Home composting is easy, rewarding and very beneficial to our environment. It’s natural, inexpensive and fun! It’s good for your garden and great for the planet too!

Home Composting and the Environment

According to Compost Australia about 60% of the rubbish Australians put in the everyday mixed-waste ‘garbage bin’ could be put to better use in the garden as compost and mulch or could be returned to agricultural land to improve soil quality. Using compost in your garden also reduces the need for water by an average of 30%.

Alarmingly, such a huge amount of organically active material buried ‘anaerobically’ (without air) in landfill causes over 3% of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions annually by producing methane; a gas with 25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. If properly composted instead, this same organic waste could help to abate climate change in yet another way; by sinking or ’sequestering’ carbon back into the soil.

Whether it be just doing your bit for the environment and or using waste as a resource to boost your garden’s magic, composting is for most a rewarding and satisfying experience.

Since over half of what we throw into our rubbish bins is organic waste such as food scraps, coffee grindings, egg shells and garden cuttings, why not put it to better use in the garden as compost and mulch.

Creating a Compost Heap

The ideal location for a compost heap has reasonable drainage and is well shaded in summer. Mark out an area for your compost heap (it’s a good idea to have 2 compartments. Anything can be used such as chicken wire & tomato or bamboo stakes, railway sleepers, scrap timber & tin.

To build the compost heap, start with a thick layer of twigs or coarse mulch at the base for drainage. Then follow the easy A,B,C formula to build a heap layer upon layer.

A. Thin layer of kitchen organics and green garden organics.
B. Cover with a layer of brown garden organics ensuring no food waste is left exposed.
C. Moisten well.

Then repeat A,B,C. If you get the ratio of wet & dry matter right, moisture plus aeration, you should have usable compost in around 90 days.

What to Compost

Anything that was once a plant or animal can be composted, including fruit and vegetable peelings, newspapers, grass clippings, weeds, tea leaves, coffee grounds, egg shells, old potting mix, dead flowers, lint, dust, human and animal hair.

Compost is a mix of different materials:

1. Nitrogen rich kitchen organics such as egg shells, fruit and vegetable peelings and green garden organics such as fresh grass clippings, green leaves, weeds and manure. Shredded paper & cardboard such as toilet rolls and paper bags add carbon to the mix.
2. Nitrogen poor brown garden organics such as dry leaves, woody twigs, paper and straw
3. Moisture – dry materials won’t compost without it!
4. Air – it is important allow air to circulate through the compost so it doesn’t smell. This can be done by occasionally turning it with a garden fork or by placing some pieces of pvc pipe through the heap to allow air in.

Tips & Hints for Home Composting

• Avoid placing meat or dairy products in your compost until you are confident and experienced.
• Keep a bucket with a well-sealed lid in the kitchen to collect food scraps.
• Use the lawn mower to chop up coarse garden prunings.
• Don’t let the compost get too wet, cover your heap – it should be just moist, not wet. If you have a wet or saturated compost heap, mix more dry brown garden organics through it, turn it.
• Layers of sticks and branches will help air circulate through the heap if it gets too damp.
• A sprinkling of dolomite will improve pH and make richer compost while helping minimise odours.