Everyone is Growing Children but Who is Growing Soil?
For decades, I’ve had a compost pile of some sort, yard waste, kitchen scraps in a container by the sink that got emptied once a week into a bin in the backyard. Maple leaves were dried in a corner and sprinkled over orange and banana peels. The lid was left off during the rain and closed on sunny days. But now with four people eating three meals a day, my sink bin is filled almost every day with tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells and veggie trimmings. I rip newspapers into strips because my Maple has black spots of anthracnose requiring the leaves to be removed. The black and white ink on the newspaper strips is soy ink that can serve as the dry layer between food scraps. Layers of dry napkins or towels, wet peels and carrot greens, and dry papers stacked make for a healthy compost bin. Spray the layers with water to moisten the stack.
A 2016 study confirms the sentiment many people feel that composting their food scraps and yard waste at home is a good thing to do. The University of Washington study calculates the environmental benefits while keeping organic materials from landfills. Food waste does not generate a significant amount of greenhouse gas methane when its composted but does when it is buried in landfills. While it may be snowing on landfills, they are likely to be over 70 F. Research shows that in the US 95% of food scraps are still being thrown away while the study results show overwhelming results in support of composting food. Some municipalities offer curbside pick-up, and receive a significant credit, allowing neighbors to take pride in contributing their scraps. Sally Brown, a University of Washington associate professor, said, “Putting your food waste in the compost bin can really reduce methane emission from landfills, so it’s an easy thing to do that can have a big impact,” Composting at home is easier than making a lasagna.
Composting in the city keeps nutrient rich organic matter from filling landfills, creating methane, and fertilizes your container plants and vegetables. Composting does not smell bad while it speed’s up nature’s recycling process by creating conditions for decomposition of food waste into humus, a crumbly material that helps improve soil health. You compost bin needs air, water, carbon and nitrogen to for decomposers: bacteria, bugs, worms and fungi, to transform food waster to humus. Aeroic bacteria is the most plentiful decomposer and the most effective at decomposition. Keep overturning your pile to ensure there is air to speed the breakdown of nitrogen (your food scraps) and carbon materials (paper, dried grass and leaves). Keep your compost moist, but not soggy or decomposition will slow. If it is too soggy the matter becomes air deficient.
Select or build a bin that fits your composting needs for food and yard waste, or simply start a pile. In an apartment, select a countertop model that slides under your cabinet or a smaller bin you can keep on your balcony and monitor the worms’ intake. Compost can be stored in the freezer in a glass jar. Now for the lasagna-like layers of alternating green and brown. Nitrogen comes from your green kitchen and yard refuse. Carbon comes from brown waster: leaves, newspapers, potting soil and tissues. Your greens speed decomposition while the browns keep the smell at bay, so think one-quarter more brown than green matter. Keep compost as damp as a wrung-out sponge by turning the composting materials and taking the lid off during rain or the garden hose. Replace the lid to retain heat and moisture. Once a month, stir the bin to let your compost breathe, distribute water and combine browns and greens.
Compost is vitamins for any outdoor or indoor plant with high pH and nutrients plants crave. In autumn, spread several inches on your vegetable garden, then mix it in before planting. Toss a handful into each hole before the seedling. Once the plants are growing put a half inch around the plant. Mulch on top of the compost to retain moisture, keep down weeds, provide nutrients, and stabilize soil temperatures. Enjoy growing greens, herbs and flowers indoors during the winter. Plants also enjoy a pick me up from the left-over coffee or grounds.
More on Indoor worm composting
Choose a Bin Buy a bin or build one out of wood, plastic, an old dresser drawer that is 10 to 16 inches deep with ¼” holes in the bottom or sides for ventilation and a snug-fitting lid. The bin size should be two square feet of surface area per person. Place your bin where it will not freeze or overheat—in a pantry or basement, garage or porch area, and move it inside or insulate it during the winter.
Worms live under lots of moist paper or leaves that keeps them cool and moist, gives them food fiber to eat, and prevents fruit flies. To make your worm bed, tear into strips and crinkle black and white newspapers, or cardboard, leaves, compost, sawdust, and straw then moisten them with a spray bottle so the carbon materials are completely moist but not dripping. Fill your bin three-quarters full with this moist bedding. Sprinkle bedding with a few handfuls of soil or compost. Compost worms are often called “red worms” or “red wigglers.” Eisenia fetida. They are different from earthworms and nightcrawlers, which live underground. You can find red wigglers in an old compost pile, a friend’s worm bin, or buy them from a worm farm. Start with two nice big handfuls Give your worms about a quart (one pound) of fruit and vegetable trimmings buried under the paper to avoid fruit flies and odors, then leave them alone for a couple of weeks while they adjust to their new home. Then every week, feed your worms a quart of food scraps per square foot of surface area in your bin.
Always keep a 4 to 6-inch layer of fresh bedding over the worms and food in your bin. Add fresh bedding at least once every couple of months. Keep bedding as moist as a wrung-out sponge. In a plastic bin, add dry bedding to absorb excess moisture. Wooden bins may require adding water occasionally. You can start harvesting worm compost 2 to 3 months after you set up your bin. Simply reach in and scoop out the brown crumbly compost, worms and all. You can also move the contents of the bin to one side, place fresh bedding and a handful of soil in the empty space and bury food there for a month or two. Harvest the compost after the worms have migrated to the new food and bedding. To keep your worms healthy, harvest at least once a year.
The UW study was funded by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151216151733.htm
https://home.howstuffworks.com/10-tips-for-composting-in-the-city.htm
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/compost/science_decomposters_mircroorganisms.shtml