A Beginners Guide to Composting

Spring is here, and with warm weather moving in it’s time to think about the green things in your life. Whether you’re a big outdoor gardener with grand plans for your veggies or just someone trying to keep the plant in your apartment window alive, giving compost to your plants can help them thrive. Luckily, making compost in your own kitchen isn’t that hard at all. In this article, learn how to reduce food waste and supplement your garden and plants with homemade compost.

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Why Compost?

Curious about composting but not convinced it’s for you? Consider the following:

• Composting reduces the amount of waste your family is putting into landfills. By adding your kitchen scraps, cardboard, and even compost-safe wooden tools and utensils to your compost bin or heap, you’re cutting back on how much trash you produce. It’s great for the environment!
• It’s basically free. Sure, you can spend 300 – 400 dollars on a high tech composting bin, but you can also effectively compost in a cardboard box you’ve buried in your backyard. Compost may take some time to make, but considering how expensive good quality store bought compost can be, it may be worth the wait.
• It’s easy. Add scraps, keep it damp, and turn it every once in a while, and eventually you’ll wind up with quality food for your plants.
• It benefits gardens big and small. Whether you’re an avid gardener or just trying to help your window herbs along, adding compost will improve soil quality and protect your plants from many pests and diseases.
• You can share with friends and neighbors. Even if you aren’t a big gardener yourself, chances are you know someone who owns some house plants or keeps a veggie garden, and they’ll probably appreciate some free fertilizer.

What To Compost

Convinced that composting is for you? Alright! Before we hop into exactly how it’s done, let’s go over the very basics: what you should and shouldn’t compost.

Layer your browns and your greens

Successful composting requires a balance that will create the perfect, hot environment for good microorganisms to thrive. This is achieved by maintaining a certain ratio of carbon or carbohydrate rich waste, called brown mix, and nitrogen rich waste, called green mix, while maintaining a good moisture level.

Browns are the carbon or carbohydrate-rich foods that fuel the things making a home in your compost heap. Brown mixes are usually dry, and can be both plant material and materials that were made from plants. Some examples of brown mix items include: dry leaves, straw, twigs, sawdust, pine needles, papers and napkins, cotton fabric, dryer lint, wooden utensils, and corrugated cardboard. If your compost heap is slimy or smelling particularly foul, you may need to add more brown mix to the batch.

Greens are the nitrogen and protein rich components that heat the pile as they break down. Often they are green, as the name implies, but this isn’t always the case. Rather, they are usually wet or damp. Green materials include: grass clippings, veggie and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and tea bags, eggshells, manure, and plant trimmings that haven’t gone to seed. If your compost is dry, cold, sweet-smelling, or is taking a long time to break down, a bit more green mix may be necessary.

There’s a ton of research out there on what the proper ratio is, but you don’t need to be exact to be successful. In general, aim for more brown than green. About 50 – 75% brown to 25 – 50% green should do the trick!

Just add water!

Keep your compost damp, but not soaked. Water helps break down organic matter, improving the decomposition process, but too much water can deprive the bin of oxygen. Wet the materials you add to your bin, and if things are looking dry don’t be afraid to add some water or a bit more green material like grass clippings.

What not to compost

You can’t toss just anything into the compost and call it a day. Here are some things you should avoid adding to your bin:

• Plastics. They won’t decompose. Remove stickers and labels from the things you add to the bin.
• Most animal products, including meat, bones, dairy, fish, fats, and oils, will produce incredibly foul smells as they rot. They will also attract pests like flies and rodents.
• Anything that’s been treated with pesticides or sealant could potentially kill the good composting organisms in the bin, and what’s left over may affect the plants you’re trying to grow later.
• Relatedly, do not toss medications into the compost bin.
• Diseased or insect-infested plants shouldn’t go in the bin, because most bins don’t get hot enough to kill pests or bacteria.
• While they will break down if your compost heap is hot enough, seeds and roots from weeds can potentially incubate or sprout in your bin.
• Human or animal waste, just like diseased plants, can transfer bacteria or parasites in feces to the compost heap, which could make even handling the end product harmful to you.
• Black walnut tree debris contains a substance called juglone that can stunt plant growth or even kill plants.
• Coal or charcoal ash contains chemicals that can harm plants. Wood ash, however, is okay.

When should I start a compost bin?

You can start composting any time of year. There’s no bad time to start. That said, the composting process itself is most efficient during the warmer months. Getting your bin or pile set up in late winter or early spring will ensure that the whole system is ready to go come summer and autumn.

How To Start Composting

Now that you know what goes into a compost bin, we can review how to put one together!

