Compost feeds plants and helps conserve water, cuts down on weeds, and keeps food and yard waste out of landfills by turning garbage into “black gold”. Spreading compost around plants or mixing with potting soil is hard to use. The best compost forms from the right ratio of nitrogen and carbon-rich organic waste, mixed with soil, water, and air. It might sound like complicated chemistry, but don’t worry too much if you don’t have time to make perfect compost. Even a minimally tended pile will still yield decent results.
How to Make Compost for the Kitchen Garden?
To get started, measure out space at least three feet square. Your compost heap can be a simple pile or contained within a custom pen or bin some can be rotated, improve results. Add alternating layers of carbon material leaves and garden trimmings and nitrogen material such as kitchen scraps and manure, with a thin layer of soil in between.
Top off the pile with four to six inches of soil. Turn the pile as new layers are added and water to keep moist, in order to foster microbe action. You should get good compost in as little as two months or longer if it’s cold. A properly maintained compost pile shouldn’t smell. If it does, add more dry carbon material and turn it in more frequently. Vermicompost type of method is also used in the composition of the kitchen garden. Vermicompost is made with the help of worms, when these worms eat food scraps they release nitrogen from it.
Benefits of Home Made Compost
Beneficial Organisms to the Soil
Microscopic organisms in compost help aerate the soil, break down organic materials for plant use, and ward off plant disease.
Good for the Environment
Composting offers a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers when applied to lawns and garden beds.
Reduces Landfill Waste
One-third of landfill waste is made up of compostable materials. Diverting this waste from landfills means that our landfills will last longer.
Soil Conditioner
With compost, you are creating rich humus for your lawn and garden. This adds nutrients to your plants and helps retain soil moisture.
Yard Waste and Recycles Kitchen used in the kitchen garden
Composting can divert as much as 30% of household waste away from the garbage can. That’s important because when organic matter hits the landfill, it lacks the air it needs to decompose quickly. Instead, it creates harmful methane gas as it breaks down, increasing the rate of global warming and climate change. The larger volume of waste from the household can be converted to compost which can be treated as an external source of nutrients in the Residential Mini Vegetable Farm, the kitchen garden.
What to Compost in the Kitchen Garden
Composting is a great way to use the things in your refrigerator, therefore eliminating waste. Keeping a container in your kitchen, like this white ceramic compost bucket, is an easy way to accumulate your composting materials.
If not purchase a new one, we can make your own indoor or outdoor compost bin to collect these materials to start off your compost pile. In the kitchen, garden compost is decomposed through organic matter like crop residues and animal manure. This type of process is mostly used for micro-organisms.
Fruit scraps
Vegetable scraps
Coffee grounds
Eggshells
Grass and plant clippings
Dry leaves
Chopped wood and bark chips
Shredded newspaper
Straw
Sawdust
We should think twice before adding citrus peels, onions, and garlic to your homemade compost pile. It is believed that these materials repel earthworms, which are a vital part of your garden.
What Not to Compost in the kitchen garden
Not only will these items cause problems in your garden, but they also can make your compost smell bad and attract animals and pests. Avoid these items for a successful compost pile
Weeds that go to seed
Dairy products
Containing meat, oil, fat, or grease
Diseased plant materials
Sawdust or chips from pressure-treated wood
Dog or cat feces
Kalpesh Pathak
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