Composting is one of those things that everyone agrees is good. There are really no downsides, only benefits.
Compost creates nutrient-rich, well-fertilized soil.
Composting means that “food waste” is no longer wasted.
Making compost better for the environment.
Composting organic materials is more productive than simply throwing them in a landfill.
Making compost is passive income. You are Does not actively break down organic materials. You don’t do anything but throw it in the heap or in the container. The microorganisms handle the rest and you get the benefit.
From every aspect, composting is a smart move. If you just want a fresher garden, composting will do the trick. If you want to improve soil health and combat nutrient deficiencies in the soil, composting will do the trick. If you want to combat environmental degradation, then compost does it. If you just want less stuff in the trash and landfill, composting will do the trick.
There’s no reason Not to make compost. Even if you live in a small space with no yard, you can participate. But how do you get started?
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How to start the tempering process
The basic way to get started is to just get started.
First, figure out what can and can’t be brewed:
What to do to brew?
- Shredded vegetables and fruits
- Coffee grounds and paper filters
- Tea bags, old tea leaves
- Glossy/matte paper products and cardboard products (including PrimalKitchen.com kraft paper for shipping!)
- The yard
- Leaves, grass
- Dry grass and straw
- Wood chips, sawdust, wood scraps, untreated toothpicks
- Wine cork
- Tissue
- Eggshell (best crushed)
- Feathers, feathers, feathers
- Manure
- Stale bread, cooked pasta
- Cotton, wool, linen
What should not be composted?
- Plastic
- Glossy paper products — magazines, “glossy” paper
- Metal
- Rock
- Glass cup
- Big branches, round wood
- Animal and human waste
- Wood chips, sawdust, processed wood scraps
- Synthetic fabric
- Oil
So you just toss everything from the “What to do compost” list in a large pile or yard trash?
Incorrect.
You should think of compostable materials in terms of “green” and “brown”. Green is a wetter material, with a higher nitrogen content. The brown color is drier, the carbon content is higher.
Greens consists of:
- Most kitchen scraps
- Manure
- Coffee grounds
- Fresh grass, leaves and turf (green)
Brown consists of:
- Wood scraps, dust, chips
- Carton
- Hay
- Dried grass (brown), leaves and yard clippings
- Eggshell
Ratio: You want more brown than blue in your compost pile or trash can. It’s not an exact ratio, but somewhere between 4:1 and 2:1 brown:green is fine. “More brown than greens” is good enough. It is not an exact science, more an art. Your compost should be moist, not soaked. It shouldn’t be dry, it shouldn’t be slimy, it should be June.
Class: You should create raw brown and green “layers”. Brown on the bottom, then green, then brown, then green, etc. Make sure both the bottom and top are brown. This will allow air to circulate and prevent moisture from accumulating. The layers are bound to get mixed up as the compost grows and you flip it, and that’s okay. It’s a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.
What type of compost setup is best?
You can make above ground compost into a pile. No structure, no walls, nothing but compost and soil underneath it. That will work.
You can compost in a large bin. Four walls and a roof. If your compost is completely cut from the ground, make sure you “seed” it with some garden soil to create microorganisms. That will work.
You can make your compost in a large cup with a handle that allows you to mix the contents and aerate it. That will work.
The best compost setup is where you can set up and maintain where you live. If it’s a small crate on your yard, that’s fine. If it’s a big pile in your garden, that’s fine. Anything you have room for would be an ok.
Just follow the basic concept of “more brown than green”, regularly aerate or invert your compost with a spade or pitchfork (or spade), and avoid too much moisture or too little moisture. . Don’t lose sleep over the compost setting. Just do it.
However, there are several other options.
Create a worm bin
Worm containers are great for smaller places that don’t have a yard because they can be self-contained. Making a crate of worms is quite easy. Here’s how to do it:
- Take two plastic tubs. One shorter, one taller, with the taller one able to fit the shorter one below.
