Compost 101: Don’t Make These Mistakes?

  • It's nearly impossible to ruin a compost pile, and there's really no right or wrong way to do it. After all, if you dump a bunch of organic material into a pile, it will eventually degrade. Still, it doesn't hurt to get more out of your composting efforts.

    You Don’t Cover Up Food Scraps
    There are three important reasons to cover up food scraps in your pile: 1) so it doesn’t get smelly, 2) so the raccoons and other critters don’t come knocking, and 3) to ensure you maintain a good balance of green and brown material.
    Carr uses a lasagna-style method in his own compost pile: He starts with a layer of dried leaves on the bottom, and creates a nest in the middle for his food waste. Then he covers the food waste with another thick layer of brown material, making sure none of the food waste is peeking through. He likes to keep his kitchen scraps in a five-gallon bucket with a tight lid until he has enough for a complete lasagna layer. (Learn more about using food scraps in the garden without a compost bin.)

    There’s Not Enough Diversity
    “If you put a lot of the same thing in your compost, it will be uniform in nutrients and microbes,” Carr explains. So even though you’ll eventually end up with beautiful black soil if you only ever add lettuce stems, potato peels, and yard waste to your compost pile, it won’t have the diversity of nutrients and good bacteria that really makes compost valuable in the garden. Carr says you can compost just about any scraps that come out of your kitchen, which has the double benefit of diverting food waste from landfills and giving you a superior final product all at once. “The only things that should never go in your compost pile are glass, metal, styrofoam, and plastic,” he says.
    Carr also adds that you absolutely can compost meat scraps (he does), though doing so is somewhat controversial. The reason people often warn against composting meat is that it can attract vermin and may not decompose quickly and safely in a backyard pile that isn’t hot enough to kill off pathogens. On the flip side, fish and meat are rich in nutrients that make great fertilizer. Beginners should stick with plant waste until they feel they’ve mastered the composting process.

    Have you made these compost errors? What are some of your favorite tips for maintaining a compost pile? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

    Article Source: Rodale's Organic Life

     



    4 Comments

    1. Shawn Neal said:

      Without even reading the article, I can say YES. I can’t get my compost pile started to save my life.

    2. Tracy Kennedy said:

      Hey die hard survivors!! I see
      A lot of post of what foods we should store. But I never see you say add fruit cake. ???? Fruit cake 1 16oz / 1lb fruit cake has at a 1/4 serving 9g of fat, 1.5 g of sat fat, 0g of trans fat, 60mg/ 20% cholesterol, sodium 65mg/ 3%, total carbs 71g/ 24%, sugar 36g, dietary fiber 9g/36%, protein 7g. Also it has vitamin A 6%, vitamin C 6%, calcium 10%, and iron 15%

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