Composting Tips
Tips for better composting
1. Don’t throw away your kitchen scraps — add them to the compost pile. Kitchen scraps are typically high in nitrogen, which helps heat up the compost pile and speed up the composting process. Egg shells, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peels and scraps are all outstanding materials to add.
2. If you’re composting with a compost pile, bigger is often better. Heat builds up with a big pile. You don’t want to get much bigger than about 3 feet by 3 feet though.
3. Keep your compost aerated! If you are composting with a tumbling composter, make sure you turn it whenever you add new materials. If you are composting with a pile, or in a static (non-tumbling) compost bin, be sure to mix up the contents so that the pile gets oxygen and can break down effectively. Use a compost aerating tool like this one.
4. Don’t let the compost completely dry out. A compost pile needs moisture to keep the composting process active.
5. Don’t keep your compost too wet so that it gets soggy and starts to stink. Just as too dry is bad, too wet is also something that you should avoid.
6. Too much of any one material will slow down the composting process. If you have all leaves, all grass clippings or an overload of any other single type of material, it can throw off the balance of the pile. In general, it’s good to keep a mix of green and brown material (see main page for more details on this).
Looking for more tips and information on composting? Visit our main page and see everything else we have to say about the subject.
Links to more composting tips
Urban
Options composting tips
RecycleNow.org
composting tips
Owen
Sound backyard composting tips
Browse compost bins.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve got a homemade compost bin in my backyard. I keep it moist and mix every week…..I can’t stand the bugs!!!!!!!!!!!! Am I doing something wrong or is that the natural way of things?
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Bugs are normal, and nothing to worry about.
If you’re getting flies, you can reduce that by putting your kitchen scraps deeper into the pile instead of just throwing them on top. Bury them with some sawdust, or some leaves.
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I need to know if citrus peelings of oranges and lemons are appropriate to add to kitchen waste for the compost pile. It seems like I read once not to use them, because it takes a long time for them to breakdown but I can remember. Can you advise me?
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