How to Compost at Home With 4 Easy Methods
Want to learn how to compost at home? Whether you’re growing vegetables or flowers, compost can elevate any garden from thin stems and a lackluster crop to lush leaves and healthy produce. Not only is compost chocked full of the nutrients and vitamins plants need to survive, adding it to your garden can improve soil structure and drainage. Compost will help combat plant pests and pathogens. Even better? Compost is incredibly easy to make at home.
Composting works by creating an ideal environment for nature’s decomposers, including bacteria and earthworms. The healthier these decomposers are, the quicker organic matter breaks down and the faster it is available for garden use.
Unlike commercial fertilizers, compost is ideal for gardens as it cannot be overapplied, feeds plants gradually and provides the full spectrum of nutrients plants need to grow. Over time, compost can convert rocky, clay earth into rich, dark soil capable of supporting a flourishing garden. But the benefits go even further. Compost can also be used to enliven lawns, mulch perennials, uplift houseplants and correct soil pH issues.
How to Compost at Home
All a home gardener needs to begin composting is a little space, a few simple supplies and a ready stream of kitchen and yard waste. Though other techniques exist, the four most common composting methods today are hot composting, cold composting, vermicompost and bokashi.
Both hot and cold composting are outdoor-only methods that rely on a specific ratio of nitrogen to carbon rich organic matter.
Compost piles are ideally 4’ square. They are formed by layering three parts nitrogen-rich, or brown material (including straw, dry leaves, wood chips, pine needles and shredded paper) with one part carbon-rich, or green, material (including fresh weeds, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, eggshells and coffee grounds). Piles are then regularly moistened to the consistency of a damp sponge.
Dairy, meat, cooking oil and pet waste should not be composted using these methods. The difference between hot and cold composting is that cold compost is left to naturally decompose while hot compost piles are aerated and turned at least once weekly. Due to increased aeration, hot compost generates enough heat to kill weeds seeds and most pathogens. It produces finished compost within one to three months. Cold compost, on the other hand, is less labor intensive, but can take over a year for the process to finish. Weed seeds and plant pathogens may still be present.
You can get a more thorough rundown on how to compost with hot or cold composting methods here!
Composting in the Winter With Vermicompost and Bokashi
Hot and cold composting are both excellent ways to create large volumes of compost; however, they slow to a stop when temperatures drop in winter. Vermicompost and bokashi are two alternative techniques that produce smaller volumes of compost but can work indoors all year long.
Vermicompost, or composting with worms, utilizes a particular type of earthworm, known as “red wigglers.” These worms will happily devour vegetable and fruit scraps, paper waste and more in small containers known as “worm bins.” Worm bins can either be homemade or purchased online. Red wiggler worms are available for order from many websites. By keeping worms and compost covered with cardboard or wood shavings, worms remain happy, and the entire process produces no smell.
You can find a tutorial on how to compost with vermiculture here!
Like vermicompost, bokashi also allows for winter composting, with the added benefit that, unlike all other methods, it can process dairy and meat. Bokashi, meaning “fermented organic matter,” utilizes an inoculated bran to pickle food waste and produces a finished product in less time than other composting techniques. Bokashi composting buckets and inoculated bran can be ordered online or homemade. Due to the unique fermenting process, bokashi can handle the toughest kitchen waste odorlessly.
You can find out how to compost with Bokashi here!
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Regardless of which method you choose, the result is the same: a dark, crumbly, nutrient-rich product that will transform your garden. Just one to two applications of homemade compost a year is the surest way to heathier soil and a better harvest.
Written by Lauren Landers
Lauren operates a 2 acre homestead using organic methods. You can find more of her work at Zero Waste Homestead.
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