Here's The Dirt On Composting...

I love some good soil. Growing up, my parents had a compost heap in the backyard where table scraps found new life and the fattest, choicest, worms could always be found. We’ve been composting for about 3 years on our own now and began with a humble heap much like my parents did.

Freshly assembled tumbling-composter in it’s new home behind the greenhouse.

As primarily vegetarian and an avid environmentalist, EVERYTHING viable was being added to the pile which soon resulted in a mountain. I’m a little mama just towering 5 feet, and it wasn’t long before the the ol’ pitch fork and I had met our match against constant compost hand-turning.

I decided to look around for a decent turnable composter and found this one on Amazon. It was affordable and does the trick, saving me from extra time spent flipping scraps. It’s not as big as I would have liked, but now that spring has sprung and we’re in planting mode, that luscious fertilizer is mixed into the garden before you can say “compost tea”.

So what’s the dirt on composting?

Below is a list of basic do’s and don’ts…

via gaiasgarden.blog and @mother.woods & @gaiasgarden__ on instagram

As a general rule, all the “green” things like plants/grass/fruits/veggies break down with a high nitrogen content, and “brown” elements such as dead leaves/coffee grounds/cardboard are abundant in carbon. Plants use both of these building blocks to grow healthy & strong and are essential for photosynthesis and the production of amino acids.

Basically, you just launch all the goodies into the composter or on the pile, and turn it over periodically. How often you flip it depends on factors like size and green to brown ratio, but it’s good to do it about every 3-4 days in a tumbling composter, and once a week for piles.

Mixing this nutrient dense soil into the garden gives your crop a boost while utilizing your “zero-waste” fertilizer.

I hope this article’s been helpful and inspired yall to reduce, recycle, and reuse!

Happy gardening!

Joy & abundant blessings,

Mother Woods