Easy Composting Guide

Easy Composting Guide

First, let’s talk about what composting is.  In simple terms, you are recycling food scraps and yard waste into an organic material that can be added to your soil to help your plants grow.

Why Should You Compost?

Composting:

• Lowers your carbon footprint by keeping your food and yard waste out of landfills where they not only take up precious space but release methane, a toxic greenhouse gas, that occurs when microorganisms break down organic matter, such as food and yard waste, in an oxygen-free environment (which is called anaerobic fermentation)⁶.  Composting is much better for the environment as it breaks food and yard waste down in an oxygen rich or aerobic environment and methane producing microbes are not active in the presence of oxygen⁶ (Did you know that together, food scraps and yard waste, make up more than 30 percent of what we throw away¹)?
• Greatly reduces the need for chemical fertilizers when you add compost to your soil.  As of 2010, fertilizers were responsible for 1.3 billion tons, or roughly 2%, of global greenhouse gas emissions².
• Enriches the soil, helps to retain moisture
• Energizes the soil via production of humus, a nutrient rich material
• Helps plants and vegetables stand up to diseases and helps improve their flavor and nutrition profile

Composting Requires Four Basic Ingredients:

Carbon: Brown material includes dead leaves, branches, twigs, newspaper clippings and cardboard scraps.  Brown materials add carbon.

Nitrogen:  Green material includes grass and plant clippings, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit waste.  Green materials add nitrogen

Water:  It is important to have the right amount of water for compost development.

Oxygen:  By turning it once a week, you will provide your compost pile the oxygen it needs to properly decompose.

What Can You Compost?

• Fruit scraps like banana peels for example but make sure you remove the stickers (except for citrus peels)
• Vegetable scraps (except for onion and garlic.)
• *Be weary of composting tomatoes.  They are fine to compost, but your pile may start sprouting little tomato plants 
• Coffee grounds and coffee filters
• Tea bags
• Nut shells
• Eggshells
• Grass and plant clippings
• Dry leaves
• Finely chopped wood and bark chips
• Shredded newspaper
• Plain cardboard scraps (the less printing and ink on the boxes the better.  Pizza boxes, even though there is some grease on them are usually fine.  You can probably get away with composting Amazon boxes, but make sure you pull all the tape and labels off.  The chemicals in the packing tape glue used on most commercial and retail shipping boxes cannot be composted.  Additionally, you cannot compost boxes or cartons coated in wax, ink, or other synthetic materials.  Examples of these are cereal boxes, milk cartons, diaper brand boxes (which is yet another reason to use cloth diapers))
• Paper scraps (again, nothing with a lot of synthetic ink.  So those pesky mailers and coupons that come in the mail are no-nos for composting)
• Straw and hay
• Sawdust from untreated wood
• Hair and fur
• Fireplace ashes
• Cotton, wool, and other natural fiber (like hemp!) rags and fabric items that are no longer usable
• Essential + Kind’s packaging materials
• And when your baby’s Essential + Kind 100% hemp clothing items with all natural coconut buttons are longer wearable, those too!

What NOT to Compost:

The following items will cause problems with your garden (might contain parasites and other harmful pathogens) and/or will make your compost smell bad and attract animals and other pests:

• Citrus Peels
• Onions
• Garlic
• Dairy products (butter, milk, sour cream, yogurt and egg whites/yolks)
• Anything containing meat, oil, fat, grease
• Fishbones
• Diseased or insect ridden plant materials
• Yard trimmings that have been treated with chemical pesticides
• Dog or cat feces
• Weeds that go to seed
• Coal or charcoal ash

How to Start and Maintain an Outdoor Compost Pile?

You will want to select a dry and shady spot, preferably near a water source for your compost bin. 

After you have collected enough green and brown materials to make a pile at least 3 feet deep you will combine your wet, green items with your dry brown items. Start building your pile by mixing three parts brown material with one part green material.  It will help speed up the composting process if you shred or chop your raw materials into smaller pieces.

If your compost pile is starting to look too wet or smells, add more brown items and/or aerate more frequently.  If it starts to look too brown and dry, add green items and water to moisten it slightly.  Bury fruit and vegetable waste under about 10 inches of compost material each time they are added. 

You will need to sprinkle water over your pile regularly so it has the consistency of a damp sponge³.  But watering just the right amount is important.  If you add too much water, the microorganisms in your pile will drown and if this happens your pile will rot instead of compost.   To ensure the materials are properly decomposing,  you should monitor its temperature (should read between 130-150 degrees F).  You can do so with a thermometer or you can feel with your hand into the middle of the pile - it should feel warm.

During the growing season, you will need to turn your pile once a week with a garden or pitch fork to provide it with the oxygen it needs to properly decompose.  The time to turn is when the pile’s temperature is warm and reads between 130-150 degrees F.   By stirring your pile, it will help “cook” faster and prevents it from developing bad odors. Stir thoroughly. 

