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Growing your own vegetables is turning into a major trend these days. Carefully tended veggie gardens used to be a standard part of any backyard set up, but as our supermarkets started carrying wide selections of fresh produce in all seasons, people quickly forgot the art of growing their own. Now the trend is back, as people understand the benefits of eating food grown and raised locally. The number of vegetable garden installations has skyrocketed, community gardens are springing up on city land and even giant corporations like PepsiCo are creating vegetable gardens at their corporate headquarters.
One of the absolutely best things you can do to help your garden grow bigger and better veggies and flowers, is to make your own compost. A lot of people get squeamish at the thought, but when you understand compost and what it can do for you, youll become a convert. So, what exactly is compost? In the very simplest of basic terms, compost is worm poop and decomposed plant matter. I know, sounds nasty, but finished compost is clean and fresh-smelling and your plants will love you for feeding it to them.
The best times to begin composting are in the spring and fall, so if you dont yet have your own pile, start today. Heres a step-by-step guide.
1. The Kitchen. This is the primary source of all your fruit and vegetable scraps. Compost piles love this stuff. Anything vegetable goes in, but never add meat, dairy or oils. You can add paper towels and napkins, torn up, as long as they have no oils on them. The best way to store this in the kitchen is in a lidded bucket, like a cat biscuit bucket. Line the bottom with a piece of paper towel to make dumping easier. Personally, I would avoid buying one of those cute little mini-trash cans sold for composting because once youve peeled a pineapple, there wont be room for anything else in it.
2. The Garden. All leaves, grass clippings, weeds, straw, wood chips anything that starts its life as a plant can go into your compost pile. There are a few things you must avoid diseased plants (such as the blighted tomatoes from last year) and dog and cat feces. If you chop everything into small pieces your compost will decompose faster.
3. The Compost Bin. All the garden catalogs, as well as the hardware stores, carry a variety of compost bins, so deciding which to pick can be confusing. Quite honestly, you dont actually need to buy a compost bin, though they keep everything nice and tidy. The most basic compost pile is simply a heap of your vegetable scraps and garden trimmings. Tuck it into a corner of the garden but make sure its accessible, as youll be turning it over every week or so. If you want, you could make an enclosure with chicken wire to contain everything. The bin we use comes in layers and makes turning the pile pretty easy. Make sure to set it directly on the soil, so the compost workers can find their way in.
4. How it works. Compost is decomposed and decayed vegetable matter. Microorganisms consume and digest your veggie scraps and generate heat, so on cool mornings you might notice your pile smoking. This is absolutely normal Once the microorganisms have broken things down a bit, the worms move it. You dont have to add them ... worms will find your compost pile and when you turn the pile, as you should do every week or so, youll be simply amazed at how many red wriggler worms have moved in. There will be a few fat earthworms, too, but its the red wrigglers that do the bulk of the work, transforming your vegetable detritus into a fantastic rich black soil. Gardeners call this "black gold".
5. When is it ready? If youve been aerating your compost by turning it every week and watering if necessarythe material should feel like a squeezed-out sponge your compost will be ready to use in as little as 3 months. Dig a trowel full around plant roots, use it to remedy poor soils, you can even use it as mulch.
One more thing ... youll be amazed at how much less trash goes out on garbage days!!
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