Composting

Composting your yard trimmings and kitchen waste provides a nutrient-filled addition to the soil for your lawn and garden.

Composting – A Simple Guide To Doing It
Thanks to the Connecticut Fund for the Environment

1. Find a place. A corner of the yard will do. Or use a large garbage pail with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. A wooden crate or a circular tube of chicken wire fence also works fine. Some people use trash barrels buried underground so the lid is level with the ground.
   
   
2. Start the compost pile with a six-inch layer of dead leaves, twigs, and other yard scraps. If you can, add a one-inch layer of soil.
   
   
3. Save food waste in a small, covered container in your kitchen. Include all of your vegetable and bread scraps, eggshells, fruit peels, coffee grounds, tea bags (with plastic tags or labels removed), pits, and seeds. Don’t add beef, poultry, or fish leftovers because they attract pests. The smaller your scraps are, the faster they will decompose. Shred the material before adding it to the compost pile in order to speed up the composting process.
   
   
4. When the kitchen container is full, dump it onto your compost pile. To make the pile more visually attractive and to enrich the pile, you can add on top leaves, grass cuttings, or weeds pulled from your garden.
   
   
5. Continue to add your kitchen and yard scraps until your outdoor compost container is three-quarters full, or until the pile is three feet deep. Then leave that pile alone and let bacteria do their work to transform your food waste into a rich, dark, spongy soil.
   
   
6. Follow the same directions to start a second compost container or pile. By the time your second pile is complete, the contents of the first will be ready to use as a fertilizer for your yard or garden.
   
   Tips To work best, the compost should be damp but not soggy. If it is too wet or too dry, the composting process will slow down. Water it when the weather is dry, and cover it during heavy rains.
   
   A well-tended compost pile has no offensive odors. If the pile begins to give off an unpleasant odor, try covering it to keep it drier.
   
   To speed the decomposition process, you can turn the pile every few weeks during the summer with a shovel or a pitchfork. This allows oxygen to get into the compost. If steam rises when you turn the pile, don’t be alarmed. This is evidence that the composting process is at work.
   
   Learn to Compost
   www.seattletilth.org/learn/resources-1/compost
   Extensive information on composting from Seattle Tilth.
   
   Compost Guide
   www.compostguide.com
   A complete guide to making compost.
   
   How to Compost
   www.howtocompost.org
   Articles and links covering all topics about composting and organic gardening.
   
   

Vermiculture
Worms are your friends. Vermiculture, also called vermicomposting or simply “worm composting”, is using earthworms to break down organic matter into nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner. The worms will work 24 hours a day making compost for your garden.

You can buy earthworms online or from local sources such as fishing shops where they are sold as bait. For home use, people generally use small plastic, cardboard or wood bins, which you can buy, or build or recycle yourself for a few dollars. The only other materials you’ll need are soil, old newspapers and kitchen scraps.

Composting with Red Wiggler Worms
www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html
Urban agriculture notes from City Farmer.

Vermicompost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiculture
Good information from Wikipedia.

Vermiculture Systems
www.composters.com/docs/worms.html
Buy a worm condo for your home.

Worm Digest
www.wormdigest.org
The definitive vermiculture magazine.

Worm Poop
www.wormpoop.com
Information and products.

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