Getting ready for spring! As we look outside at the several feet of snow, it’s hard to image what we can do now to start getting ready for spring and our outdoor landscaping and gardening. However, you can prepare for spring all winter long by composting! Composting can be done either outdoors OR indoors. With the help of Happy Earth Lawn and Garden and the line of products from the Happy Gardener, composting can be easy, convenient and completely odorless!
Why compost?
Compost is nature’s way of recycling. Composting is an easy, environmentally beneficial way to turn yard and kitchen wastes into a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil amendment that will build your soil, increase garden production and do wonders for your landscaping. It is as easy as putting your recyclables out for pick up!
Composting will:
- Save you money by lowering garbage bills and replacing the need for commercial soil amendments.
- Increase production by improving the fertility and health of your soil.
- Save water by helping the soil hold moisture and reducing water runoff.
- Benefit the environment by recycling valuable organic resources and extending the lives of our landfills.
What is Compost?
Compost is the end product of a complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. What remains after these organisms break down organic materials is the rich, earthy substance your garden will love. Composting replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials which are slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Eventually these plant parts disappear and humus keeps the soil light and fluffy. Humus is our goal when we start composting. By providing the right environment for the organisms in the compost pile, it is possible to produce excellent compost.
What Goes in the Composter?
yard trimmings, garden debris, raw vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, crushed eggshells, hair, and newspaper - Did you know that the average household produces more than 200 pounds of organic waste every year?
What Doesn’t go in the Composter?
meat, fish, oily foods, milk products, pet manure or kitty litter, diseased or insect infested plants, weeds that have gone to seed, coal or charcoal ashes, lime, bones, and cooked food
Outdoor Composting
Your outdoor compost bin should be in a sunny, level, well-drained location. Add your yard and kitchen scraps to the composter and let nature do its work! To make transporting your kitchen waste to the composter easy and convenient, The Happy Gardener offers an Odorless Kitchen Compost Caddy. The Odorless Kitchen Compost Caddy is made from 100% recycled plastic, has a strong molded handle and includes a carbon filter in the lid to reduce odors. The snap-lock lid opens wide for easy access and cleaning and can be put right into your dishwasher.
Indoor Composting
Indoor composting can also be convenient and easy with the help of worms! It’s called Vermi-composting.
What is Vermi-composting?
Vermi-composting, or worm composting, is the process of using worms to turn kitchen waste into nutrient-rich humus that makes plants thrive. Worm compost is a natural fertilizer and soil conditioner.
How do we do it?
To get started, get the THG Vermi-composter and at least one pound of red worms. You can find the worms at a local bait shop or at a specialty online store. One pound of worms eats approximately 3 pounds of food scraps weekly! Keep the worms in your worm bin. Be sure to keep the lid locked secure. Worms like cool, dark, moist places.
What goes in the Vermi-composter?
Bedding and Food. Bedding materials include shredded cardboard, shredded newspaper, compost, shredded fall leaves, old potting soil or dirt from outside. Fill the bottom three quarters of your bin with damp bedding. Keep it moist and “fluffy” (but not wet). If the bedding gets too dry spray with a spray bottle of water; if the bedding gets too wet add more newspaper strips. Do not use colored ink newspaper- the ink is toxic to worms.
Food for worms include vegetable scraps, fruit peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds/filters, and finely crushed egg shells. Simply add the food to the top of your worms and bedding.
Keep a sheet of dry newspaper spread flat over the top of your contents to maintain moisture, reduce odor and keep fruit flies out. If odor or fruit flies appear, it is time to change the newspaper sheet.
Will the worms get out when I open the bin to add food?
Worms like the dark so when you open the lid to add food and the light gets in, the worms will immediately go to the bottom of the bedding.
How do I know when the compost is ready?
You will see rich, dark soil. You can use a measuring cup to scoop out finished compost to add to your planters and garden.
With the right information and tools, composting can be simple, easy and convenient. Happy Earth Lawn and Garden with the help of The Happy Gardener line of products can provide the education and supplies to get you, your friends and neighbors started. Contact us if you would like to learn more.
The article was written by Annette Pelliccio and Rashko Dorosiev
