This post is a summary of how to start composting. For a thorough and detailed guide, check out edmonton.ca/compost.
Composting is reusing your waste and turning it into useful decayed organic matter. This is the stuff you can mix with your garden soil to provide your plants and flowers with rich nutrients. Home-produced compost will enrich soil and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers for your garden. Reduce the amount of organic waste that ends up in the landfill and have a blooming and healthy lawn and plants during summer, it’s a win-win!
Food scraps that end up at the bottom of landfills, decay in an environment that has no oxygen present. Lack of oxygen promotes formation of methane gas, which is a harmful greenhouse gas that is 26 times more potent than carbon dioxide. However, composting is done in the presence of oxygen. So, food scraps that are composted in your backyard will instead release carbon dioxide (like it should in the natural carbon cycle). Carbon and nitrogen also stay in the finished compost and are great for the health of your garden.
Thinking of giving composting a try? This is what you can do:
Purchase or Make a Compost Bin
The bin should have enough holes for air to pass through. This how to guide has a number of styles to choose from. For more information on composters, visit edmonton.ca/compost.
Learn What to Compost
Image Credit: Radhika
Get Started
Now, composting is pretty easy. It should have a good balance of green stuff (nitrogen) and brown stuff (carbon).
Image Credit: Radhika
Put a layer of brown stuff at bottom to start. Alternate between putting a layer of green stuff and then brown stuff. Make sure clumps are broken into small pieces. Mix fresh material in with the layer below. Add water to the bin, if it is too dry. Make sure your compost is turned or fluffed once every week or so.
Troubleshooting
If your compost runs out of oxygen it can start to smell. Make sure it is getting enough air by fluffing compost and breaking up clumps.
Nitrogen is rich in moisture, so too much nitrogen can lead to a very wet and stinky compost. Whereas carbon is dry, so too much carbon will lead to a lack of moisture needed to decay waste properly. So the key is to have a good balance. If compost is too wet, add more brown material and aerate. If compost is too dry, add more green stuff or some water.
In winter, to protect the compost from excessive moisture, the bin can be moved to the garage or a shed. If compost is kept outside in winter, it should receive some sunlight whenever it can. It can also have straw bales stacked around the bin to provide it with some insulation.
A Fun Alternative to Outdoor Composting:
Not everyone can compost in their backyards or patios. Vermicomposting is a good alternative. Vermicomposting uses red wiggler worms, as they are incredible garbage eaters and they produce rich compost. All you need is a small bin with a few red worms and your food waste. Oh, and worms also speed up the decaying process so it’s a win-win-win!
You can reuse a plastic bin for vermicomposting with small sized holes in the top for airflow.
For vermicomposting, add newsprint torn into long strips to your bin. You can also include small amounts of potting soil, along with straw, dried leaves, dry houseplants and crushed eggshell to your container. This bedding will ensure your worms’ proper health. After the bin is full of these materials, sprinkle it with some water so it is as damp as a wrung out sponge. Add your worms. Now you can start feeding the bin and worms with green scraps (fruit, vegetables, plant leaves), make sure to use a different part of the bin each time you feed them.
After about three months, the original bedding will have decreased in size. At this point compost can be harvested and new bedding can be added for the cycle to repeat (leaving the worms in the bin)!
If you want to use worms for your outdoor composting, brown earthworms eat organic waste in gardens. Red wiggler worms can’t survive our climate, which is why they are used in indoor composting.
Final tips!
Compost should stay as wet as a wrung-out sponge.
Worms like to be at room temperature.
Keep compost bins on bricks to leave room at the bottom for air to circulate.
You can store food waste under the sink in a bin throughout the day and throw it in your compost pile all at once.
Submission by Radhika (Volunteer)
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