1. Pick your post and buy your bin

First things first, ask yourself the following questions:

• • Where will I put my compost bin?
    • Composting works best outside in a dry, shady spot with good drainage. These factors ensure that temperature and moisture are more likely to be consistent.
    • Direct contact with the earth will make it easier for the worms and microorganisms you want in your compost to reach it. Putting the compost on concrete slabs may seem more convenient, but you’ll need  to add things like earthworms yourself.
    • Compost can get pretty smelly, and isn’t always nice to look at. So, if you’re opting for a compost pile or a bin without an airtight seal, you may want to keep it away from your and your neighbors’ windows.
    • You can still compost if you don’t have much room outdoors! There are plenty of smaller bins, even indoor bins, available online and at hardware stores.
  • Do I want a compost bin or a heap?
    • A compost pile is inherently cheaper than a bin, because you don’t necessarily have to buy anything to start a compost pile.
    • Compost bins tend to produce compost faster than heaps, but require less space.
    • A compost pile, however, will let you produce a whole lot more compost at once.
    • If you’re tending to a large garden, in-ground composting can be done directly in the dirt. Care must be taken to cover this well, though, as the decomposition will attract pests otherwise.
    • If smells or appearance are a major concern, a bin may be a better option. A compost bin will seal in odors and make it difficult for rodents and pests to reach the decaying material.
  • If you’re opting for a bin, which should you buy?
    • There are a variety of bins available with tons of options, from tiny tabletop apartment-friendly indoor options to garbage bin-sized tumbling outdoor containers. In general, a larger bin is going to be more effective at composting, but you may not necessarily have the space for it. Don’t let that stop you!
    • Consider your needs, your budget, and how much time you’re willing to put in to maintaining your compost pile when buying.

Consider these questions and you’ll have a better idea of what you need to buy and where to set it up.

2. Put your compost together

Time to assemble those scraps! You’ll want to layer your materials, browns and then greens alternating. Here are some quick tips:

• Chop and break up your browns and greens into smaller bits. The smaller they are, the faster they break down, and the sooner you have usable compost.
• Make sure when you add material to the bin that large and small bits are well mixed together.
• Dampen anything that’s dry when you add it.
• Start with a layer of branches, twigs, and coarse plant material. This will encourage air circulation at the base.
• Next, add a layer of browns like dry leaves, and on top of that, a layer of greens like grass clippings or kitchen scraps.
• Ideally, your third layer should be a 1-inch layer of manure, soil, or starter compost, which will add nitrogen and microorganisms to the bin.
• From there, you can alternate browns and greens. Don’t overfill, as this will compact things, depriving the compost of the oxygen it needs to decompose.
• In general, when you add kitchen scraps or anything that might make for an appealing snack for a rat or flies, be sure to bury it. The closer it is to the top of the pile, the easier it is for pests to access.

3. Turn it

Your compost needs to be aerated regularly or else it will compact and the decomposing process will stop. Mix things in your compost bin up to add oxygen back into the mix. Whenever you add new material to your bin, you should mix it in, rather than adding it in more layers. Additionally, every few weeks you should give the compost a turn. Mixing it up and fluffing it with a shovel or hoe should suffice, but if you’ve built your compost in a tumbler bin, turning it is as simple as turning the crank on the side!

No-Turn Composting is an option if the thought of breaking out the shovel has you turning tail. By layering in plenty of coarse brown mix like straw and twigs when you first build your compost, and using a bin that allows you to harvest fresh compost from the bottom, you may be able to avoid having to turn your compost altogether.

4. Top it

When you’re done adding material, make sure the top is well covered. Covering the compost will help to retain heat and moisture, and it will keep pests away. A tarp can be used on compost heaps, and most bins come with their own covers. If you’ve got a lot of wildlife, securing the bin with a bungee cord is a good idea.

How Long Does It Take To Make Compost?

How long it takes varies wildly and depends on a number of factors. Bin content, local climate, internal temperature, and how diligent you are about tending to and turning the heap will all factor in to how long it takes to get a usable batch. Warm weather helps to jumpstart the decomposing process that nets you great plant food, but so does having a proper balance of materials and good aeration. Most experts estimate that you’ll have a usable batch of compost in six months to a year after starting your compost heap. In some situations, it can take as little as six to eight weeks, or as long as two years.

How do I know when my compost is done?

Finish compost has the look of fresh, dark, crumbly soil. It won’t have any chunks of food debris or lawn waste in it, and it should smell like fresh earth, not rot. If you think your compost is done, it’s time for the bag test. Put a handful of moist compost into a ziplock baggie and press all the air out before sealing it. Leave the bag to sit for three days, then open it and take a whiff. If the contents smell sour or like ammonia, the compost isn’t done decomposing. Give it a week before trying again.

How do I use compost?

• Compost can be sprinkled on top of existing soil or mixed in, usually about 1 to 5 inches into the soil.
• You can make your own potting soil by mixing 2 parts compost with 1 part sand or perlite.
• When planting, put a handful or so of compost in the pot or hole.
• Add compost to your vegetable garden in the fall, then till that soil in spring in preparation for planting.
• Compost can be added to flowers and flower beds in spring or fall to protect plants’ roots from cold weather.

Wrapping Up

Now that you know how to get your garden growing, why not learn how to take care of all those tools you need to keep it looking great? At AppliancePartsPros.com, we’ve got tips, tutorials, and genuine replacement parts to keep your lawn equipment and appliances in tip-top shape. Got a question? Head over to our site and have a chat with one of our friendly experts!