Bathtub under: 15 inches long, 25 inches wide, 5 inches high
Upper tub: 15 inches long, 20 inches wide, 15 inches high
The top basin has a lid. The bottom tub doesn’t need one. - Drill a 1-inch hole 2 inches from the top of the top tub. Drill another one inch hole on the opposite side.
- Near each bottom corner of the top tub, drill 1/8-inch holes.
- Cover all six holes with vinyl wrap. Paste or pin the screen in place. This will keep the worms from escaping.
- The top tub goes inside the bottom tub. Pour shredded paper and a pound of soil into the top tub three inches deep to create bacteria. Add water that is sufficiently moist (but not wet).
- Add worms. The red squirrels are the best.
- Let them acclimate to the crate for a few days, then add food. Food can be anything from the kitchen, but avoid meat, dairy, and bones in your worm bin. To add food, make a hole in the center of the bins, put the food in, and cover with the soil/paper mixture. You may have to add more soil/paper mix until the worms start making enough soil on their own.
- Feed the worms about once a week. If they are skipping a certain food you put in it, take them out and don’t add them back. Worms have hobbies. You simply may not be interested in that particular food.
- The liquid that remains in the bottom tub is highly nutritious — for your plants. Add it to your garden.
- When the compost reaches the two holes you drilled in the top bin, it’s time to harvest some compost and add to the garden. Try to avoid shoveling worms.
If you don’t want to create your own, you can also purchase pre-made setups.
Try Bokashi Compost
Bokashi is a Japanese composting method that uses anaerobic fermentation to produce compost in a shorter amount of time compared to a conventional compost pile. And it’s easy to make your own setup.
- Get two 5-gallon buckets and a tight-fitting lid.
- Drill 20 small holes in the bottom of a bucket. Place the bucket with the hole in the bottom inside the bucket without the hole. These are the drainage holes for the compost liquid.
- Add kitchen scraps to the top bucket. Kitchen utensils can include anything, including meat, bones, and fat. However, avoid too much liquid and oil, and try to keep the pieces relatively small to speed up the fermentation.
- Sprinkle with bokashi bran — this is bran that has been inoculated with bokashi. Coat the surface of the crumbs with bran and stir well. 1-2 tablespoons for every 2 inches of leftovers.
- Cover up. Make sure it’s airtight, as bokashi needs an airtight environment to grow. You should also use a covered dish or plastic wrap on the stone to cover the compost to limit exposure to air.
- Every time you add more kitchen scraps, sprinkle with more bokashi bran and stir, then press down with a potato masher to compact the manure and minimize air.
- Add kitchen utensils at most every day; you want to minimize exposure to the air as much as possible.
- Drain the liquid in the bottom bucket every few days. You can use this diluent in the garden.
When the upper bin is almost full, cover and leave for two weeks for the process to finish. Continue draining the liquid. After two weeks, the contents should be ready to be moved to the garden for burial or further composting. Do not immediately fertilize the plant because it is still very acidic. Another two weeks of external “curing” or burying will make it suitable for application in the garden.
Some people have even had success adding bokashi bran to their existing compost pile. It’s worth a try.
Choose your motivation
An important part of composting is your motivation. Why do you compost? Are you composting to save the world and fight climate change? Or are you composting to get better soil, to create your own fertilizer, to have a more sustainable life in your own household? I think the following motivations will be more useful and sustainable for those who want to start composting and hold composting.
Because here’s the thing: when you’re brewing to save the world or some other great design with global implications, you won’t see any impact from your actions. It might help to some extent, but throwing your banana peels in the compost pile won’t move the needle in terms of climate or world hunger or land devastation. However, it will affect the quality of your garden and your own life.
If you’re expecting your little compost pile to save the world, but it doesn’t, you’re less likely to stick with it. What is the problem here?
If you were expecting your little compost pile to save your garden and then it does, you’re more likely to stick with it. Because that’s the whole point.
That’s it: a quick and dirty guide to composting.
How do you compost? What did I miss? What would you add to this post? Let me know below!
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