Spilling the Tea on Compost

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’ve heard of compost before. You've probably been told to add it to your fruit trees, add it to your garden, add it to your perennial beds.. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I’m here to tell you.. yes, yes, YES! Compost can be purchased, but like many things, it’s better when it’s homemade. 

What is compost?

Compost is a dirt-like substance resulting from the rot & decomposition of dead or dying organic materials. So basically, a compost pile is just a pile of death. But haven’t you heard of the circle of life? This Death Pile has tons of necessary vitamins and nutrients to cycle back into your living plants for better quality harvests. Let’s quickly address some misconceptions:

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  "Ready" compost just looks like dirt

  Yes, you can buy compost. But the best kind is free. It consists of things you were going to bag up and throw away anyways. Why not recycle into something that you would pay for? (My compost pile saved me almost $300.00 last year! Keep reading to copy my 3-step compost method)

Smelly?!?

• Doesn't compost smell though? Let’s get this straight- stinky compost is unbalanced or anaerobic compost. Decomposition is an aerobic process, meaning that airflow is necessary for your compost to decompose efficiently. This is why you may hear of people “turning” their compost. If your pile stinks, add some leaves, dried grass clippings, or shredded paper/ cardboard to your compost pile. Then give it a good turn with a pitchfork. 

Space 

• If you had assumed that you need a large property to compost because of its smelly nature, hopefully the explanation above helped you realize that’s not necessary. All you need is an easy-to-access corner of dirt. Got one of those? Great! You have no further excuses!

What IS compost? 

    At the heart of it, compost is homemade fertilizer for your plants. Technically speaking, there is a “perfected ratio” of carbon to nitrogen materials to break down into the "perfect" compost (and its 30:1, C:N). However, the “perfect,” ready-to-use compost just looks simply like dirt. 

    So, instead of worrying about ratios, I prefer to instead focus on adding both dead (carbon) & dying (nitrogen) materials and wait for dirt. In my three years of composting, this method has never done me wrong. 

Image credit, 12tides.com

Happy Composting

Truly, you know all you need to know to start taking action! Below I’ll share my 3-step process of how I made the composting habit EASY, take up NO brain space, without buying anything. 

Compost bowl

    One of the most frequent ways to add to your compost is by using your kitchen scraps of fruits, veggies, coffee grounds, and eggshells. I’ve found that having a “compost bowl” that sits on the counter decreases the chances that I just toss the scraps in the trash because I “didn’t feel like opening the dang bucket.” 

Compost bucket

    5-gallon bucket with an easy-open lid that sits in range to your kitchen. In the winter, ours migrates into the kitchen, but in summer, it’ll sit on our back porch. This close proximity allows you to dump your compost bowl into your compost bucket at the end of the day, or as often as you dare open it. 

Compost pile

"keyhole" gardening method where
the compost is in the middle of the garden.  

    Requires nothing more than a corner of dirt and eventually some hardware cloth and a t-post. When your compost bucket fills (or gets stinky because no airflow) dump it on top of your compost pile, rinse, and repeat. 

    When you’re working the garden, keep a bucket nearby to collect weeds, spent flowers, and deadheads to add to your compost. Leaves can be raked and added to the top of the pile. 

    Our compost pile gets turned no more than 2x a year, and it typically takes a year to age (with no specific ratios, formulas, or extra work.)

    By the time our pile is ready, its approximately 50 cu ft of compost. I'm motivated by saving money, so let's do some quick math. Ace Hardware is selling composted manure (not the same, but similar enough) for $4.59/ .8 cu ft. My calculator is telling me that after one year, my compost pile is worth $286.87. And to think the alternative is just throwing your scraps in the trash or having someone else haul off your leaves!

Of course, you can get further into the weeds on perfecting your method of compost, but I suggest to just give it a whirl. Mother Nature will do what Mother Nature does best! 

Have more composting questions? Call or visit Sunshine Garden Center and ask for Courtney.