Organic composting uses recycled household waste and reduces landfill and climate change.  Making compost from garden and household waste is one of the best things any gardener can do. Its easy and costs very little in time or effort, once in practic composting is easy.

Making compost will help you reduce pollution and cut down that landfill! Your plants will grow healthier and look happier for it and it will save you money on fertilisers too.

Compost is what garden guides often describe composting as natures way of recycling.
Composting toilets are also natures way of recycling as the human waste is collected in a lot of times in a rotating drum, or in a type of bucket or pit.  A composting toilet systems converts human waste into an organic compost and soil, with  natural breakdown of organic matter into its essential minerals.  Micro and macro organisms do this over time, working through various stages of oxidation and sometimes localized pockets of anaerobic breakdown.  Harnessing the natural processes due to time and heat all pathogens and any harmful bacteria is destroyed.  The installation and instructions must be followed for the desired results.
Soil maintenance is at the heart of organic growing: dont feed the plants, feed the soil — the plants will look after themselves. The extremely complex subject of soil maintenance can happily be summed up in one word: composting.

Compost is not just decayed organic matter. Composting is applied microbiology at its most complex, involving the interactions of thousands upon thousands of different species of micro organisms in a highly complex ecosystem.

If it can rot it will compost, but some items are best avoided.  Some things, like grass mowings and soft young weeds, rot quickly. They work as activators or hotter rotters, getting the composting started, but on their own will decay to a smelly mess.  Recycle your plant-based, kitchen and garden waste by making it into compost

Older and tougher plant material is slower to rot but gives body to the finished compost - and usually makes up the bulk of a compost heap. Woody items decay very slowly; they are best chopped or shredded first, where appropriate.

A container or brown bin is not an absolute necessity as you can make perfectly good compost in a free standing heap as long as it is large enough, you will see later why this may be a drawback.  Assuming then that we need to make a container we are faced with many choices.

Why not make or buy a compost bin? Theyre usually cheap to buy, and are available in wood or recycled plastic (that might otherwise be in your local landfill site). If youre keen you could combine it with a wormery or use a shredder which increases the amount of compostable waste. Do not compost foods such as dairy produce, meat, bread etc as these attract flies and vermin.

When your compost pile is much smaller and looks like rich soil, its ready.  What was a pile of plant material will gradually, from the bottom up, turn into a pile of dark stuff that looks like brown dirt.  Eventually, none of the items you put in there will be recognizable.  If youre using it out in the garden, a few small recognizable bits wont hurt - theyll finish composting in the garden. If youre using it for houseplants or to start seeds, its better to wait until its well finished so you dont have microbes attacking the fine rootlets of new plants.

Dig it in to have a healthy, fertile garden and your fruit and vegetables can be organic. Don’t assume the waste is harmless and bin it. Putting it in landfill costs money and it will produce methane (a global warming gas); also it may pollute the groundwater.

Compost waste often comprises about 20-30% of your total household waste and the impact on recycling is significant.

Looking for more Gardening Articles Mark Marris

Why Composting Should Be Widespread

The answer is easy – compost. Not only does composting keep otherwise untapped resources out of the trash pile, but it actually puts it to good use. The dark, crumbly, rich material

Gone Green Site: Kitchen Compost Crock Makes Composting Kitchen …
Collecting kitchen scraps for composting shouldn’t detract from your kitchen décor. This sleek, ceramic crock is attractive enough to keep on the kitchen counter

Composting in an Apartment
You probably think I’m crazy - talking about gardening and composting in the middle of winter. For Christmas this year, I received an indoor composter from my boyfriend.

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 Composting For Everyone

 Would you rather grow — your sweet garden or that expensive landfill on the edge of town or how about the stinky sewage works? Most peoples habits contribute to significantly to both of these however there is a way to drasticaly cut down on the contribution made to both of these, and have fantastic soil too.

Composting is the simple answer, composting is the natural process of decomposing organic material, like leaves or grass clippings.  Bacteria and insects consume this material leaving nutrient rich soil.  Composting has been going on in forests since the beginning of time and can easily be done in your backyard.  A major advantage of composting for any gardener is that the home-grown compost can be used instead of commercial fertilizers and mulches.

Composting techniques such as grass recycling, which refers to the practice of simply leaving lawn clippings on the lawn after mowing, can be integrated into a broad waste prevention campaign in your home or business. Though frequently thought of as nature’s way of recycling, composting is really a waste prevention activity because it prevents so-called "green wastes" from becoming a waste in the first place.

Home composting is an easy, responsible way to keep millions of tons of organic materials each year from becoming a waste disposal burden.  Despite common impressions, all of the "green" waste that is shipped to landfills never finds its way back to the soil because new liners designed to prevent toxic releases also limits oxygen to break down this organic material. Composting is, therefore, a way to "close the loop" right in your own backyard.

Many California communities now offer classes and guidebooks to help residents compost yard trimmings and kitchen scraps conveniently and safely. The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) has produced videos for use by local governments to educate residents on various approaches to this environmentally friendly way to both reduce waste and produce soil product for yards and gardens.

To compost in your backyard, all you need is a little space (about a square yard) for an open pile or compost bin. Several composting bins are commercially available. Composting can also be done in open piles, though bins are often preferable as they keep the material contained, hold moisture better, and offer resistance to rodents.

