Composting at Home for Beginners
Composting at Home for Beginners
If you live in a house, have a yard, or garden, then composting at home is a good way to recycle food scraps and yard waste. Composting also helps add nutrients to soil and improve the health of plants.
Start with a bin or tumbler.
If you’re new to composting, then a bin or tumbler is an easy way to get started. Compost bins are made from all kinds of materials—wood, metal, plastic—and come in all shapes and sizes. You can buy them from garden centers and online retailers, or make one yourself from cinder blocks and chicken wire (you’ll have to build a frame around it first). If you opt for the latter route, check out this article on how-to build a compost bin for more information on how best to go about it.
Bins are great because they keep your compost contained and easy to manage. Plus they keep dogs at bay when filled with food scraps! However if you’re looking for something less permanent there’s another option: making a pile with three feet of height by three feet wide by 3 feet deep (914mm x 914mm x 914mm). This will give you enough room to add layers as necessary without having too much material going into one spot at any given time which could lead them not breaking down quickly enough due to lack of oxygen flow throughout the mass pile itself – all while still keeping things neat enough so that no one will know what’s going on inside unless they want their nose right up against it like ours does sometimes 😉
Check your ingredients.
- Check your ingredients.
- Make sure you’re only putting compostable and biodegradable items in your bin. Some things, like glass and metal, can’t be broken down by the bacteria in compost bins (though they will break down in industrial-sized facilities).
Test the moisture level.
In the beginning, you may have to adjust the moisture level of your compost pile. You can tell if it’s too wet or too dry by sticking your hand into it. If it feels damp and squishy, that’s a good indication that it is at the right level of moisture for bacteria to digest materials efficiently. If you feel no moisture at all, add some water to keep things moist until they can break down on their own (you won’t want to do this often). On the flip side, if you experience a lot of water in there after adding new material, try adding some dry materials like leaves or straw—this will absorb excess moisture and ensure that everything stays balanced as decomposition continues.
Add worms.
You can get worms at most garden centers. They are the key to successful composting, and they eat food scraps, turning them into worm poop called castings. Castings are rich in nutrients and a great way to fertilize your plants.
Stir it up.
If you’re using a container, give your compost a good stir once in a while. This keeps the material aerated, which is important for proper composting. You can use a compost turner tool or a shovel to accomplish this task—either way works just fine!
As you mix up your pile, also make sure to add water sparingly as needed. Too much moisture can lead to anaerobic bacteria growth, which is not ideal for creating healthy soil amendments.
Composting is easy and takes very little dedicated time, but you’ll enjoy the benefits of fertile soil for years to come.
Composting at home is easy and takes very little dedicated time, but you’ll enjoy the benefits of fertile soil for years to come.
It’s fun, it’s good for your garden and it also lowers your carbon footprint.
Conclusion
Composting at home can be a rewarding and sustainable practice, but it’s important to start slow and make sure you have the right tools. We hope that this guide has given you some good ideas for getting started.
