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QUESTION: Can I just throw kitchen scraps in my garden?

ANSWER: Pretty much. One method of composting is called trench composting, which, instead of letting compost break down and mature before adding it to the soil, kitchen scraps are just tossed into the soil in a trench and buried under a layer of soil in order to decompose directly in your garden beds. 

Just keep your kitchen scraps in a container with a lid, like a bucket, saving back potato peels, fruit and vegetable scraps, citrus peels, greens, bread, coffee grounds, and eggshells that you would otherwise throw away. Once the container or bucket starts to fill up, take it out into the garden, dig a trench between two crop rows or in an unused bed and spread the kitchen scraps out into the trench and bury them with soil. 

In around six weeks, the kitchen scraps that you buried should have decomposed and you should be left with some high-quality, nutrient-rich humus. As the kitchen scraps are decomposing, don’t plant anything directly over them in the trench until the compost has matured. However, growing crops will not mind the composting of scraps taking place between their rows. Trench composting is by far the simplest method in which you can recycle your food waste to the benefit of your garden soil.

QUESTION: How do you compost eggshells?

ANSWER: Eggshells are technically safe for composting and will add calcium to the finished compost, which speeds plant growth, aids in building cell walls, and helps prevent blossom end rot in vegetables that are susceptible to the disease, such as tomatoes and squash. When you’re composting eggshells, you just need to break them into smaller pieces so they’ll decompose more quickly and finish with the rest of your materials. 

It’s also a good idea to bury the eggshells in the compost a bit instead of letting them sit right on top of the pile. Eggshells that are on top of the compost heap can attract rodents and other unwelcome pests. If you don’t want to bury your eggshells, the next best thing is to rinse them clean before adding them to your compost heap.

However, there are a lot of reasons why you might not want to compost eggshells at all if you are worried about attracting pests and the long time period for them to break down.

QUESTION: Do you need a base plate for a compost bin?

ANSWER: It could be a good idea for your compost bin to have a base plate for several different reasons. For one thing, a base plate prevents your compost from simply melding with the soil underneath it (if your compost bin is placed on dirt), so a base plate will prevent you from losing some of your precious compost to the ground beneath it.

It works in the other direction as well, and prevents unwelcome wildlife from tunneling into the compost bin through the ground. Trees can be an issue if your compost bin is set up near them, as their roots can infiltrate the compost from beneath in their search for nutrients, which the compost is chock-full of.

If your compost bin is positioned on concrete or another artificial surface instead of on the ground, a base plate will prevent the compost from staining what’s underneath it. For compost bins that sit on top of soil, a material like hardware cloth or mesh makes a good base plate that will allow worms and beneficial insects in but keep pests out.

QUESTION: Can you put rotten tomatoes in compost?

ANSWER: Tomatoes are safe for composting, whether they’re raw, cooked, or moldy and rotten. You can compost all kinds of rotten fruits and vegetables instead of letting them go to waste and throwing them away in the garbage. Rotten tomatoes function as a nitrogen-heavy “green” ingredient for composting purposes.

QUESTION: What do I not put in compost? Which items should I avoid adding to my compost bin.

ANSWER: Compost piles will thrive with a wide range of organic ingredients being added to them regularly. However, the following items should never be put into a compost pile, but should be thrown out with the garbage instead: 

Meat and Dairy Products – Animal products like meat and dairy are perfectly biodegradable, but their smell attracts wild animals and pests that you don’t want digging around in your compost bin. 

Weeds – Though composting your yard waste is highly recommended and you are encouraged to add leaves, plants, and sticks into your compost bin, composting weeds should be avoided as the weed seeds may take root and start growing throughout your compost and could also eventually affect the soil that you mix with the compost when it’s finished decomposing. 

Baked Goods – Like meat and dairy products, baked goods decompose just like any other kitchen waste product, but they should be left out of the compost pile because they tend to attract pests and wildlife to your pile. 

Oils and Greasy Food – Compost needs a certain amount of moisture to function properly and adding oils and greasy foods to the mix can mess up the balance and keep your compost from decomposing properly. Oily, greasy food products can also attract unwanted critters to your compost heap.  

Highly Acidic Foods – Though citrus peels can be highly beneficial to your compost, adding in essential nutrients to the pile when they break down, adding in too much citrus fruit waste, as well as tomato products and pickled foods can alter the pH balance of your compost pile enough to harm your compost by killing off good bacteria working to break down organic materials in your compost pile. 

Treated Sawdust – While untreated sawdust is an excellent addition to your compost, treated sawdust or any kind of wood waste that has been treated with chemicals can be harmful to your compost. 

Pet and Human Feces – Pet and human waste should be kept out of your compost pile. Though recent studies have shown that adding human urine is an excellent way to boost the nitrogen levels of your compost, adding any kind of pet and human waste to your compost pile is going to make your compost smell bad. Pet and animal waste, especially, can create a health risk when not disposed of properly.