There are plenty of ways you can compost, whether with a big garden or a smaller one. If you have lots of kitchen scraps, or a lot of leftover green matter from your garden, composting is an easy and inexpensive way to get nutrient-rich soil back into your garden. Here are just a few ways you can start composting.
What are the most common ways to start composting?
Pile / Heap Composting
Traditionally a pile of green and brown matter, it’s also known as the “hurry up and wait” method. It is easy and cheap to set up with wire mesh or a self-made box. Layer your compost materials in a shady spot and turn every few days. Heap composting can be hot or cold depending on how often you turn it over, and is best for those with a large yard to dump your scraps in.
Pit / Trench Composting
Digging a hole or pit in the ground and burying your scraps. Best for gardeners who know well in advance of the growing season the area in which they’d like to have rich, fertile soil. However, you can only bury fruit and vegie scraps as meat products might attract birds, garden critters or pests. Make sure to chop the scraps up into small pieces and bury under a generous layer of soil, so that worms and other beneficial animals can work through them and turn them into compost.
Vermicompost
Also known as making a worm farm, this is a great option for busy gardeners with a small space as you are getting worms to do the most work for you. It is the most common and preferred method of composting, as it grows worms and produces compost and nutrient-rich liquid while keeping rats out of your compost. Red Wiggler worms are the most popular type of worm used for this process as they are extremely efficient waste-eaters!
Make sure to chop your garden scraps up nice and small so that the worms can eat them easily.
Black Soldier Fly Composting
Black soldier fly larvae are great composters of decaying food. The protein-packed larvae can be harvested to feed to chooks and used as fish bait. The larvae can often be mistaken for maggots. Unlike maggots they are industrious in turning food scraps to compost much more rapidly than worms. Black soldier fly composting farms are set up outdoors and, in the winter, composting might be difficult.
Bokashi Bin
The Bokashi bucket system is an ancient method of food waste diversion developed in Japan. The bokashi method is the fermentation or ‘pickling’ of your kitchen scraps to bring it to a pre-compost state with help of the bokashi bran. Burying your bokashi in the ground is when it starts to break down into compost. It is generally indoors, and the process is generally quick as it only takes about 4 weeks, from beginning to the end.
$123.50Add to cart
Tumbler Composting
Essentially a closed compost bin or drum that is rotated to mix your food scraps or compost. This is great for people who don’t have the strength to physically turn compost! The tumbling process allows for the introduction of air pockets or oxygen to the decomposing matters which helps the microorganisms and other organics break down food better.
Check out this Gardening Australia DIY Compost Tumbler Clip.
Additionally, you can follow the composting queen of Instagram: Compostable Kate for more hints and tips.
One Comment