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The Happy Garden Guide to COMPOSTING TRANSFORMING “TRASH” INTO TREASURE

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The Happy Garden Guide to COMPOSTING TRANSFORMING “TRASH” INTO TREASURE The Happy Garden Guide to COMPOSTING TRANSFORMING “TRASH” INTO TREASURE By Amy Landers www.gardensthatmatter.com The Happy Garden Guide to Composting Written by Amy Landers www.gardensthatmatter.com Copyright ©2017 Landers Creative, Inc. All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: This book is based on my research, knowledge, experiences, and opinions. By reading this guide, you agree that myself and my company will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book. The materials in this guide may contain information and products from third parties. I include these third-party materials as recommendations, but I don’t guarantee the information, products, or opinions expressed by their owners. Photography: This e-book contains original photographs, images from the public domain, and images used under a Creative Commons Attribution license. For the latter, the caption will include a photo credit and link to the source material and license. PREFACE HELLO + HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Hello! I’m Amy Landers, co-founder of GardensThatMatter.com. Welcome to The Happy Garden Guide to Composting: Transforming Trash into Garden Treasure. I’ve been making compost to use in my garden for more than 25 years. It all started with my 8th grade science fair project, “The Backyard Breakdown.” Just look at those layers! At the center of the pile, I placed screen packets holding bread, leaves, fabric, and other materials. I asked, “What will decompose the fastest?” and checked to see a few weeks later. As you might guess, the bread won. The experiment has continued informally ever since. I continue to be amazed by the transformation happening in my compost piles. Today, my whole family helps with composting and gardening. Composting plays a key role in making our garden happy and our home sustainable. I’m excited to share the process with you and your family. The Happy Garden Guide to Composting ii gardensthatmatter.com Who is this book for? The Happy Garden Guide to Composting is for anyone who wants to compost. Aspiring gardeners who want healthy soil Gardeners who don’t want to buy compost Cooks who want to stop tossing kitchen scraps People who hate stinky garbage cans Moms and dads who want a solution for "toddler leftovers" Homeowners who are tired of hauling leaves to the curb every fall Kids who are curious about nature Families who want to “go green” If you already compost, I hope to help you get even better at the process! What’s included in the book? A step-by-step approach to making compost part of your lifestyle Straightforward explanations of the science of decomposition Tips for getting kids involved Resources to deepen your understanding Access to online extras in our Book Owner’s Bonus Area, including videos, printable checklists, kids’ activities, and more How to use this book In a rush? Read the “Quick Start” section for a condensed version of the book. You can get started in under five pages! From there, the book is organized into action steps. You can start at the beginning or flip to a specific step for details. Along the way, you’ll discover more about the science behind the transformation. At the end of the book, you’ll find recommended resources and get access to our online bonus area where you’ll find printables, videos, and other content designed to help you plan, build, and understand your compost pile. The Happy Garden Guide to Composting iii gardensthatmatter.com Table of Contents The items below are links. Click any title or page number to jump to that section. Fast Track: Quick Start to Composting 1 Introduction: Compost is Awesome 6 Step 1: Set a Goal 15 Step 2: Meet the Crew 17 Step 3: Pick a Location 27 Step 4: Choose a Method 31 Step 5: Gather Materials 46 Step 6: Layer Greens and Browns 60 Step 7: Tend (or Not) 74 Step 8: Harvest Your Compost 82 Dig Deeper: Resources + Online Bonus Area 91 Thank You 98 Dedicated to my husband, Colby, my awesome partner for these adventures in parenting, gardening, and life. And to my three curious sons who teach me daily to see and treasure even the tiniest of nature’s miracles. The Happy Garden Guide to Composting iv gardensthatmatter.com FAST TRACK QUICK START If you want to compost and have no time to spare, start here. (Otherwise, think of this as a preview or skip ahead a few pages.) This is the quick start to composting. The bare-bones basics. This fast track won’t fit every situation, so you’ll also find links to additional