You will know when your compost pile is “fully cooked” and ready to feed your garden soil when it no longer gives off heat, is a rich brown color, and becomes crumbly.  This can take anywhere from two months to two years.  You should add about 4 to 6 inches of compost to your garden beds or plant pots at the beginning of each season.   You can even make what experienced gardeners call “compost tea” with finished compost by allowing fully formed compost to steep in water for several days.  It is then strained to use as a homemade liquid fertilizer³. 

Now that we know what composting is, why it’s great for the earth, what can and cannot be composted, how to start and maintain your compost pile, let’s talk about setting up your compost bin. 

Setting Up Your Compost Bin:

You need to decide if you are going to buy a pre-made bin or make your own.   If you are going to buy one, you can find pre-made bins at Home Depot and Lowe’s for example, but they will run you anywhere from $60 to $400 and up!  A much more affordable, though less aesthetically pleasing option, is to make your own. If you are going to DIY a bin like I (LeeAnn,  the founder of Essential + Kind) did, follow these steps:   

Step 1:  Obtain Your Supplies

You will need:

• Rubbermaid (or similar brand) Tote/Storage Container that is at least 24 inches tall or taller.  It needs to have the lid.  It’s best if you have an old one around the house you can use, but if not, running to Home Depot or Lowe’s to pick one up will work.  I picked my heavy duty one up from Home Depot for about $28
• Knife, Box Cutter, Drill
• Duct Tape
• Chicken Wire
• Scissors
• Water hose with a spray head (for maintaining your pile)
• Pitchfork or square-point shovels (for maintaining your pile)

I spent about $45 USD between the heavy duty storage tote and the chicken wire. 

Step 2:  Start the Assembly

Once you have your bin, you need to poke holes in the bottom and sides of the container.   You can cut slits with the box cutter or use a drill to make actual round holes.   

Making holes serves two purposes:  1) aeration to help provide enough oxygen for your pile to decompose properly and 2) water drainage so the necessary microorganisms do not become waterlogged and drown.

Let’s talk about the lid. There are different thoughts on if your compost bin needs to be covered or not.  Whether or not you need a full lid will depend on weather, gardening goals, and type of composter you have⁴.  In general, you need the lid to keep the dirt moist and critters/pests out of the bin).  But having a cover can limit airflow and water, which both interfere with the composting process. 

You may need to cover your compost pile if: 

• you live in an area that gets lots of rainfall
• you need your compost to turnover fast
• you need help in keeping the soil heated enough to kill pests
• you live in cold weather regions and need to extend how long the pile stays warm and active

I live in Phoenix, Arizona which has a cold season that lasts for about 3 days (kidding, but not really).   The weather starts to heat up in the 90 degree F range in April, so my concerns are the opposite of what I just mentioned.  My question is, should I have a cover to keep in moisture?  Probably not.  Having a full lid will trap hot water at really high temperatures which I can only imagine will have a detrimental impact on my compost pile (and my nose).  Therefore, I have cut out a decent sized hole in the lid and affixed chicken wire with duct tape to the underside.  This will provide necessary airflow, will let me water as often as needed, and will keep animals and other pests out.  If I decide I need to fully cover it at some point, I can use a tarp. 

You will definitely need to cover your finished compost so that it isn’t overly exposed to the elements and loses all of its nutrients.

And that’s all it takes for a quick and easy DIY compost bin.  You are ready to get started composting.

Thank you so much for reading along.  I hope you found this post very informative.  If you like what you read and want to be notified of new posts, please subscribe to our newsletter (by clicking the Join Our Community sidebar)  and make sure you follow along on Instagram @essentialandkindco. 

As always, you can shop our fully compostable, 100% hemp baby and children’s clothing items here. 

Peace + Love,

LeeAnn 

 Here are some composting references we at Essential + Kind found very informative:

1. “Composting At Home.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 31 Mar. 2021, www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home.
2. How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: the Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, by Bill Gates, Allen Lane, 2021, pp. 124–125.
3. BH&G Garden Editors Updated September 09. “Making Your Own Compost Is Easy With This Step-by Step Guide.” Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Sept. 2020, www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/compost/how-to-compost/.
4. Forney, Julie Martens. “Should I Cover My Compost Pile?” HGTV, www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/planting-and-maintenance/should-cover-my-compost-pile.
5. “The Many Benefits of Compost: Composting 101: What Is Compost?” Bonnie Plants, 5 June 2020, bonnieplants.com/gardening/what-is-compost/.
6. “Composting to Avoid Methane Production.” Agriculture and Food, Government of Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 23 July 2018, www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/composting-avoid-methane-production.