A compost bin can be a perfect addition to your organic garden and making a bin doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many excellent reasons to use a compost bin. Composting is a great way to give back to the environment. Compost is a wonderful addition to the soil of your existing garden and helps to replenish the soil when rotating crops. The most important reason to compost is to reduce your garbage– which will cut down on your greenhouse gas emissions.
If you are a do-it-yourself (DIY) person, you can convert an old garbage bin into a compost bin. The garbage bin must be dark and have locking handles–the sturdier the bin, the better. Using a drill, puncture holes all over the garbage bin and make sure the holes are large and completely cover the sides of the bin. You can also find more creative compost bin plans at www.rrfb.com/pages/compost/Complan.html.
You can also purchase a compost bin and there are several different types available at hardware or home-renovation stores. Most common are large rectangular shaped bins made of black plastic, which are also sold by local municipalities at a discounted price–usually about $25 each.
Place your compost bin on higher ground in your yard. If it's in a low area, water will pool and make your compost too wet. Try to place the bin in an area that is sunny or partly sunny to avoid attracting slugs.
Four ingredients are needed for a good compost:
- Browns – are carbon rich and include paper, dried twigs, fall leaves, straw, sawdust, shredded newspaper or wood chips.
- Greens – are nitrogen rich and include freshly cut grass, pruned plants, used coffee grounds, tea leaves or vegetables and peelings.
- Air.
- Water.
Do not add meat, oil or dairy products to you compost as they can attract rodents.
Start using your compost bin by collecting your kitchen waste in a small container. Whenever your kitchen container gets full, take it to your compost bin, and dump it in. Add some "browns" and “greens”. Aim for a 1/3 "greens" to 2/3 "browns" ratio in the compost bin. For the browns, you can collect dry leaves in the fall and keep them in a container near your compost bin. You can also use straw, dead plants and sawdust.
Don't worry too much about your mixture percentage. Beneficial critters such as earthworms, grub worms, friendly bacteria and fungi will find their way into the compost bin and the compost will break down over time. If your percentages are off, it will just take a bit longer to break down. Don't worry about the smell either. Yes, at certain times of the cycle, the bin will give off a slight odour, but it is much less than you would expect. If the bin is too smelly, chances are you have too many “greens” or not enough “browns”.
Keep your compost moist, but not soaking wet, and turn it occasionally. If your composter is a drum, you just turn the handle. If it's a bin or a pile, use a shovel and turn over the compost manually. Over time, by some miracle of nature, you will have roughly the right ratio of nitrogen to carbon, and you'll have great compost.
Depending on your mixture percentage and the outside temperature, you will have a fresh batch of compost in about 1-3 months. Once your bin is full, don't add anything else until you are ready to start again. You will know that your compost is complete when the contents of the bin are a dark brownish black and will look like an expensive bag of soil sold at garden centres. Now, simply apply the compost to your garden and enjoy the impressive results!
Composting naturally recycles nutrients back into the soil and boosts healthy plant growth. It helps sandy soil retain nutrients and water. Composting reduces our use of chemical fertilizers and keeps our local waterways clean. Composting may also significantly reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases that are known to be a contributor to global warming. Do your part on saving mother earth and start your compost bin today.
