How-to Guide to Composting: What You Should and Shouldn’t Include

By MiNDFOOD

How-to Guide to Composting: What You Should and Shouldn’t Include
Composting is an excellent way to reduce waste and create nutrient-rich soil for your garden. By turning organic materials into compost, you can help the environment and enhance your gardening efforts. But what exactly should you be composting?

Understanding the right materials to compost is crucial for maintaining a healthy and effective compost pile. In this article, we’ll guide you through the essentials of composting, highlighting what you should and shouldn’t include to ensure your compost pile thrives.

Do Compost:

  • Fruit and Vegetable Scraps: Peels, cores, and leftovers.
  • Coffee Grounds and Filters: Add nitrogen and help aerate the pile.
  • Tea Bags: Ensure they are compostable; some contain synthetic fibres.
  • Grass Clippings: Provide nitrogen but mix with browns to avoid matting.
  • Fresh Plant Trimmings: Non-diseased trimmings and prunings.
  • Eggshells: Rinse and crush them for quicker decomposition.

Keep it moist

Composting works only if the ecosystem has enough water to support the chemical reactions. Spray some water on the compost top layer during prolonged hot weather to compensate for evaporation.

Attend a course

In recent years, community-sponsored courses are available at local schools or garden centres. They are an excellent way to learn tips from pros and like-minded people.

Gift of compost

If you like the idea of composting for a sustainable lifestyle but you do not have a garden or plants, don’t worry! Gift your home-made composted material to family and friends with gardens and you will be rewarded with fresh produce in return.

Don’t Compost:

Avoiding nasties

Cooked food scraps should not be added to the composting bin. They will rot away causing foul odours that will attract flies and other nasties.

Weather warning 

Compost bins should be kept in a cool and well-ventilated place; a carport or an eave will protect it from direct sun light and rain downpours.

Good bacteria

Onions and citruses should be avoided as they could harm the digestive system of the worms in the compost pile or just make the composting environment too acidic for the good bacteria to work productively.

Smart Tip:

Using a worm farm has been dubbed ‘organic garbage disposal’ as it  recycles food waste into a rich, dark material that conditions your soil. 

The Ultimate Guide on How to Compost

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