Ah, composting. The magical act of returning life to the soil.
Before we get into the nitty grittiness of composting... I'm going to share 3 reasons why I love composting.
It's a way to manage your waste in a way that is more sustainable and keeps more volume out of the landfills.
It's a perfectly symbiotic practices to compliment growing food at home. Compost brings extra value to the plants we grow to eat. When they are done thriving, their life continues to nourish us by becoming ingredients to feed future plants.
It's fun to watch! Seriously. Hello, crazy plant lady here. But for real.
Starting a compost pile of your own can be super daunting at first, but it's actually quite easy to set up yourself! Below are some high level considerations for home composting.
Maintaining a compost pile can be hands-off. The most essential thing is keeping a balance of the "greens" (ie: fresh products, kitchen scraps, eggshells) and "browns" (ie: dry products, already “breaking down” such as leaves, cardboard, old newspapers, etc.).
Things you don't want to include in your compost are plastics, glass, metal, bones, dairy, and meat.
Deciding on what kind of composting system will work for you is key. There's the traditional compost pile (requires a decent amount of space), rotating compost bins (requires a moderate amount of space) vermicomposting (requires a small, temperature controlled space), compost tumblers (requires a small space) and even bokashi, if you're hardcore.
Do not add any new material to your system for at least 60 days before you apply to any growing space. If the compost digestion is not complete, it can steal nitrogen from the soil (and your plants) to continue breaking down. This can stunt plant growth.
Do not rely on compost alone for optimal soil nutrition! Add a little organic plant food to your soil before each season to ensure plenty of phosphorus and potassium in your soil, in addition to yummy nitrogen.
For the Do It Yourself'er = Here's an article from NPR on home composting that I found extremely helpful. There's even a 17 minute "lesson" that breaks it down.
For the Done For You'er = check out Crown Town Compost. They offer a compost subscription program where they pick up your scraps and return compost to you!
Below is a little photo gallery of some composting systems I've managed over the years... find what works for you! From the top left to bottom right, here's a brief description of the photos...
At home, I use three different composting systems. Remember me, crazy plant lady?! Hi. This first picture is an early capture of my compost tumbler and traditional compost heap. These days, the heap is much larger.
When I managed the urban farm at Garinger High School, we practices lasagna composting. This is quite intensive when it comes to space. Here, we have a 50 ft x 15 ft space that is layered with tired cabbage and greens pulled from the plots, with fall leaves and cardboard. One layer on top of the other, turned by hand every month or so.
Ah! My wormies. I love my Urban Worm Bag. She takes up a 2 ft x 2 ft space in my walk-in crawlspace / basement. I have about 2,000 + red wiggler composting worms living in there, along with all my veggie scraps, paper grocery bags, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and egg shells. They are making me earth worm castings in there!
One of my favorite ways to fill a new raised bed is to compost leaves in place. This is not only a great way to create a natural weed barrier but it is also a way to reduce your initial soil investment and create a nitrogen rich layer in your new raised bed.
And finally, a shout-out to my friends at Crown Town Compost! Seriously, if you aren't feeling the whole compost pile / compost management thing at home, give them a holler!
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