April Meeting: Making Compost

Drosera Capensis

Trevor O'Reilly of TnT Lawnscapes, a landscaping and lawn care company that focuses on organic methods, taught us about composting. Composting creates and improves soil and reduces land waste. A lot of what we throw away could be composted; a third of landfill waste is compostable.

The first step to composting is figuring out where you are want to put your compost pile. It can be as simple as a pile in the backyard or as fancy as an expensive roller composter. There are two methods for composting: hot and cold. Hot is faster and more complex; it needs to be in the sun and should stay wet to maintain heat. The cold method is slower and easier. To build a simple bin, start with larger sticks on the bottom to create air flow. Layer dry and moist yard waste; the yard waste needs to have nitrogen (weeds, grass, greens, rinsed egg shells) and carbon (pine needles, fall leaves, cow manure). You need to flip it as the leaves stick at the bottom. The next step is to collect items to compost, such as vegetable scraps from your kitchen (no meat) and yard waste (weeds are okay but unless they have started to produce seeds, though may want to avoid avocado seeds as they will grow and suck up all the nutrients). Trevor collects his kitchen scraps in a kitchen compost bin; it has two charcoal filters to reduce smells. He also uses a drosera capensis, a carnivorous plant that eats fruit flies, which tend to pop up around the scraps. Composting can take 3-4 months to produce usable compost but usually the average is a year. However, despite the work and patience, producing good nutrients for your yard that are natural and inexpensive have long reaching benefits.