Composting 101

Compost. Black Gold! The rich, dark, nutrient dense product of kitchen scraps, newspaper, and other stuff that you can then sprinkle on your lawn, garden and plants. It's the most natural fertilizer available. It decreases the amount of trash at your curb and helps your local water works manage sewage if you don't put it all down your garbage disposal.

It's easy and here's a simple way to do it. Pick a spot in your yard that's convenient to dump your scraps in, but not right next to your door (not pretty!). You can build a little enclosure with fencing or other material or just use a trash can (one without handles is best). Add "green" items such as kitchen scraps, like coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, lettuce, etc. NEVER add bones, meat, grease, or dog/cat waste. Then add brown items like leaves, plants, shredded paper, dryer lint, etc. This will all heat up and "cook"...really, it does! You will be amazed!

You will need to add enough water (from your rain barrell) to keep it damp like a rung out sponge. You also need to turn it every week or so. If you use the garbage can method, put the tight fitting lid on it, then tip it over and roll it around a bit. Your compost should not have an odor. If it does, it might be too wet. Add brown items (like shredded newspaper) and stir it up. Leave the top off on a sunny day if it get too wet.

You can also add sawdust to your compost. In the fall, add piles of leaves and watch how quickly it all breaks down. In the summer add your grass clippings...but beware...if you add chemicals to your lawn, you now have chemicals in your compost. You can also add 10-10-10 fertilizer to your compost to speed up the process.

There is a combination of nitrogen (green), carbon (brown), and oxygen (stir) that makes the perfect cooking temperature. If the pile is not warm, then your recipe isn't working well and you need to add green or brown items.

See any worms on the ground? Toss them in the compost pile. The worms love it and they work their way around and aerate the pile just like they do in our soil, leaving their "castings" as they move.

Just remember that some things break down quickly, and others take a while. Egg shells, flower stems, nut shells, and orange peels take much longer to break down than shredded paper, leaves, vegetables peels, and grass clippings. You can use a screen to sift the not-quite-turned items out to use the really good stuff.

Your houseplants will look incredible, your tomato plants will love it, and sprinkling it all over your yard will help to aerate and fertilize it for a beautiful green lawn.

Thanks for all the emails! If you have a topic you would like to know more about, or you have something to share, please let me know!