Making Organic Compost from Food Scraps
If you think food scraps in your kitchen such as coffee grounds, tea bags, stale bread, grains are useless, you’re wrong. You can make organic compost from those scraps easily.
Composting food scraps not only helps the earth, you can also provide additional nutrients to the soil without paying any money.
Food Waste That Can Compost
- All your vegetable and fruit wastes, (including rinds and cores) even if they are moldy and ugly
- Old bread, donuts, cookies, crackers, pizza crust, noodles: anything made out of flour!
- Grains (cooked or uncooked): rice, barley, you name it
- Coffee grounds, tea bags, filters
- Fruit or vegetable pulp from juicing
- Old spices
- Outdated boxed foods from the pantry
- Egg shells (crush well)
- Corn cobs and husks (cobs breakdown very slowly)
- Build your own Worm Farm (Vermicomposting): Step-by-Step Instructions
Food Waste That Cannot Compost
- Meat or meat waste, such as bones, fat, gristle, skin, etc.
- Fish or fish waste
- Dairy products, such as cheese, butter, cottage cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, etc.
- Grease and oils of any kind
- Kitty litter or animal feces
Those will make the compost smell badly and attract maggot or rodent.
How to Compost Food Scraps
1. Select a dry, shady spot near a water source for your compost pile or bin.
2. Before you add scraps, make sure larger pieces are chopped or shredded. The smaller pieces are, the sooner the compost will be ready.
3. Cover your composting area with a 6-inch layer of brown materials (dead leaves, branches, chip & twigs, shredded newspaper, saw dust)
4. Add a 3-inch layer of green materials (grass clippings, food scraps)and a little soil or finished compost.
5. Lightly mix the two layers above.
6. Top with a 3-inch layer of brown materials, adding water until moist.
7. Turn your compost pile every week or two with a pitchfork to distribute air and moisture. Move the dry materials from the edges into the middle of the pile. Continue this practice until the pile does not reheat much after turning.
8. Your compost will be ready in 30 days, but let the pile sit for two weeks before using.
The Author:
Info and good advice to plant cactus and succulent. http://cactuslover.blogspot.com
