We are all cooking a lot more at home than we have ever been lately. What are you doing with all of those kitchen scraps?
Did you know how easy it is to get started with a small home compost? Coffee grinds, egg shells, banana peels, all of these items you toss on a daily basis can be easily converted to make your garden blossom to its highest potential!
Not many of us have a lot of outdoor space to designate for a compost bin, so here are some tips on getting started at home with a counter top composter!
Here's some easy tips!
1) Pick up an online composter
This takes the guessing game out of the carbon filters and oxygen circulation, etc.
Here's the one we picked up right off Amazon! It blends perfectly on any counter top too and with the carbon filters, you don't have to worry about the smell!
Click HERE to check out some of our recommendations!
2) Start saving your scraps
This is the fun part! After setting up your compost bin the next step is to begin the good work of recycling natures way! There are lots of stuff you can add to your compost as long as they are organic and biodegradable. Things like vegetable scraps and peels, coffee grounds, yard waste like leaves and sticks and even newspapers or eggshells can go in your compost.
However things like animal products especially meat, bones or butter shouldn’t go in your compost. Also, stuff like synthetic chemicals, ash, seeds or pet waste should have no place in your compost. You should have a nice balance of brown materials and green materials so your compost gets enough carbon and nitrogen and don’t forget to add water sparsely so your compost is moist but don’t over-wet the compost and kill off the bacteria.
3)Pay close attention to your compost
It’s not enough to just toss your compost materials bin and walk away, you have to monitor it, check on it often and make sure it maintains the right temperature of being warm so the composting process stays active. This will also let you know when your pile needs to be mixed or turned. You can use your hands or a thermometer to check your compost temperature and if it was previously warm but turns cold later, you need to give it a nice turn to get the process back in action. It’s also important that your compost stays moist and gets enough oxygen so the bacteria keeps working.
4)Wait for your compost to mature
The waiting process can take a few weeks! So if you are wondering how to know when your compost is ready, look at the bottom of the pile of your compost. If it is dark and rich in color then your compost is nice and ready to use.
5)Start using your compost
When your compost is ready, you can now mix it into your garden soil to act as an enricher or fertilizer or lay down some of your compost on top your garden or lawn soil to act as mulch. In no time you’ll notice a difference in how your plants are faring and you’ll be all the more glad you decided to learn how to compost at home.
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