I bought a house a few years ago and my roommate and I really wanted to start composting. Why you ask? Because we thought it was cool. I know silly reason but when the county we lived in offered their residents some pretty cheap compost bins, we took advantage of it. I have been composting for about 4 years now and learned a few things.
1. Your dirt output is totally dependent on your input and how often you mix it up. I am personally very bad at the mixing and mix more in the summer than winter.
2. You can compost virtually everything that isn’t meat and dairy but if you plan to use it in the food garden then you may want to stick with organic material.
3. My husband and I really only need to take the trash to the curb every 2 weeks.
4. It doesn’t smell as bad as I thought it would. When I take out the compost every few days and mix it more there is little smell and no pesky critters. When I am a bit lazy it shows.
5. It is great for the soil. Composting adds nutrients, aerates the soil and can allow the soil to hold water or plants better.
6. The more people compost the less waste in landfills and maybe, hopefully, less of a need for more or larger landfills.
What can you compost and what cant you compost? Well pretty much everything that comes in your home can be composted but metal, plastic, styrofoam, meat and dairy. I added a list of a few other no nos below. I could compost paper and fabric. However, since I don’t know if there are toxins in the dies or inks, I choose not to compost them. I compost veggie and fruit scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells, yard waste, house plant waste and even dryer lint. Here is a picture of my compost container
Today you can find compost bins for sale pretty easily, online or in the home and garden stores. If you want to do this casually then any bin that catches your eye will work. If you want to produce soil then consider a rotating bin. They are much easier to churn and increase the decay process.
Happy Composting!
NEVER COMPOST:
Bread products: normally contain animal products, eggs, milk, or butter
Cooking oil:
Diseased plants: You don’t want to spread the disease
Rice: It breeds bacteria
Sawdust: Unless you know it is untreated
Weeds: you will just start breading the weeds
Walnuts: They contain juglone, which is a natural aromatic compound toxic to some plants.
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| Freshly turned compost. |
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| This is the compost bin I use. |
Here are a few helpful resources
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