Those persistent Fall leaves can go into the compost tumbler along with grass clippings, bush trimmings, weeds, and other yard waste. Kitchen scraps (no meat or dairy) can also be added, but should be covered with the non-food material in the bin. The pile needs to be kept moist; in the Fall, the rain may do this for you, otherwise use a hose or gray water. If you take out a handful of material, squeeze it and a couple of drops come out, it’s wet enough. About once a week, fluff the pile with a pitch fork to give it air. You can also turn the pile completely over by building it into another pile, or remove the bin and repile it into the bin (to do this you’ll need a couple of square yards of space). In a couple of months you’ll have compost for your yard.

Fall leaves can also be piled up by themselves either in a bin or covered pile and left to sit out the winter. In the spring, the leaf pile will have shrunk considerably and can be mixed with grass clippings and other yard and vegetable trimmings in a new compost pile or put on the soil directly as a mulch. Leaves can also be used as a mulch in the fall by raking them directly onto dirt areas where they will break down naturally by spring.

Businesses are also jumping into the compost pile. For example, the Pebble Beach Company of Monterey County is developing an ambitious yard trimmings composting program at their internationally renowned seaside resort. The company, responsible for managing five world class golf courses, must also manage 2,500 tons of assorted trimmings generated from those courses as well as 3,500 acres of forest land in the Del Monte Forest. A majority of the materials generated at the golf courses is grass clippings, while the trimmings from the Forest include dead trees and exotic plants removed while replanting the area with native plants and trees. Historically, these "wastes" were sent to a local landfill.

Then something marvelous happened. The company purchased $175,000 worth of equipment to process plant material into compost at their on-site maintenance yard. The purchase was economically feasible due in part to a 40% recycling investment tax credit program administered by CIWMB. By composting yard trimmings instead of sending them to the landfill, the company will save $65,000 per year in labor, transportation, and disposal costs. The compost produced will be used as a soil amendment for the forest replanting program, potentially saving over $20,000 per year which is currently spent on soil amendment purchases.

By using compost on the same area where it was originally generated, the composting program at Pebble Beach is simply a large, but excellent example of "closing the loop" at home.

By: Lee Young Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

  A post on Compost

 I never knew composting can be so neat and easy. The final compost that comes out of the waste, indeed gives a typical fresh earthen smell.

   Compost

The New York City Parks Department is having a class in Marine Park this coming Sunday where you can learn how to start composting.

  Smellfree Compost Bin

Designer Joe Brunton has come up with an innovative solution to composting in the city – the Smellfree Compost Bin. He explains that, “…the project’s aim was to encourage people to compost.

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Compost Tumblers

Composting Fun

Compost tumblers are a practical way to produce compost they will create the compost far more quickly than a conventional pile and as the name surgests tumbling or turning the compost is a easy way to do the required mixing, and it also makes the process a bit more fun, this method is also known as hot composting.

Before you start on your first composting project of the year, have you thought about what you were going to place your compost in? I don’t mean, "In my garden," or even, "In my houseplant’s soil," those are all moot points. I mean, have you considered whether you were going to compost out in the open for anything and everyone to see, or perhaps in a compost bin or compost tumbler? After all, these are important points to consider and they may hold the key to a successful composting project.

There are quite a few methods when it comes to composting; some use the open composting method by building a pile of compost out in the woods or yard, others use compost tumblers and bins. I prefer the compost tumbler method out of all of them mainly because I lead quite a busy life and can’t commit to watering down my compost constantly if it’s out in the open in addition to turning the pile on a regular basis. However, that’s not to say that a compost tumbler is better than open composting; both methods produce the same amount of compost in the same amount of time so long as you keep your compost heaps aerated.

Compost tumblers have a lot of great benefits, the most obvious being that if you’re a busy person all you really have to do is toss all your food scraps and/or yard waste into your tumbler, turn it or flip it (depending on the design) about every few days and you’re good. Tumblers of course, keep your compost aerated which is very important; you never want your compost to stay stagnant because that would bore the little microbes in your heap. They should be actively eating and decomposing all the matter in the tumbler or bin!

Another reason I prefer tumblers over other methods is that it keeps bears and other animals from being attracted to the smell and away from your compost.   Your pile will stay securely in the tumbler until it’s ready to be removed, which can be easily done. But the big reason why I like compost tumblers is because they’re fun! Sorry to the folks who have open compost heaps, but I don’t find using a pitch fork to turn my compost appealing at all. Something about spinning or flipping my compost tumbler while on a steady axis sounds easier. Call me lazy or what have you, but know this: my compost heap is still just as good as yours!
Vicki Duong

 

  What Is Composting?: Let It Rot: Five Guidelines For Composting

 Cold composting is basically just making a pile and letting it sit in the bin. This takes longer than hot composting. Hot composting is when you aerate it.

  Make a compost tumbler 

 Bacteria breaks down the materials in your tumbler and turns it into rich organic compost. The decomposing material will become hot as the bacteria does its work.

  What Is Composting?: Composting Fun for the Whole Family

 Ok, ok, I know I said Composting, Fun for the Whole Family. As parents we need to teach our kids why we should compost. The info above can help you do just that.

  Composting, on the not-so-grand scale

Yes, "compost happens" but it usually happens slowly unless you engineer it. True efficient composting takes some work, for sure. For quick, hot composting.

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