Getting Ready for Earth Day: Compost Your Organic Waste
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 04.13.07
Yesterday, we mentioned some tips for growing some of your own food, a process that can be tricky, especially if you don't have your own garden or a particularly green thumb. When it comes to strategies that help your garden grow, adding compost is a great way to mulch and add nutrients without using industrial fertilizers (not to mention a good use of food leftovers and other organic waste). Here are some tips and products that can help you compost and help the planet for Earth Day.
1) BluePlanetSMART's globe-shaped composter is faster and more functional thanks to its spherical shape, and is better-looking than a lot of composters we've seen.
2) The Stiga kitchen composting system allows you to inject your fresh kitchen scraps into the bottom of the pile using a lever ram system, which helps the new scraps get composting faster and keeps the stink down.
3) NatureMill's onboard computer controls the mixing and air flow, brewing up delicious compost about every two weeks without funky compost odors or having to hand-turn the mixture.
4) Compostadores is the first (and only, so far) company that we've seen that specializes in domestic composting in Europe.
5) New York City has its own map that shows you where to take your kitchen scraps and organic waste so it can be composted and naturally recycled into rich soil, with tips and tricks for starting compost yourself.
6) San Francisco has incorporated composting into its recycling system, taking food scraps from 2,000 restaurants to make compost, and the city is offering free classes in composting this weekend!
7) Vermiculture (composting using worms) has caught Martha Stewart's eye and you can do it, too, with this Can-O-Worms Condo.
8) Artist Amy Youngs' digestive table gives new meaning to the term "dining table," using worms to compost your leftovers right at the table.
9) The Happy Farmer Kitchen Composter is made from 70% recycled plastic and, according to a TH reader, doesn't smell at all.
Happy composting! For more info on greener eating practices, check out TreeHugger's How to Green Your Meals guide and stay tuned for more tips in anticipation of Earth Day.
You can also make your own for the cost of two large rubbermaid containers and 20 min of your time...
A lot of cities are giving out free composter buckets. In Chandler AZ I just had to call the Trash department and two days later had one delivered. Its nothing overly fancy, black, no bottom and breather holes all over. Fill it let it compost and then just move the bucket and you leave behind an nice pile of compost.
best of all its free
Los Angeles also has free composting classes and offers inexpensive composters for sale afterwards. The schedule and information is here.
There are natural ways to keep your garden looking green and healthy. Maintaining your garden by lightly saturating it daily with water and using your compost soil will dramatically perk up the growth in your plants. The premium time to water your garden is in the early morning, so rise and shine! And for all those who can’t stand reeling in the hose, here is something for you. Check out the No Crank hose reel by going to the link below. The power of water pressure rewinds the hose so you don’t have to! Water is a vital part of a flower's life, but too much can upset the delicate balance of nutrient production. Too little will have the same effect. The outward signs of too much water are wilting and yellowing of leaves, especially those in the inner areas of the plant. Vegetables need about an inch of water each week.
A good way to test the texture of your soil is with the “Ribbon Test.” After you take a soil sample, roll it back and forth in your hand. If it sticks together easily, it is high in clay, if it simply falls apart, it is probably has a lot of sand. Clay soils don’t drain well and are difficult for the roots to penetrate. Sandy soils drain well but don’t retain nutrients. Adding organic material will help both sandy and clay soils. Not sure how to make compost, well it’s simple. Start with a layer of chopped leaves, grass clippings and kitchen waste like banana peels, eggshells, old lettuce leaves, apple cores, coffee grounds, and whatever else is available. Keep adding materials until you have a six-inch layer, then cover it with three to six inches of soil, manure, or finished compost. Your plants will love this natural food! Did you know the soil can determine the color of the hydrangeas you grow? Check out the link below for some awesome gardening tips.
http://naturalsupply.blogspot.com/2007/05/natural-gardening-tips.html
I use the Urban Compost Tumbler. Works great for me
There are more composting tips available on Facebook, you could try a page/group called
'Organic Gardening 101' where we have been having some good n interesting compost talk,
the 'Wiggly Wigglers' page where there have been some pretty gory/yukky discussions about composting bodily fluids and sanitary stuff, and
'All Your Composting Questions Answered' where not many composting questions have been answered....
Compost John Cossham, York, UK (that's not an instruction btw!)