A Simple Guide: How To Start A Compost

(Updated 13 July 2020.) Did you know that you can start a compost at any time of the year? But fall is as good a time as any to start a compost bin! Read on to find out why and how to start a compost!

Following my post about ways to reduce food waste, I thought a post about composting should be useful. After all, even if we don’t waste food, we do produce food scraps in the course of cooking.

Rather than treating these scraps as waste, why not compost them and turn them into soil conditioner for your garden? That’s exactly what I did last year!

This post is the result of my research and composting experience. If any of you composting expert spot a mistake, please let me know!

What is compost?

Compost is created by decomposing organic matter. This can include vegetable and food scraps, dead and fresh leaves, grass clippings, shredded paper, wood shavings or ash, coffee grounds, eggshells, and so on.

In a compost bin, these organic matters are broken down naturally by microbes, fungi, and bigger decomposers like earthworms, roly-polys, and even slugs.

They become a source of nutrients and beneficial microbes that when applied to the soil, improves the health of the soil.

Why compost?

Direct waste away from the waste stream

Our landfills are being filled up at alarming rates, by starting a compost bin, we can direct 20% to 30% of our food waste away from landfills and incinerators.

When we throw food waste into the landfill, they don’t decompose naturally because of the anaerobic conditions. Instead, they break down slowly and release more methane than they would have under natural decomposition. Methane traps more than 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

• Read about ways to avoid food waste

What you can compost

• Food scraps: vegetables, fruits, eggshells, coffee grounds, moldy bread, cracker, tea leaves, etc.
• Yard waste: leaves, twigs, wood chips, old potting soil, grass clippings, etc.
• Kraft paper and paper products without plastic coating or too much print on it: letters and envelopes (minus the plastic window), office paper, newspaper, etc.
  If it’s glossy or heavily printed, don’t compost it.
• Grease-stained pizza boxes or brown paper bags, used parchment paper, compostable waxed paper, and egg cartons
• Tissue paper, paper towels, and napkins.
• Lint from the dryer if you don’t have polyester clothes
• Hair, pet hair, or feathers
• Natural fibers: 100% cotton, linen, jute, hemp, or woolen material including thread, rope, clothes, rags, etc.
• Loofahs

Basically, most things that break down in nature that aren’t coated with plastic, aluminum, or heavily printed on.

Before adding these into the compost pile, be sure to shred them!

“Black gold” for the garden

There’s really no reason for us to not transform trash into something beneficial for the environment, unless you have space constraints, that is.

There are a lot of uses for compost. If you don’t garden, you can always give it to a neighbor or scatter it thinly over your lawn. That’ll help your grass stay lush and healthy.

Otherwise, compost does wonders for your yard. If you have clay soil, mixing compost into them makes them easier to work with. You can even use them as mulch, using them to insulate the soil and prevent soil erosion.

Compost doesn’t only add nutrients to your soil, it adds an entire ecosystem of organisms that improves the soil!

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How to start a compost

You’ll need the following:

• Container, barrel, chicken wire, with a lid or tarp to cover
• Compost material: Greens, browns, and water
• Pitchfork or shovel to turn

1. Create a space to compost in

The first thing we need is a compost bin. This can be anything from a simple durable box with holes drilled in for aeration, to a beautiful structure constructed with cedar, to a compost bin sold at the store.

The easiest way, however, is to start a pile in the corner of the yard directly on the ground. Use the chicken wire to form a boundary for your pile.

No matter what type of container you use, there are only two requirements – there are holes in it so the contents can breathe, and there is a cover or lid. The cover makes sure the contents don’t dry out, heat can be retained and critters are kept out.

2. Gather the compost material

The second thing we need is the material that gets composted. In a nutshell, we need three components for making compost – the browns, the greens, and water. You can also add in some garden dirt because it contains microorganisms that will get the ball rolling sooner.

Browns provide carbon for the compost and consist of things like dried leaves, twigs, branches, shredded newspapers, pine needles, straw, woodchips, and eggshells and so on.

