Make the Earth Smile….COMPOST!

Composting is the breakdown of kitchen scraps, lawn clippings & leaves to be used as fertilizer and soil amendment.

With time, and minimal maintenance, the collection of organic materials will turn into usable soil that is rich in nutrients and minerals that your plants will love.

What you can compost:

Raw Vegetable Scraps

Rotten Fruit

Egg Shells

Shredded Paper

Lawn Clippings

Leaves

Small Limbs (less than ½ inch in diameter)

Pine shavings or straw from pet cages (i.e. Guinea Ping, Hamster or Chickens)

What you can NOT compost:

Any foods that have been fried

Oils

Meat

Plastic

Large tree limbs (over ½ inch in diameter)

Once you decide to compost, the first thing you will need to do is find a place to collect it! Keep in mind while you do want a convenient location, it is important to choose an area that is not near a door to your home. Decaying compost will naturally draw insects, squirrels and other critters.

This compost pile is on the side of the house away from any doors.

You will notice that the compost will quickly begin to “pile” up. Building some type of structure to contain it is advisable. Also, the pile must be “flipped” every two weeks. This can be done using a shovel or rake. It is important to not let your pile dry out. To prevent this water your pile every week depending on the weather in your area.

Simply scoop from the top of the pile and flip to blend in recently added material.

How do you build a compost container?

You can use just about anything to build a compost pile. Building a frame out of bricks, blocks or scrap wood is a good idea. Also, you could opt for T-Post and chicken wire or buy a composting barrel.

Here is an example of a commercial barrel. It retails for over $100.

For the compost pile pictured below cinderblocks and wood scraps were used.

The above pile was recently relocated from a different area of the yard. It has been building for approximately 17 months and has yielded about a dozen 5 gallon buckets of compost over that course of time. Keeping the pile free of meat and oil products has prevented any unpleasant odor from developing.

Below is an example of the soil retrieved from the bottom of the pile after turning it. This batch was added to enrich the normally sandy soil, in an area of the yard, before transplanting some plants.

Happy Composting,

Ling Ling & Crutch