Discover The ABCs of Backyard Composting, Part 1.
That’s it, you’ve got at least one composter and you’ve placed it in a strategic area of your property, easily accessible from the kitchen and garden, close to a water source and, if possible, in a half-sunny area. Now it’s time to take action.
Although there are several methods for making compost, here are the two I recommend: the gradual accumulation method and the one-step method.
The Gradual Accumulation Method
This is the most common method. Start by placing a good layer of brown materials at the bottom of the composter. Then, as they become available, add green materials (kitchen and garden waste). Add brown materials from time to time. Aim for a three-to-one ratio, i.e. three parts brown material to one part green material. If you don’t compost much yard waste, add a shovelful of soil from your garden from time to time, to introduce “volunteer workers”.
La méthode en une opération ou la méthode «lasagne»
One-step composting is usually done in the spring. It’s for gardeners with more experience, who have accumulated both brown and green materials. Note that the latter can only be accumulated in winter, as we’ll see later. At other times, it is not possible to accumulate green materials.
I’ve nicknamed it the lasagne method because, as in this recipe, three ingredients are alternately superimposed (sauce, pasta, cheese): brown materials, green materials and a little earth.
The one-step method can be used in a composter or directly in the vegetable garden to make a mound for Cucurbitaceae.
In concrete terms, this means putting in a layer of brown material (usually leaves), then adding a third in green material (kitchen scraps that have been stored over the winter) and a small layer of garden soil or old compost. Continue alternating these three layers until all the green material has been used up.
Compost Maintenance
Compost maintenance boils down to meeting the basic needs of our little volunteer employees. And those needs are, as with most living organisms, food, water and air.
We’ve already provided the food with our organic matter, now we just need to meet the water and air requirements so that decomposition can take place in the best possible conditions.
It’s a well-known fact that all living organisms need water. Your compost should always look like a wrung-out sponge. In other words, it should be damp, but not soggy. Keep an eye on it and take action if necessary. Here are some things you can do:
- Open the composter when it rains, then close it again.
- Water with rainwater from your barrel.
- Water with drinking water.
There are two ways to introduce air into compost. These are stirring and turning.
Mixing can be done with a variety of garden tools, such as spading forks or tine hoes. But there’s a tool on the market that makes the job easier in small compost bins. It’s called a winged aerator. Stirring every two weeks is ideal… but not compulsory.
Turning is a highly effective method of introducing air into the compost. This is where the second composter comes in. When the first composter is full, I suggest transferring its entire contents to the second composter. By inverting the layers in this way, the highly decomposed material from the first composter will end up on top of the second composter. Thereafter, the idea is to start accumulating material again in the first composter, but not to add any more to the second composter. However, you should continue to maintain it by regularly moistening and aerating it, until the compost is ready. In this way, you always feed the first composter and harvest the mature compost in the second.
What to Do in Winter
When winter arrives, there are three possible strategies. You could decide to put your kitchen scraps out for municipal collection, but it would be a shame to deprive yourself of this beautiful material, not to mention the fact that you’ll have to start training your family again when spring returns.
If the composting site is accessible, the second option is to continue accumulating kitchen waste. However, it will be important to add leaves from time to time.
Finally, the third strategy is the one I prefer. This involves storing kitchen waste outdoors in 20-litre plastic buckets. As soon as the warm weather arrives, it’s time to start composting in a single operation, as described above.
Quand le compost est-il prêt?
Compost can be ready to harvest after an average of one year… but it can also take up to three years. Here are the factors that influence the decomposition of organic matter.
- The right ratio of green to brown materials.
- Material dimensions.
- The composting method and the volume to be composted.
- Compost maintenance (remember water and air).
L’ABC du compostage… transformé en ABCD
Well, I may have outgrown the ABC’s of home composting that I had originally planned. Having trained thousands of people on the subject, I already know your questions and I’ve tried to answer them.
In fact, even if it seems complex at the moment, don’t hesitate to take action. Get yourself a composter and a kitchen compost bin and start composting right away. Over time, composting will become part of your daily routine, and you’ll never see a banana peel again unless it’s been transformed into the brown gold that is compost.
On your marks, get set… compost!
Note: toutes les photos sont de l’autrice.
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