Greens provide nitrogen for the compost and include grass clippings, green leaves, vegetable scraps, fruit peels, and cores, coffee grounds, flowers, and even weeds that have not gone to seed and so on.

Water is essential for compost development. Keep the compost pile damp but not wet. If the compost material is too dry it will slow down the development process. If it’s too wet, it could cause it to start smelling bad.

The ratio of browns to green

Half to two-thirds of the compost material should be browns, while the rest greens. Browns help to create an aerated mixture so the microorganisms in the mixture can thrive, while greens provide them with nutrients.

Keep in mind that too much green can result in a soggy smelly mess. In that case, just add more browns.

Things that can’t go into a compost pile

• Diseased plant material
• Stubborn weed or plants that have gone to seed
• Walnut leaves
• Pet feces (unless they’re herbivores)
• Meat, bones, or fish scraps unless your bin is designed to compost those – they attract pests
• Heavily coated or printed paper, sticker label on fruits, and plastic/plastic-coated tea bags or sugar sachets.
  Some chocolate bars are wrapped in paper coated with aluminum, these shouldn’t get composted too!

The Magic of Fall

I’ve found that it’s sometimes a challenge to find enough browns to balance up the greens. But fallen fall leaves solve that problem!

In the fall, we have an abundance of dried leaves – this is why it’s a great time to start a compost bin! In nature, leaves that have fallen onto the forest floor breaks down to feed the ground underneath. Don’t get rid of these leaves. Use them to your advantage!

To save fall leaves to add to your compost throughout winter, collect them when they’re at their driest, keep them in a breathable bag and protect them from rain.

If you didn’t collect fall leaves, or fall doesn’t exist where you are, don’t worry. All paper products are carbon! We generate a lot of paper waste in our daily lives.

3. Layer, water, turn.

When you have all the materials, layer them, alternating between moist and dry materials. Make sure that you break down bigger pieces of material into smaller pieces to speed up the composting process.

Remember to cover your greens with enough browns to reduce smell and fly problems.

Water enough so that the compost pile is moist but not wet. Cover the bin with a lid to prevent hungry critters from diving into your bin.

Turn it every 3 to 7 days in the beginning, and then once a week after 4 to 6 weeks to aerate it. This is where a pitchfork will come in handy.

This is an affiliate link of the pitchfork we use. If you purchase it through this link, I get a small commission at no cost to you.

After turning, I like to scatter a layer of brown on top to make sure that all the greens like vegetable and fruit scraps are covered.

And that’s all! You may want to collect your food scraps in a container and add them to the compost at the end of each week. Be sure to keep the browns to greens ratio in mind.

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Ideally, the pile should get 3 feet deep. When done right, a compost bin doesn’t smell bad and will generate heat. If it doesn’t generate heat, don’t worry, it’ll still work, albeit a slower.

The finished compost will be dark and earthy-smelling! It’s magic!

My experience

Keeping a compost bin is interesting and strangely satisfying.

You’ll find random mushrooms growing in the bin and a plethora of organisms like roly-polys, spiders, slugs, earthworms, and beetles. These organisms are good! Don’t be afraid of them. Think of them as little helpers turning your food scraps and garden waste into black gold, which is exactly what they are!

The hardest part of composting, in my opinion, is collecting food waste during the week. Because I hate maggots and in the summer, you get maggots. They always found their way into the food scrap bin to lay eggs. Ugh! They’re fine though. They’re nature’s decomposers too.

If you can’t stand maggots at all, keep your scraps in a container in the fridge/freezer. Just be sure to thaw them completely before you add them to the pile.

Also, my compost pile never got to be 3 feet tall because of the container I used so it never got hot. It took longer to mature the compost, but it became compost. Phew! It never smelled too. That’s how I know it was working.

The other indication of the compost working is… the pile doesn’t grow in proportion to what you put in. It literally digests the food scraps so the pile doesn’t grow as much in comparison.

Seeing how the colorful organic matter breaks down into denser and darker material that in turn, nourishes the earth makes me appreciate nature even more. It’s such a beautiful cycle. Give it a try!

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I hope you found this basic guide on how to start a compost useful. If you have a compost bin, do tell me about your experience!
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