Ask Mike: Why compost?
Hey Guys,
You don’t have to be Al Gore to know that the planet is in pretty bad shape. Wasteful lifestyles have contributed to mountains of trash and pollution. Fortunately, there is a simple way to help–composting. “Call Me Boots” asked for help in understanding the process so I did some searches and came back with an answer.
Until a few years ago, I thought composting was a bit extreme and unnecessary. Rooting around in coffee grounds and tree leaves? Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve since changed my mind, and I’m hardly alone. More and more people are learning how to compost and there are a slew of sites that explain how to do it.
My first stop was the aptly named CompostInfoGuide. The site offers a step-by-step plan for folks who are new to the process. Here’s a quick overview: First, find yourself a bin. Next, choose a good location for the bin. Ideally, it should be “over bare soil rather than concrete or paving.” Then add good composting materials like leaves, coffee grounds, egg shells, and grass clippings. Take care not to add things like meat, poultry, and pet feces. Such items can lead to poisoning or disease.
Once you’ve got your ingredients, its time to start making compost. The trick is do it in layers. 4 inches of brown material like leaves, coffee grounds, and saw dust. Then a layer of green material like weeds, grass clippings, and fruit and vegetable peelings. Keep adding layers until the bin is full.
You’ll know the compost is ready when it is “dark and crumbly” and is “mostly broken down with a pleasant, earthy, soil-like smell to it.” You can use it for house plants, flower beds, fertilizer, and more. It’s like getting something for nothing, and in today’s rather challenging economy, that’s a pretty good deal.
Got any more tips on composting with a minimum amount of fuss? Leave a comment below.
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compost is kinda stupid no offense i just dont do that kinda stuff dont be mad i like your blogs lol really
Gee the planet is in bad shape? In many ways our country is in the best shape in a long time, and of course it is the humans and animals that might be in trouble, the planet will survive.
Hi, I’ve been composting for over ten years. When I first started, I had two full garbage cans every week going out to the curbside. After starting to compost, it cut that amount to only half a can every week.
- Burying any compost is important, especially if you have a vermin problem. Animals like raccoons, skunks, rodents, and possums can be highly attracted to compost, and make it a messy endeavour. Try to bury the compost under more than a foot of soil, or keep it secure in a steel-wire-mesh compost bin (aka something that can’t be gnawed through)
- Paper products are a great source of compost, but should be shredded, otherwise they will mat together and will not break down in the soil. Try to do manual shredding, since using a machine uses electricity, which is mostly made with fossil fuels like coal (the carbon footprint thing). Using paper as mulch to keep down weeds (especially around seedlings) is an excellent idea, then cover the newspaper with shredded leaves to make it more aesthetically pleasing.
- Compost will easily break down in warmer climates, but slows down during the wintertime. Try piling all the compost in one location, cover with an old cloth or board, and dig under as soon as the soil thaws in the springtime.
Mike, a good basic job, but you left aeration out. and what are you putting your material in. I like a cage made of 2inch by 2inch or 3 inch welded wire. It comes in about 3 or 4 foot widths, so I would use the 4. The 4 is now your height, so run out about 8 feet of the wire, cut and tie the ends so you have a circle of wire, 4 foot high. Allows plenty of air. slip off and reload with the partly composted material, mixing as you go. Keep all materials moist, not soggy for best results.
I have a serious case of OCD (Obsessive Compost Disorder) but I don’t necessarily layer my waste. I toss in whatever is at hand (along with a half-cup of blood meal every month or so) and reap the benefits of my waste!
In addition to free dirt in the city, my garbage can was much, much lighter when I set it on the curb every week
Oh, by the way my garbage can isn’t quite as empty lately because my partner and I are filling one bucket per week with litter. Check us out here: http://inthebucket.wordpress.com/category/bucket-brigade/
I’ve been in the habit of picking up coffee grounds from the local Starbucks. They have a “Grounds for the Garden” program. You wouldn’t believe the hundreds of pounds of coffee grounds that they dump daily!
