A Beginner's Guide to Composting at Home
Kitchen scraps and garden waste can often be turned into useful compost instead of being mixed with general rubbish. With this simple guide to composting at home, we look at ways to make it work around your own home. After all, looking after the environment is important to us all.
Composting can occur on its own over a period of time, but, with human involvement, the process can be sped up for more significant benefits; what’s more? You can do it right at home! In this post, we will shed more light on how to make compost at home for beginners, and you will be a pro in no time.
Why Should I Compost?
Do It for Our Environment
When organic waste decomposes in landfill without enough oxygen, it can produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Home composting uses air, moisture and a suitable mixture of materials to support a different process. Preventing avoidable food waste comes first; composting is useful for suitable scraps that remain.
Managing suitable food waste at home can keep material out of the general waste stream and produce a useful soil improver. It does not guarantee that a particular rubbish collection will be cancelled or that every garden will need no additional nutrients. So, what is one way to put suitable organic waste to use? Composting at home.
How to make Compost at Home
Whether you live on a farm, in a house or in an apartment, the right approach depends on your space and local arrangements. A garden heap, a managed wormery or a local food-waste collection may be appropriate. A kitchen caddy simply stores scraps until they reach a composting system; it does not make finished compost by itself.
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From Your Garden: Choose a sheltered spot with drainage and easy access. Mix soft green material, such as vegetable peelings, with dry brown material, such as shredded cardboard and woody prunings. Keep the mix damp rather than waterlogged and turn it from time to time to add air. A bin made from suitable reused timber or a purpose-made outdoor bin can keep the heap contained. Compost is ready when it is dark, crumbly and earthy, rather than according to a fixed deadline.
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In Your House: A managed wormery may work where space is limited. A kitchen collection bin can also be useful; you can compare kitchen collection bins here. Check whether a product is a storage caddy or a complete composting system. Follow the system's instructions, manage moisture and do not assume that scraps in a closed kitchen bin will become usable compost in five weeks.
The Royal Horticultural Society explains that ordinary garden compost can take six months to two years to mature, depending on the materials, conditions and management. Smaller heaps and cold weather can slow the process.
What should go in a Compost Pile
To compost successfully, check what belongs in your particular system. For products such as an EcoCoconut bottle brush, look at each component and the disposal instructions: a plant-based handle or bristles do not make metal or other non-compostable parts suitable for a compost heap.
The US Environmental Protection Agency lists suitable home-compost ingredients such as fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, dry leaves and uncoated paper or cardboard. Avoid adding meat, fish, dairy, oils, pet waste, treated wood or plastic to a basic garden heap. Tea bags and packaging need checking because some contain plastic or require industrial composting.
Keep pet waste out of compost intended for the garden. Follow local disposal guidance for pet waste and its bags; a compostable label does not automatically make a dog-waste bag suitable for a home heap or council food-waste collection.
This is just a small list and far from exhaustive, so be sure to check before you send it away to landfill!
Benefits of Composting
Composting at home lets you monitor what goes into your heap. Alongside reducing general waste, it creates conditions where fungi and beneficial bacteria help break down organic matter.
Well-finished compost has an earthy smell and can improve soil structure and moisture retention. It is a useful soil improver, although individual plants may still need additional nutrients depending on their growing conditions.
Composting from home is incredibly easy with the right tools and information. It is a great way to do your part to preserve our environment and planet and also keep your plants healthy and robust in the process. The entire process might take a while to reach completion, but, the results will be worth the wait. So, if you have always wanted to give it a go but never quite knew how, take a little time to familiarise yourself again with these instructions and give it a go for yourself.
Good luck!
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