Optimize your Organic Composting
We avoid using peat in the compost we sell at QD and Cherry Lane, and we advise against using it in piles you may make at home. Why? Because peat is a fossil fuel and contributes to global warming. Ideally, you’re aiming for a 50/50 ratio of nitrogen to carbon dioxide-producing matter in your composter or pile, and there’s already plenty CO2 in kitchen leftovers. Here is our four-step recipe for the best growing mix:
- Think about what goes in - If you mindlessly put in fatty meat and pasta from last night’s leftovers, you’ll have too much nitrogen in the mix, and the slimy result could attract rats.
- Think about timings - When you add bits and bobs from your kitchen to your compost pile, from carrot peelings to eggshells, they add to the richness of the loam you will be spreading, but decay at different rates and at different optimal ratios. Calcium from eggshells – for example - takes far longer to decompose, as it presents a harder surface for the micro-organisms to burrow through and digest. Put too much eggshell in, and you’ll have shards while everything else has mulched.
- Welcome micro fauna - Bear in mind, much of what we consider as compost is actually the excrement from bacteria, worms and other mini beasts as they munch through your leftovers. We’d recommend you add dried leaves and scrunched paper (in moderation) to aerate the mixture, making it a happy, oxygenated place for them to breathe as they munch. If you don’t have the space for a compost pile or heap – or if you’re just nervous about attracting the erm… unwanted wildlife, it may be worth investing in a hot composting bin.
- Consider fungi - Another action you can take to optimize your compost is to vary what you put into it. If you have a barrow load of potato peelings, it will only encourage the growth of certain mycelia or fungal strands, limiting how enriched the soil becomes, and only attracting a limited number of insects who rely on smell for attraction to food sources like fungi.
In précis, the more varied the items you put in, the more attractive your compost will be; and it will smell better to you too. With that varied aroma, Nature’s little composters (beetles and nematodes) will be like businessmen round a buffet, bees around the honeypot, flies around a piece of sugar pie – you get the picture. Variety is the spice of organic composting life!
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