Unfortunately, not all their employees are clued in to why this program is important and consider it an inconvenience to bag the stuff up. If you’re getting into gardening (whether or not you’re a coffee drinker), consider stopping by your local Starbucks and asking for a bag of grounds. Maybe if enough people keep asking, they will begin to take the program seriously.
I pocket mulch. Just put your stuff in a used sandwich bag and insert into pocket. Take it out at the end of the day and put it near a heater. The heat adds energy with speeds up the fermentation process. I know it sounds gross, but when you have waste, like coffee grounds its super convenient.
k? i dont get it
Hey Mike,
I’ve always been interested in learning how to compost. This past summer, I invested in a GardenGourmet composter and I really like it. The only thing about composting i think everyone should know, is that in the winter, the layer routine goes out until summer comes back, because there’s hardly any brown material like leaves, but plenty of green, like scraps from the kitchen. Plus it slows down in winter since it’s colder.
globel warming is b.s. not happending. If globel was true why do we still freeze in the winter. If globel warming was true wouldn’t we have at least milder winters. we don’t!!
I have been composting for about 22 years. I simply use a single 3′ X 3′ corner of my yard to pile leaves and kitchen scraps (no meat, bones, etc…) and get rewarded about 2 to 3 times a year with free, high quality compost.
Make a compost barrel that you can turn in circles when it’s on it’s side. Then moisten the compost every once in a while, but not too much. Turn the compost at least 2-3 times a week.
Grow your own vegetables and use the leftovers at the end of the year to create good compost material.
If you have children start a garden and have them help you with it, if they’re old enough make it a chore. Spend some family time out in the garden picking your food and weeding the garden.
Hey Mike , I know of a local thrift shop who tossing a garabage dumpster full of useale items twice a week and i try to salvage what i can but the woman has no brain cells and hates me . She locks these dumpster with heavy chains so no one can get in … Any advice on how do deal with this the thrift store is owned by a church .she nly runs it. Please reply thanks,
hi my name is zala I like to go school;
A larger bin can be made from a few old pallets cut up and beat into shape. It’s best to orient the sides vertically, this will allow the compost to settle under it’s own weight as it decomposes. This design allows plenty of air in compared to the plastic “Dalek” bins on sale.
Good subject, Mike. Composting is easy, and it does make a huge difference both in the amount of waste we generate, and in the quality of our soils.
BTW, have you tried vermicomposting, i.e. using earthworms to make the compost?
Earthworms (Eisenia foetida is a common vermicomposting species) munch away at our organic wastes, and they work quite fast. It takes a bit more work to care for them, especially protecting them from a couple of predators, but basically, if they have shade, moderate humidity and plenty of food, they will stay (the last point is important… if you forget to feed them your wastes, they’ll leave for greener pastures, hehe).
Here’s a “How to” booklet on vermiculture I just found: http://cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-164.pdf
Have fun!
it effects the mode of radius of earth revolution….planet balance….force….due to which uir beautiful personality may become peeety worst…i thank god for putting in a good shape
Al gore is the cause of global warming.
Composting is good for garden and is not hard to do once you get the hang of. i.e stir it up once in a while. Make sure composter is in place where it will get sun…not hidden in dark corner of the yard. Not to wet…not too dry.
Grass clippings can go in. Leaves. Smaller branches etc.
Would not put weeds in though. Saves hassle of having to get to transfer station if your community does not have yard waste pickup. And even if it does, a yard with a lot of gardening going on can generate enough waste to exceed capacity of yard waste bin.
In Seattle there are separate containers for trash, glass, recycle, and yard waste
Composting is great if you have a larger lot with excess trees and yard waste. I am frankly bored of Al Gore’s name being name checked every time there is an article about anything to do with the planet. As soon as “Green” issues stop being a political movement then I believe they will be taken allot more seriously. I mean how much fossil fuel is burned up to mow the Gore estate and how much was that electric bill again? Liberal Hypocrites are still Hypocrites. If you are genuinely concerned about the planet then do it for yourself and leave politics on the side.
My mom started making vermi-compost a few months back, and the compost that she gets from this is so rich in minerals and organic that her plants are blooming beautifully. All she did was contact someone to buy a vermi-compost bin ( its a big plastic bin which is divided into 2 parts with a cover of wire mesh on top) and get some soil which had loads of earthworms in it. The organic waste is put in one half of the bin along with the earthworms. The compost formed by the earthworms automatically separates out into the other half after a week or so.
