Compost Guide

Backyard
Composting
It’s Only natural What do I need to do to make compost?
Composting is nature’s way of recycling organic

A Bin or Pile? Some people start with an easy pile, and then move to a bin when
they’re ready. You can give your pile some structure with chicken wire, snow
materials back into the soil in order for the cycle of fencing, or by nailing scrap wood together to make a four-sided box. A pile
life to continue. The billions of living organisms works great for just leaves and grass clippings, but when you want to incorporate
in healthy soil transform dead plants into vital food waste, it’s time to use a bin to prevent rodents. Closed-top bins include
nutrients for new plant growth. Since healthy turning units, stacking bins, and bins with flip tops. Many communities provide
plants come from healthy soil, one of the best their residents free or discounted bins to encourage backyard composting. Bins
ways you can build healthy soil in your garden can also be purchased from retail or mail order businesses. Take the time to
and lawn is by using compost. You can easily make consider your options and then select a bin or pile to fit your needs.
compost with landscape trimmings and food scraps in your own B Space. Select a dry, shady, or partly shady spot near a water source and
backyard. With a small investment in time, you can improve the health and appearance preferably out of sight for your compost pile or bin. Ideally, the compost area
of your yard, save money on fertilizers and mulch, all while preserving natural resources should be at least three feet wide by three feet deep by three feet tall (one cubic
and protecting the health of your family and pets. yard). This size provides enough food and insulation to keep the organisms in
the compost warm and happy and working hard. However, piles can be larger or
smaller and work just fine if managed well.
Why compost? C Browns for carbon, greens for nitrogen, air for organisms, and water
for moisture.
Brown material provides carbon and includes:
It’s earth-friendly: Food scraps and yard waste make up 20-30% of the waste
Paper, like shredded pieces of paper, cardboard, and paper rolls,
stream. Making compost keeps these materials out of landfills, where they
take up precious space and release methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more Dry yard waste, like dry leaves, small branches, and twigs, straw, sawdust,
potent than carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. and used potting soil.
It benefits your yard: Compost improves soil structure and texture, increases Green material provides nitrogen and includes:
the soil’s ability to hold both water and air, improves soil fertility, and stimulates Wet yard waste like fresh grass clippings, green leaves, and soft garden prunings
healthy root development in plants.
Food scraps like vegetable and fruit peels, coffee grounds, and tea bags.
It’s easy: You can start with just leaves and grass, then
work your way towards composting your food scraps.
It saves money: Adding compost to your garden Vermicomposting is a method of composting using a special kind of earthworm known as a
red wiggler (Elsenia fetida), which eats its weight in organic matter each day. Vermicomposting
can reduce or eliminate the need to buy chemical
is typically done in a covered container with a bedding of dirt, newspaper, or leaves. Fruit
fertilizers or compost. If you pay for the amount of and vegetable scraps can then be added as food for the worms. Over time, the food will be
trash hauled, composting can also cut down on your replaced with worm droppings, a rich brown matter that is an excellent natural plant food.
trash costs. Vermicomposting requires less space than normal composting methods, and is therefore ideal
for classrooms, apartments, and high-density urban areas.
How do I make compost?
1 Add your brown and green materials (generally three parts browns to one part
greens), making sure larger pieces are chopped or shredded. The ideal compost
pile contains browns and greens (of varying sizes) placed in alternate layers of
different-size particles.
2 Mix grass clippings and green waste into the pile and bury fruit and vegetable Troubleshooting Your Pile
waste under 10 inches of compost material.
Problem: Cause Solution:
3 As materials breakdown, the pile will get warm and on cold days you may even
Rotten egg smell Insufficient air or too Turn pile and incorporate coarse browns
see some steam.
much moisture (sawdust, leaves)
4 Every time you add to the pile, turnover and fluff it with a pitchfork to provide Ammonia smell Too much nitrogen Incorporate coarse browns (sawdust, leaves)
aeration, unless your bin has a turner.
Pile does not heat Pile too small Add more organic matter
5 When material at the bottom is dark and rich in color, with no up or decomposes
Insufficient moisture Turn pile and add water
remnants of your food or yard waste, your compost is ready slowly
to use. There may be a few chunks of woody material left; Lack of nitrogen Incorporate food waste, grass clippings,
these can be screened out and put back into a new pile. The or manure (chicken, rabbit, cow, horse)
resulting compost can be applied to lawns and gardens to
Not enough air Turn pile
help condition the soil and replenish nutrients. Compost
should not be used as potting soil for houseplants because Cold weather Increase pile size or insulate with straw
it may still contain vegetable and grass seeds. or a tarp
How do I get started?

What to add What not to add
Greens: • Aluminum, tin or other metal • Stickers from fruits or vegetables (to prevent litter)
• Uncooked or cooked • Coffee grounds and filters • Paper tea bags with the staple • Glass • Black walnut tree leaves or twigs
fruits and vegetables • Grass clippings removed, if there is one. • Dairy products (e.g., butter, milk, • Yard trimmings treated with chemical pesticides
• Bread and grains • Hair and fur sour cream, yogurt) & eggs • Roots of perennial weeds
• Chicken, rabbit, cow, horse manure • Fats, grease, lard, or oils • Coal or charcoal ash
• Greasy or oily foods • Firestarter logs
Browns:
• Meat or seafood scraps • Treated or
• Cotton or wool rags • Sawdust • Wood chips
• Pet wastes (e.g., dog or cat painted wood
• Dryer and vacuum • Hay and straw • Leaves feces, soiled cat litter)
cleaner lint • Yard trimmings (e.g., • Shredded newspaper • Soiled diapers
• Eggshells leaves, branches, twigs) • Cardboard rolls • Plastic
• Nut shells • Houseplants • Clean paper
• Fireplace ashes (from • Used potting soil
wood burning)
For more information on composting: www.epa.gov/compost. To learn additional ways to green your lawn and garden: www.epa.gov/greenscapes. October 2009 | EPA530-F-09-026

Compost Guide

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Compost Guide

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Compost Guide

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Backyard

Composting is nature’s way of recycling organic

How do I get started?

You might also like