoms of fruits and vegetables
Eggshells
Tea bags
Coffee grounds
Skins of bananas, potatoes, etc.
The stone fruit from peaches and cherries, etc.
Finished cut flowers
After you add your kitchen scraps, the next thing to add to your compost heap outdoors are the “browns” or dry items. These are important because they allow air to circulate in and around the wet greens. You want more browns than greens...typically a 3:1 ratio. Essentially the dry browns help soak up and decompose the wet greens.
Here are the types of dry items that are safe for composting:
Cardboard egg cartons
Newspapers
Dry leaves
Pine needles
Twigs + sticks
Sawdust
Straw
Hay
Dry grass
COMPOST NO-NO’S
So you know what to compost...but what about what NOT to compost? All of these items are either bad for the earth or attract unwanted pests and rodents, so do not compost these types of things:
Cooked food
Meat (raw or cooked)
Milk or any dairy products
Oils (raw or cooked)
Fish (raw or cooked)
Bones
Coated cardboard
Glossy newsprint/magazines
Plastic (but of course)
HOW TO TEND COMPOST
Layers layers layers. Layer your greens and your browns. Then you wait and you aerate. Make sure your outdoor compost pile (whether it is in a purchased compost bin, a wooden box you made or a simple heap with no sides) gets air on all sides and that you turn it over with a stick or a spade on a regular basis.
Some people like to describe tending a compost pile as you would a fire: it needs fuel (browns and greens) and it needs air (stir it, turn it) to keep it alive.
WHEN IS COMPOST COMPLETE?
Let your nose be your guide. Bad compost smells, well, bad. It will smell like a garbage dump if it isn’t properly cared for. A sour, smelly compost heap is crying out that there are not enough browns to soak up and break down those wet greens. Up your ratio of browns!
Finished compost (which can take two months to a full year depending on the types of foods being composted [big chunks or whole foods {an overgrown zucchini for instance} take longer] and the attention it’s given). Your nose will tell you it is complete. Finished compost is loamy and earthy and not only smells woody and sweet but feels fluffy and healthy.
HOW TO USE COMPOST
There are various ways to use your finished compost. You can sprinkle compost on top of your garden beds or mix it into your flower and vegetable beds. You can also gently rake compost into tree beds, blend it with potting soil to revitalize indoor plants, or spread it on top of the soil on your lawn as a soil amendment.
Go, make compost and be merry!