Why Compost?
Composting is the most practical and convenient way to handle your yard wastes. It can be easier and cheaper than bagging these wastes or taking them to the transfer station. Compost also improves your soil and the plants growing in it. If you have a garden, a lawn, trees, shrubs, or even planter boxes, you have a use for compost.
By using compost, you return organic matter to the soil in a usable form. Organic matter in the soil improves plant growth by helping to break up heavy clay soils and improving their structure, by adding water and nutrient-holding capacity to sandy soils, and by adding essential nutrients to any soil. Improving your soil is the first step toward improving the health of your plants. Healthy plants help clean our air and conserve our soil, making our communities healthier places in which to live.
What Can You Compost?
Anything that was once alive can be composted. Yard wastes, such as fallen leaves, grass clippings, weeds and the remains of garden plants, make excellent compost. Woody yard wastes can be clipped and sawed down to a size useful for the wood stove or fireplace or they can be run through a shredder for mulching and path-making. Used as a mulch or for paths, they will eventually decompost and become compost.
Care must be taken when composting kitchen scraps. Compost them only by the methods outlined in this brochure. Meat, bones and fatty foods (such as cheese, salad dressing, and leftover cooking oil) should be put in the garbage.
Home composting is an easy way to turn much of the waste from your yard and kitchen into a rich material that you can use to improve your soil.
Composting: Break it down1. Make a compost bin — or buy one. Location, location, location. Pick a spot in your yard that's at least partially shaded and at least 2 feet from a structure like your house or a fence. Other considerations: |
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Containers. You can compost in a simple pile, but using a container or bin helps your compost pile retain heat and moisture and look neat. To get started, it's easy to go with a single-bin system. As materials are added and mixed together, the finished compost settles to the bottom of the bin. Materials. Bins can be built from scrap lumber, old pallets, snow fence, chicken wire, or concrete blocks. Typically, several types of composting bins are sold at hardware or lawn and garden stores. |
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2. Throw in your kitchen scraps and yard waste.Lay a base. Start with a layer of browns, laying down 4 to 6 inches of twigs or other coarse carbons on the bottom of the pile for good air circulation. Alternate greens and browns. Add layers of nitrogen and carbon materials. Make layers about 4 to 6 inches thick. Once you turn the pile the first time, these materials will get mixed together and compost more efficiently. |
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Water as you go. Your compost pile should be moist, kind of like a wrung-out sponge. Squeeze a handful of compost; if small beads of water appear between your fingers, you have enough water. Your pile will get water from rain, as well as moisture in the greens. If the pile gets too wet, you can turn it more frequently to dry it, or add more dry brown materials to soak up the excess moisture. |
3. Mix it up with a shovel or pitchfork once in a while.Once you build your pile, the real composters get to work — bacteria, fungi, and insects help break down the materials in your compost bin. As the organic materials decompose, your pile will get hot on the inside and you might see some steam. In about a week, your compost will be ready for turning. Use a pitchfork or shovel to mix up the layers of green and brown and move materials toward the center of the pile. You can empty your bin and re-layer, or just work materials around inside the bin. Break up clumps of material and wet the pile as needed. |
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Repeat until it's complete. Using finished compost Mix in compost to improve soil. In sandy soils, compost acts like a sponge, retaining water and nutrients where it can be reached by plant roots. In clay soils, compost makes the ground more porous, creating tiny holes and passageways that help soil drain more quickly. |
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Composting Problems & Solutions
Visit reduce.org for more information on composting, including tutorials, plans for building your own compost bin, and links to composting web sites.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
1-800-877-6300
www.pca.state.mn.us
