It's Compost Time!!!

Finally there is a chill in the air and , at least for this week, it is feeling like fall!!! This is a good time to look at the garden that has produced so much during the summer and figure out what to do with all the "leftover" plants!

Now first let me dispel a couple of compost myths!
     Compost isn't smelly...if it smells you are doing it wrong!
     You don't have to live on a farm to compost!
      Compost will not attract every animal in the neighborhood...if it does your doing it wrong.
      Composting is NOT hard....not at all!!!
  
Ok lets go back to the beginning....why should we compost?

Composting is actually recycling your food or organic waste. ( by organic I mean anything that was once alive...plants that is)  This form of recycling can keep 1200lbs of waste per family of 4 out of a landfill every year!

Compost is the "ULTIMATE" fertilizer!!!!!!  Compost will contain all the essential nutrients that your plants need! There will be no need to buy any other fertilizer. ( no extra fertilizer means saving money)

Compost will increase the water holding capacity of your soil. ( what does that mean?) Well...it is pretty much as it sounds...your soil will hold a certain amount of water....by adding compost this capacity will be increased which turns into less watering in your garden which means saving money!!!

Now that we now why we should compost....how do we compost???

There are several great websites that offer many composting choices! I do not want to sway you by suggesting a particular one so I encourage you to do a little research to find the best compost method for you!
I found great success with the garbage can method of composting!

The most important thing is figuring out what you can compost.....the easiest way to do this is to remember NO ANIMALS!!!! DO NOT compost anything that came from an animal!!! NO fat, oil, bones or meat!! ( you can compost eggshells if you wash the eggs out first)  If you don't compost these things you will not attract animals to your compost pile or container!!   ( let me clarify this a bit...some animals will be attracted to your pile...bugs, worms etc. but you want these animals there they are actually beneficial to you and your compost!)

SO what can you compost??? Just remember PLANTS!!!! Any plant or things that came from plants can be composted!!! (However, I would suggest to not compost weeds or any plant that has a disease! Your compost pile will produce heat as decomposition is occurring this heat may not be enough to kill weed seeds or diseases so you will inadvertently be adding these back to your garden when you use the compost.) But any other plant material is fair game!!

I do have a few suggestions.....

make sure to chop anything large such as melon rinds. I learned this the hard way .....I put large pieces of melon rinds in my bin and attracted hundreds of fruit flys to my neck of the woods...and house! And the smaller the pieces the faster the decomposing occurs!

Make sure to turn your pile regularly..this will speed up the process also!

If you don't have enough materials to compost ask your neighbors for help.


You also may be wondering how long will it take my "garbage" to become compost? Well this time will vary! Depending on where you live, what time of year it is,the compost method you choose and how much you add to your compost..... the time can be anywhere from 3 months to a year. This may seem like a long time but if you start now you will have some compost to use in the spring.

I could write about this topic forever....I have tried to keep it brief so that I did not bore you all...so if you have any questions please feel free to ask....or share your composting experiences in the comment section!!!