Right on!!!
The Question was WHY? not how?
Misleading title and not very informative. Either way Compost is not free. The time you put into creating it you can use for more useful stuff. You’re wasting your time for creating a fertilizer you can cheaply and readily buy from a shop.
Plus it’s quite nasty job and it is extreme. Yes it’s nice to reduce landfill dump but overally it’s not worth it.
Perhaps I’m wrong but your post provided no answer to Why compost
No, the planet is not in bad shape, it is not dying, and global warming is a big lie. However, anything we can do to recycle and reduce waste is simply a good idea and should be promoted on those merits alone.
By the way, if global warming caused by humans was a fact, could you explain what caused glaciers to melt and form The Great Lakes? No one was burning fossil fuels then.
Composting is way easy. It can be as simple as putting all fruit and vegetable peelings and waste in a garbage bag, and rotating it outside in the sun, to buying a specially designed plastic can with inward facing fins that catch the waste and mix it up when you roll the can with the lid on tight. There was a lady in the 70s with the Rodale Press that came up with a revolutionary way to do gardening-gathering up all the bags of leaves you can find, opening them all up, piling the leaves in a mass, and covering it with a tarp and stones or stakes to hold the tarp down. Next season, the leaves are not leaves anymore-they are compost. The compost is so rich, that if a vegetable plant were planted in it, it would practically climb out of the pile and dance around for joy. It can’t burn the plants, since the nitrogen level is almost neutral. It is possible to enrich the compost by acquiring chicken manure or even fish waste water from a fish tank, and adding it to the mix the season before. By the time the plants are in the compost, the “hot stuff” is cooked down to a safe level for the plants. Then, just dig a hole in the pile, and be prepared to catch the harvest.
Bonjour Mike,
Red worms will even compost toxic waste. Radioactive materials can be composted as well. To compost means to recycle. To recycle means to reuse what is no longer in use. To recycle plastic is no different than to recycle kitchen scraps.
The reason you do not want to compost meat, dairy or yeast food like pizza crust, bread and pasta, is because it attracts rodents and nasty bugs. You mentioned it was poisonous and disease prone. So you know, you can compost all of it, but beware if you do. I compost meat as well as dairy and all of it because I compost in large volume on a big chunck of land. My worms eat all of it, regardless of its source. The only material the worms will not digest is plastic.
If you live in an apartment, get your self a Can-O-Worm and let the worms do the work for you.
To compost your kitchen scraps is the most rewarding hobby there is.
btw, Greetings from Seattle
Caroline Couture Taylor
Our planet has been spinning for millions of years,… she sure knows how to compost us,… !
why are you people pushing this so much? are you getting kickbacks from al gore or something?
I have started a compost pile and was wondering about newspaper. I read somewhere you can use newspaper as well as dryer lint. I’m guessing these items would go in the “brown” or dry portion?
As a greenhouse operator and almost year round gardener, I say AMEN to your post. Something for nothing is a good analogy. As a member of our local Master Garener’s Program, I am hosting a booth at our area’s Sustainability Fair next Spring primarily to reach elementary aged children and to teach about composting and its benefits to them (short-term) and to our environment( long-term). Re-Use, Reduce, Recycle!!
You really need to work on your filters, or the people doing the filtering!
LOL, forget it… there’s something really weird going on with my cache, I guess.
Sorry!
*sheepish grin*
I too started a couple of years ago, just from curiousity and a love of gardening. I put my neighbors garden to the test and mine also. I watched him plant his seedings a month earlier than mine, and I planted mine after his. within two months, my plants were twice the size of his in height, and all I used was compost. no fertilizer. I have been doing this for about 3 years now, and organic is the way to go.
Composting is very easy
“You don’t have to be Al Gore to know that the planet is in pretty bad shape.”
What a silly statement. How old are you? Do you remember back when gasoline had lead in it? Have you read about the fogs that killed thousands in the UK?
