A guide to home composting

In simple terms, composting is the breakdown or breakdown of the remains of organic material (material that was once alive) and other materials that were once alive to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is great to add to your garden. vegetables or plants or, in general, enrich the garden. floor.

Bacteria, fungi, worms and beetles (the decomposers) help the material break down eventually, bins and heaps are a great way to turn household waste into this valuable material to enrich your soil.

In the environment, this decomposition occurs in nature when the leaves accumulate on the forest floor and begin to decompose. Eventually, the rotting leaves are returned to the ground, where the living roots can finish the recycling process by recovering nutrients from the rotting leaves.

Today, turning this waste into humus/useable soil not only helps us to have a fantastic growing medium for our tomatoes, it also helps to reduce the pressure on landfill space, which is becoming increasingly scarce. You are really doing your part for the environment.

To compost successfully, you need to understand some composting basics to ensure that the right environmental conditions are in place to allow microorganisms (bacteria, fungi) to thrive. If you maintain their compost pile to meet their needs, they will happily compost your garden and kitchen waste much faster.

You should keep the following in mind when building your compost pile:

Air traffic. Freely circulating air is vital to a compost heap. Composting microbes are aerobic: they can’t do their job well unless they’re provided with air. Without air, anaerobic microbes (which don’t need air) take over the pile. They cause slow decomposition and tend to smell like really bad garbage. Therefore, it is important to ensure that there are plenty of air spaces in your compost pile.

Some compost ingredients, such as green grass clippings or wet leaves, accumulate very easily in slimy layers that air cannot pass through. Other ingredients, like straw, don’t clump easily and are very useful for allowing air into the center of a pile. To ensure you have adequate aeration for your pile and your microbes, completely break up or mix in any ingredients that may clump and exclude air. You can also turn the pile over to get air, which means breaking it up completely with a spade or garden fork.

Humidity

Decomposers thrive in a moisture-rich environment. It should be fairly moist, but not soggy, there should be enough moisture to cover all surfaces of the organic matter, but not wet enough that it is soggy, as this will exclude air from the mix and promote those nasty anaerobic conditions. So if you have a lot of wet leaves or grass clippings, you’ll need to add more dry matter like straw or dry leaves just to balance things out a bit.

Temperature

Rising temperatures encourage an increase in the activity of these vital decomposers, so the decomposition process will slow down with a drop in temperature during the winter months. To encourage a longer rotting season, place it in the sunniest position you can to extend the season.

Important points to remember:- If you take into account that the fastest decomposers are aerobic (they like air) and like to be warm and moist, then you’re well on your way to mastering the basics of composting.

What materials can I compost? Deciding which composting materials you can use is relatively simple. Basically it can be divided into two groups the “Greens” and the “Browns”.

The green ones are rich in nitrogen and the brown ones are rich in carbon.

The correct balance between the two will result in good compost. At 50:50, the balance of each will result in a good compost bin or pile.

Summary of Greens

tea leaves

tea bags

Coffee grains

Fruit and vegetable peels

grass cuttings

dried flowers

eggshells

abstract of browns

Light cardboard, eg egg carton

kitchen paper

Light hedge trimming

sawdust or wood shavings

Wood and peat ash (no coal ash)

A healthy compost pile or compost bin will have a good carbon/nitrogen ratio.

Good compost hygiene means covering fresh nitrogen-rich material, which can release odors if exposed outdoors, with carbon-rich material, which often has a better odor. I always add more Carbon if I can or if in doubt.

What materials should I not compost? See the summary below of materials not suitable for the home composter:-

material reason

• Meat and fish – attracts pests
• Oil and grease -attracts pests
• Cooked food – attracts pests
• Evergreen shrubs – too acidic
• Dog or cat droppings – risk of disease
• Plastic, metal and glass – will not decompose
• Corn on the cob, wood: takes too long to rot

Given enough time, all biodegradable material will break down, but not all organic material is suitable for the home composter. Most home composting systems will not reach temperatures high enough to kill pathogens and deter vermin. Therefore, it is best to leave pet droppings, animal manure, meat, and leftover dairy products in the hands of professionals. You’ll probably have enough fruit and vegetable peelings, as well as leaves and grass clippings to start composting your home and keep it going.

Types of compost bins. There are many types of compost bins. They range from simple wire frames, others can be purchased at garden centers or local authority recycling centers. Which one you choose will probably depend on how much space and waste you have!

Here’s a simple compare and contrast list of compost bin types to help you decide.

worm bins

Worm composting is unique in that it uses only food scraps and no yard waste. It is ideal for people with very small yards or no yard at all. Worm compost bins can be made in any size or purchased. Worm bins are designed to exclude critters that might be attracted to food scraps. A successful worm bin will not smell, can be harvested every few months, and can be kept indoors or outdoors.

No bin system or compost heap This is the cheapest and simplest form of composting and is great if you have a lot of yard clippings and a moderate to large area to situate your pile.

You place your organic material somewhere in your garden and build a bunch there. Over time, it will compost. Just add new material to the top of the heap. However, there are some issues to consider:-

The pile will spread as they grow. This can be avoided by installing a frame around it, made of wooden boards, for example.

Composting in a heap is not the fastest method because the heap has a large surface area where it loses heat and moisture. With rain, the minerals in your compost are washed away if you don’t cover them.

You can fence off this type of pile to maintain control of the compost pile, as well as being able to easily cover it from rain to prevent mineral loss.

plastic compost bins These round black or green plastic compost bins are readily available at hardware or nursery stores. They are common because they are relatively cheap to buy compared to the cost of materials to build a full-size three-chamber wooden compost bin and there is no work to install them. Just place them in a corner of your garden and start filling.

This is a picture of my local authority compost tumbler – quick and easy to set up and start filling. It has a separate base with holes (to let worms and other soil organisms through) and a hinged lid. There is a door at the front to allow easy removal of the finished compost. It is very “neighbor friendly” as it keeps possible odors inside the plastic cup, however it takes longer to compost the materials, from 6 months to 2 years.

compost tumblers One of the most efficient types of compost bins is the compost tumbler. This barrel-like structure allows aeration of organic waste materials by turning the handle. The bin is filled with the same ingredients as the usual heap, left for a few days to allow composting to begin, and then turned several times a day.

The tumbler’s rotating action ensures that the composting bacteria never run out of oxygen, so they keep working at full speed. Constant mixing ensures that all the ingredients are well composted and that there are no dry spots in the glass. The beaker must be filled all at once to work properly, so it is not suitable for adding material little by little. So you would need a good pile of organic material to get started with these types of compost bins.

The main disadvantage of this type of compost bin is that it can be very hard work to physically turn the composter.

The various types of compost bins available are huge, it will probably depend on how much space and expected waste you will have, I have a small garden and a small amount of kitchen waste/scrap so the plastic bin is ideal. If you have a large yard, then a compost pile may be better for your situation, but no matter how small the area, you can compost for free!