Composting 'how to guide'

What is composting? 

Composting uses the heat from the sun as well as microbes to turn your kitchen and garden scraps into a precious product to spread around the garden. Home composting is easy and can be done in even the smallest of spaces, just follow these steps on a smaller scale. All of our organic household waste (here ‘organic’ means that it’s made from plants, or animals or their byproducts) can be composted. Food scraps are the main household waste, but paper, cardboard, coffee grounds and napkins can all go in there too! 

Benefits of composting

• Reduces your carbon footprint. Composting at home means less food waste goes into landfill where it doesn't properly decompose, this means less greenhouse gas is produced. You can also find more healthy sustainability suggestions here. 
• Naturally enriches your soil
• Eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers 
• Encourages production of good bacteria in your garden
• Helps to eliminate diseases and pests on your plants
• Encourages worm life. Worms improve the health of your soil by helping with aeration and creating rich plant food and liquid fertilizer.

Step-by-step guide to composting

1. Choose your location

For smaller yards, you may opt for a compost bin or tumbler, but if you have a little more space, you could choose a compost bay or multiple bays for composting at different stages. Choose a spot where you will get some sun and some shade.

2. Fill it up

There are three main ingredients that you will need when home composting; green waste, brown waste and water.

• Green (or wet) waste – Fruit and veg scraps, egg shells, tea leaves, coffee grounds, grass clippings
• Brown (or dry) waste– dead leaves, branches, twigs, straw, paper, cardboard
• Water – to keep the pile moist but not wet

Note 1: Avoid cat and dog poo, glossy cardboard or paper, treated wood, weeds that have gone to seed, wood ash, sticky labels on fruit and meat/bones.

Note 2: The smaller your materials the quicker it will decompose, so try to chop your scraps in the kitchen before throwing in the compost bin and remember to rip up your egg cartons.

Add layers of green and brown waste, adding a little water after each layer to keep the pile moist (not wet). You want roughly twice as much brown waste as green waste. Finish off with a layer of soil or finished compost – this helps with the smell and adds microbes to your pile. 

Then cover the compost pile and let those microbes get to work! You can use just about anything you have laying around (tarpaulin, old carpet, wood, plastic, etc.)

3. Aerate your pile

Stick a pitchfork in your compost pile and turn it over to get the air in there. Do this every 3-4 days to aerate when it’s hot, and every 1-2 weeks when it’s cooler weather. This step is important because as the microbes digest the scraps they use up the air and they need a fresh supply to survive. It will also help to avoid smells and ensure that your heap doesn’t overheat and combust (rare, but possible!). Add water to moisten the heap whilst aerating before covering up again.

Using multiple compost bays allows you to create more than one compost heap at the same time. When you have enough green and brown waste to create a second heap, move it across to another bay (for excellent aeration) and then start on your second heap. 

4. Repeat!

Generally speaking it will take two or three months, but the size of your materials, the location of your heap, the time of year and the temperature of the compost will all influence how long the process will take. Slowly the microbes that have developed will decompose the materials.

Continue aerating and moistening the heap until the compost crumbles easily and is rich brown in colour. Voila! Your compost is now ready.

Storing your compost

Ideally you want to use your new living compost filled with good microbes and bacteria as soon as possible. The longer it is stored the more chance it has of losing nutrients. If you are using a multiple bay compost station then you can keep the compost in one of the stations while you continue to make more. If you are short on space you can transfer it to a spare bin.

Don’t forget to keep it covered and occasionally aerate and spray with water to keep your compost moist and nutrient rich. Watch as the worms find their way into your heap, leaving their rich castings behind (aka worm poo).

Compost will help your garden to retain moisture and will act like a conditioner for your soil. Once you start seeing the benefits of composting your household and garden waste you will never want to use a chemical fertilizer again! Plus, if you’re lucky, you may even get a surprise tomato plant pop up that you didn’t intend to grow!

We’d love to hear about how your garden grows! Remember to tag Crunch&Sip in your socials.