This reads like you’re about 23 or 24. People like you should be put in charge while you still know everything. The fact is that incredible advancements have been made during the last 50+ years. By any standard the United States, Canada, Europe and parts of Asia are drastically cleaner than they were just 50, 40, 30 or even 20 years ago.
i compost because i can’t afford to construct a biogas digester, that way, methane,another deadlier green house gases is not produced and exposed to the environment but used as fuel.
If only I have the funds, I would like to make big biogas digesters around the community where folks can dispose of their biodegradable refuse and get points to earn in exchange of fuels produced if they want them.
to those who don’t believe about global warming, here in my place, malabon, philippines, the water level in the 8o’s was 15 feet below ground surface. Now in 2008, we have to landfill the area for the water is above the ground level by over 2 feet.
Another problem is not so easy to see, but just as important. Although it is unpleasent for most to think about. In this country most states, if not all, require a concrete burial vault to hold what is usually a steel casket. This removes several pounds of nutrients from the soil for several million years. If you consider the number of deaths each day, this is an enormus loss.
We need to get back to a more natural form of burial.
Check this website and stop crying about Global Warming:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rolfwitzsche/canada/global_warming.html
And Al Gore is one big fat liar hypocrite who’s making big bucks on selling lies to people.
Composting is OK but it alone won’t solve any problem dealing with pollution of the world’s air, land and water. It you really want to get serious, work to reduce the world’s population by 50%. Pollution alone would be reduced 50% without hurting anyone and the world’s non-renewal resourses would last twice as long. Why can’t people see this?
Composting on the Moon and on Mars would generate tons of Methane gas to increase atmospheric gases in the Lunar and Martian atmosphere; to warm up and balance out temperature extremes; and it would also add water vapor and CO2, since it eventually breaks down into these 2 components. Methane gas is 25x more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
Seeds exposed to 2 weeks of radiation in Space produced veggies 10x bigger! Apparently zero gravity, radiation and magnetic fields have some effect. Yummy…restaurants and farms on the Moon.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1949129/Giant-space-vegetables-andlsquocould-feed-the-worldandrsquo.html
composting is great. especially if u r a gardner.
u have a little more work but it is good to know that ur getting nature’s best!
)
ur vegetables grow better, and you know they pack a punch
Also, if u like fishing, u can toss in some crawlers. man should see the dirt i have each year and the bait…? monster crawlers. something like out of the movies, and they serve me another dinner
all in all, if u rely on growing ur own food, u know it’s the only way to go. pesticides? hate them. there are natural ways as well. just take the time to do something for mother earth and yourself and ur family.
at the end u will feel much better about having done so.
The best composting is done “in situ”. That way you don’t waste energy putting it in the heap or making anything to handle it. You water it as you water your plants/yard. All this requires less net energy. Don’t forget it takes energy to feed you.
Global Warming or Not. I believe it is important to treat our planet well. Just because some of the readers here don’t believe in it, doesn’t mean we can go about to trash this planet by such things as overconsumption and big gas guzzlers.
Composting is an amazing and simple thing to do. I started it a couple of years ago. Now I have an average of a full meijer groshery bag of trash once a week ( we are 2 + dog). I just moved and I have no place to compost so I want to start a cloth container composting alternative with worms instead. The biggest problem I have is the recycling pile now. It is huge. Most of it is paper and plastic. Why do we cut down trees just to print junk mail that no one reads and throw it out into the trash as soon as it gets in the door. Just economically this doesn’t make sense. Recycling is good but reducing waste – which means not to create it in the first place – is even better. Just think about what you consume during an average day. The coffee cups, take out containers, other paper, plastic. It is incredible how much trash we produce. The more we keep out of the land fills, the healthier our grounds will be, the more resources we will have for more important things in life.
I like how some people believe that the only environmental movement out there is global warming, and whenever you mention the word environment they immediately assume you’re talking about global warming and shout “Global Warming isn’t real!”
FYI not all environmentalists believe that global warming is occurring, much less that it’s being caused by humans. But most, if not all, do believe in reducing waste and saving the planet’s resources and wildlife. Composting is one method of doing this and it’s very simple and needs more recognition.
