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Composting is an important part of organic gardening, and its importance in keeping garden soil in good health cannot be overemphasized. Volumes of books have been written on the subject and all kinds of information is readily available on the Internet.
I am just going to jot down a few points for myself so that I get a general understanding of the composting basics. As composting is not precision science, guess I don’t have to be accurate on anything. Even if you don’t get it right the first couple of times, given some time, you will have your compost.
- Equipment
I guess we need a bin. Could leave it in the open, but there are disadvantages doing that, and to keep it all simple, I will choose to use a bin for my composting.
Now that I have a compost bin, what do I need to put in there?
- Ingredients
Kitchen waste – vegetable waste, watermelon rinds, coffee grounds, eggshells, egg carton; but NOT fish or meat waste, oil or fats, nor dairy products, NOR juice or milk cartons (those laminated carton is composed of paper and layers of polythene – which is not biodegradable)
From office – paper, newspapers and cardboard, wrapping paper, bank and credit-card statements, etc;
From garden – lot of green waste can be put in the compost bin
The basics theory
- Carbon to nitrogen ratio
Best practice is 30:1. Paper is carbon; and vegetable waste contains more nitrogen.
- Moisture
As worms and organisms need moisture to survive; if the compost pile or bin is too dry the
- Aeration
- Worms
I set my compost bin on the vegetable bed, hoping some worms (red wigglers) will find their way in; so I am actually hoping to make a worm bin, with just paper, carton and vegetable waste. I will be ready, though, to buy some red wiggelers, just in case.
I have put some kitchen waster in there and we will see how it goes from there. Hope in a few months’ time, I will have a bin of compost to use next year.
In the mean time, I will be watching my bin and backyard, and my basement very closely for any signs of mice.