details within the book. Compost is Awesome What exactly is compost? Compost is a dark, crumbly mixture of decomposing material created by bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects from once-living ingredients like carrot peels, grass clippings, coffee grounds, and leaves. Compost makes your garden happy because it improves soil, nourishes plants, stores water, and suppresses disease. The practice also recycles trash, reduces pollution, prevents erosion, saves energy, and all around makes you feel good. (Read more about the benefits in Introduction: Compost is Awesome) Step 1: Set a Goal Why do you want to compost? Take a moment to think about and write down your goal. What do you hope to achieve and how will you use your compost? See examples of composting goals in Step 1: Set a Goal. The Happy Garden Guide to Composting 1 gardensthatmatter.com Step 2: Meet the Crew Inside your compost pile, bacteria, fungi, worms, and other living things are busy turning apple cores and oak leaves to compost. It’s a busy place. In just one teaspoon of compost, there are 6 billion living organisms hard at work. Meet some VIPs of the compost organisms in Step 2: Meet the Crew. You don’t need to know them all to understand how to keep them happy. Compost microbes work best when they have ample moisture and oxygen, so air and water are important in our compost piles. Step 3: Pick a Location For the quickest start, choose one of two spots for your compost bin: 1. Close to your back door 2. Next to your garden The most important aspect of site selection is convenience. Putting the compost bin near the garden makes it easy to fill with yard waste and easy to empty a few months later. Putting the compost bin near the house makes it easy to fill with kitchen scraps and monitor as the process happens. Read more about choosing a location in Step 3: Pick a Location. Step 4: Choose a Method For the quickest method, pile up your materials in a heap at least three feet high by three feet wide by three feet long. For more structure, make an inexpensive wire bin. You’ll need two things: 11 feet of 36-inch welded wire fencing (with 3-inch or smaller grid) Bullnose pliers (Or wire snips + gloves to clip and bend the wire) The Happy Garden Guide to Composting 2 gardensthatmatter.com Cut the fencing to leave horizontal wires exposed on one side. (See diagram in bonus area.) Bend the fencing into a cylinder and secure it by bending the horizontal wires around the vertical stay on the other side. Voila! Not sure the wire bin is your best bet? Explore a flow chart of options and find inspiration in Step 4: Choose Your Method. Step 5: Gather Materials Collect a combination of fresh “green” and dry “brown” material. The simplest combination is often kitchen scraps for green and leaves for brown. • Start collecting kitchen scraps in an old bread bag. Store the bag in the freezer as you fill it. • Save leaves in bags or a pile. Shred the leaves first, if possible. • If you don’t have leaves, save your non-glossy junk mail and shred it up. • Collect a small pile of sticks, wood chips, or corn stalks for your base. What else should you gather? Well, you can compost anything that was once living, but some materials attract pests or carry disease. Find a detailed list of the yes, no, and maybe ingredients in Step 5: Gather Materials. Step 6: Layer Greens and Browns Time to put it together! Alternate layers of wet “green” materials (like kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and manure) and dry “brown” materials (like fall leaves, straw, and shredded paper). Water until damp and mix lightly. A SIMPLE RECIPE For every container of kitchen scraps, add two containers of shredded leaves. This gives you roughly one part green to two parts brown by volume. The Happy Garden Guide to Composting 3 gardensthatmatter.com Green materials are rich in nitrogen and brown materials are rich in carbon. Nitrogen and carbon are microbe food. Use a mix of materials to give the microbes a balanced diet. You can use carbon-to-nitrogen ratios to get just the right mix, as you’ll see in Step 6: Layer Greens and Browns. However, the layers and ratios don’t have to be perfect. Composting is more like cooking stir fry than baking bread! Step 7: Tend (or Not) Want to keep it super simple? Fill your bin and forget it. It will break down over the next 6-12 months, depending on the materials you used. (You can start a second bin to fill while you wait.) Want to speed it up? Keep those compost microbes happy: Make sure the pile is evenly moist. It should feel like a wrung-out sponge—wet but not dripping. When the pile cools down, turn it to mix the materials and add air.
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