May 29 – Learn About Composting Day

Posted on May 29, 2016

It's inexpensive!

It's healthy for the Earth!

And it's good for your yard and garden!

Composting is basically making a heap of wet kitchen scraps, leaves, and yard waste; the heap of “green waste” and “brown waste” breaks down into nutrient-rich soil, or humus.

Compost or humus is a wonderful soil / fertilizer to use in your garden and lawn.

Good compost requires water, air, and carbon- and nitrogen-rich stuff. The latter two things are of course the kitchen scraps and yard waste. It's best if you shred the plant matter, add water, and turn the heap (which creates new pockets of air) periodically.

Adding earthworms helps, as well. The worms ingest partly composted material, and poop it out again in a more broken-down state; also, as they move through the compost, they create new pockets of air.

Composting also requires TIME. It takes weeks or months to turn leaves and waste into soil.

Did you know...?

Composting depends on many sorts of micro-organisms that break down the green waste. Bacteria, fungi, molds, yeast, protozoa, and rotifers all live in compost – and that's a good thing!

On farms, composting includes animal manure and some sort of “bedding” (straw, sawdust, newspaper, chopped cardboard).