In regards to the article I really like the topic and it was pretty informative. To all the people who are saying composting is stupid, I can respect your opinion that you think it’s nasty to place waste products in your yard, but isn’t that being a bit pretentious? Besides, who cares when you’re saving money (and the world)?
The world is actually in measurably better condition than it has ever been. People are better fed, healthier, and they live longer than at any time in history. People are better educated, and religious freedoms are greater than ever. Music is more widespread, and there are more musicians than ever. In most cultures (with one notable exception that is not allowed to be mentioned on Yahoo) human rights are better than ever. Modern nations like the USA are steadily using less energy per capita with the result that air pollution is lower than ever, and global warming is declining. Clearly the world is in better condition than it ever has been in history.
My dog, is uhm grass trained, So I guess using that for compost is a bad Idea? Oh dear…Well i have a combo of eggshels, old fruit, and coffeegrounds in my compost bin, cant wait to use it!
Our county has a comprehensive recycling program, and every household has a compost bin. We also recycle paper, metal, glass and most plastics.
I think a lot of people are refusing to admit the planet’s in trouble because they might have to get off their uberspoiled derierres and help to do something about it.
Why do any dudes my age care?
Compost can also be used to heat water. I had to do a project on it in school. Its a very good way to use garbage, I mean it does help the environment and it gets rid of the waste in a poductive sense.
I also would love to compost. I live in a rural area and our home is filled with plants and we benefit for it. There are fruits throughout the season and vegetables are just fresh to pick up, and we are sure of the quality.
The tall trees always dump leaves and they grow fast covering areas. Thus we trim them once in a while. It’s crowded in our space at times. It’s tough to maintain it alone, and as I do that I kind of gets tired. I was studying then and I got lots to do. I have read books about composting and I got some sense of helpful things and motivating, I started to apply some and I realize its easier said than done.
Allotting space for the trash just don’t seem to be enough. The compost just don’t decompose quickly. All the chopping, turning, watering, segregation, etc are just not quick enough. I found myself burning stuffs at a lot of times.
Now, having someone to accompany me, it is more easier to keep the surrounding clean and spacious not only for the house but for me as well. However the composting thing was left as it is. Not good or quick enough to suit my needs. My house is a house not a forest or whatever I said at times. I got to keep it presentable.
Compost id great for gardening. My thought is that if it is good for soil, then why would it make a difference where it is burried? The things that we should be keeping out of landfills are recycable items. Not only for our environment, but it seems like it would help keep costs lower if we reuse our resources. Also, our planet is huge and if you look at the pollution in other countries(China for example, where they dump mercury from computers into the water), I am not sure that composting is the biggest concern.
By the way, How many homes doew Al Gore have? I wonder how much energy he uses?
Hello Mike
I am very familiar with composting
composting is done with coffee grounds,
potato and vegetable peelings.
grass clippings
old leaves
Some of these are an example of how one can reduce trips to landfill
I don’t know about you but alot of things there are what could have been reused and recycled and in turn this would have been reduced
Composting is for creating fertilizer
My parents and some friends of mine compost.
I was the “Compost Godfather” at the community garden where I garden. That was when we had a compost demonstration area. We had several composting devices. By far the most effective one was simply some cinder blocks stacked in horseshoe shape about 3 or 4 feet from side to side.
The only problem I’ve encountered in obtaining compost ingredients is the big grocery stores. Seems like there is an EPA ruling that states the generator of hazardous waste is responsible for it until final disposal. I find it amazing that their lawyers have jumped to to the conclusion that produce scraps like lettuce leaves is hazardous waste. These big grocers send their produce scraps to the landfill instead of the compost bins. Another government idea blowing up in our faces.
I’m naive or unaware of this. I truly do not mean to make fun but what would be the purpose of making this concoction? (hope I spelled that right?) your blog doesn’t tell me why I would make this and what would be the purpose for it?
umm do you work in the Powerful choices group? because in my school we had a guy named Mike who would teach us about like environment and well..powerful choices, you can tell me by emailing me a coolnad324@yahoo.com thanks
I agree with Matt about globel warming it is b.s.