You can create your own compost at home, just by using woody materials and dry leaves, as well as food scraps that would otherwise go in the trash. Making your own compost at home can help you save money instead of purchasing it, and it can also help you reduce your environmental footprint.
According to the USDA, food scraps and yard waste make up around 30% of our waste. Food waste is a major contributor to methane, a potent greenhouse gas, so recycling food scraps in a compost pile is a better option than them going to the landfill.
A compost pile can be a fun project for the whole family to work on. Using the compost you create can beautify your yard, as you make your household more sustainable.
To create and maintain a compost pile at home, follow these tips.
Create a compost space
If you’re new to composting, select a space in your yard with good drainage. Make sure it’s a space you can easily access year-round.
Because compost retains moisture, you’ll want to give the pile itself room to breathe and minimize the risk of pests invading your structures. Avoid placing your compost pile against a fence or a house.
Next, choose what to use to hold your compost. You can buy a compost bin at the store, or build your own, using materials like wood, plastic totes, cinder blocks or wire. You can also use a turning barrel or tumbler for your compost pile.
You’ll also want to think about how to collect food scraps. You can use a small food scraps pail with a lid in your kitchen, that you scrape leftover fruit and vegetable peelings into. You can also add food waste like eggshells, staple-free paper tea bags and coffee grounds and filters to the pail.
You’ll want to avoid adding items like meat, fish, bones, dairy, oil and large amounts of cooked foods. These can all attract pests and insects to your pile.
To minimize odors, you can store food scraps in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to toss them.
Gather materials
Your compost pile will be a mix of “browns” and “greens”. Together, with water and air, these materials will decompose and transform into a soil amendment.
You may also be interested in using a compost starter in your pile. A compost starter adds microorganisms to your pile and can help speed up the composting process.
Collect your “browns”, like dry leaves, twigs and untreated wood chips. Chop or break them up into smaller pieces, which will help them break down more quickly in the pile.
Lay down a 4- to 6-inch layer of browns to start your pile. Then, add a layer of food scraps and other greens, like grass clippings.
Then, layer two to three times browns to build your pile, adding around 4 to 8 inches of browns before adding more greens. Alternate layers using this ratio, until your pile is complete.
Add some water to the pile to moisten it, but not drench it. You’re looking for the moistness of a wrung-out sponge. Let it sit for at least a week, so the pile can start to heat and decompose.
Turn and wait
After around a week or two, turn over and mix the pile. Turning the pile is essential to help with aeration, which breaks down the materials. You can use a pitchfork, a shovel or a garden trowel to mix it.
If you notice the pile seems too dry, add some moisture, and mix it. If the pile is smelly or too wet, add some more browns to the pile.
Turn the pile every couple weeks, until you don’t see any more food scraps in the pile, and it’s no longer generating any heat. The process can take around 4 weeks or longer.
Once the compost is food scrap-free, wait another 4 weeks to allow the pile to cure. During the curing phase, the compost pile will shrink to around one-third of its original size.
Sift and use
After your compost cures, you can sift the finished compost to remove anything that didn’t break down, like eggshells or twigs. Then, you’re ready to use the fertilizer in the soil in your yard’s gardens and flower, tree and vegetable beds.
Enjoy the finished compost by using it the same way you’d use store-bought fertilizer. You can keep the cycle going by creating a new pile, or build multiple piles at a time.
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