The GoVacuum Blog

A compost pile is composed of trillions of microbes that digest organic wastes and turn them into precious mulch. Insects and worms also help to break down your compost pile. These living things need certain conditions to do their work, however, and this includes the proper amount of air, water, and food.

Air
Compost microbes are aerobic creatures that need to have enough air to survive. For this, passageways of air need to be created within your compost pile. This can be done with the addition of ingredients that create airways, such as straw. Fluffing up your compost every now and then with a spade or fork will keep the pile from matting down.

Water
Water keeps microbes dispersed as well as properly quenched. Keeping the right balance of moisture is key, as a pile that is too dry will prevent air from getting through. When you add fruits, vegetables, and other garden material you are creating a good amount of moisture. Moisten dry leaves and straw when you add these elements to your pile and then water your compost occasionally, turning it to keep it from getting soggy. Place a tarp over the pile to keep the rain out during storms.

Food: the Browns and the Greens
There are two types of composting materials that microbes need in order to do their work. One is carbon-rich brown material, which consists of dry, dead plants such as weeds, leaves, straw, wood chips, and sawdust. This brown content contains long chains of sugar molecules, which provides energy for microbes.

Green material includes fresh plants such as green weeds, leaves, and grass cuttings. Other green material includes, fruit and veggies, coffee and tea grounds, and horse manure. All of these elements contain nitrogen along with the proteins and amino acids so key for microbe health

A good mixture of brown and green materials will also help your compost stay aerated and properly moist.

Additional Factors for Compost Health
Keeping a more or less equal proportion of browns and greens is a good guarantee that your compost pile will break down well. It is also important to use varying size materials such as a combination of straw, coffee grounds, leaves, and vegetable peels. Another rule of thumb is that for every pound of food scraps (carbon) you should have a pound of leaves, newspaper, and other dry goods (nitrogen.)

Starting Up: The Right Bin for You
First you will need a compost bin. Decide if you are going to place your compost outdoors or indoors.

For indoor composting, you can buy air-tight bins that come with a filter and an odor-control feature, or you can make a bin yourself and place it in a garage or barn where odor is not too much of a concern. Store bought bins determine the size of your compost and can be pricy, but they are very good for apartment dwellers.

An outdoor compost area allows you to construct your own by creating an enclosure made of wooden pallets, cinder blocks, wire fencing, or any other similar type of scrap that you can find. Start creating your compost pile by adding more and more scraps as you have them, remembering to turn and aerate and moisten it as often as it needs.

Beginning Your Compost Pile
The best way to begin composting is to take scraps from your kitchen and add them to a handful of soil, which will be your compost starter. As you collect more ingredients, add them to the mixture. As the elements begin to decompose, they will blend together. Every few weeks, take a break from adding new materials so that newer scraps can break down.
If you have a great deal of scrap waste, such as bags of leaves, this may fill up your compost bin all the way. Through decomposition, the pile will diminish, taking up to 50% less space than before. Try not to add more scraps to the pile until it finishes decomposing, otherwise the entire process will take longer. There are special “batch” composters that you can buy or create that allow you to continue composting in your smaller area while the larger batch does its own thing. If you tend to collect large amounts of debris often, it can be a good idea to have these two separate composting systems.

Ready to Use
Your compost pile is ready to use once it becomes dark and smells like soil. None of the original ingredients will be recognizable, except for a few bits here and there. If you are using the compost for your garden, the finer it is, the better so that seedling roots are not affected by any left over microbes. Use your beautiful new compost on houseplants, gardens, and lawns and watch how beautifully everything grows. Bury it in the soil or use it as a top soil during the growing season. Used as a mulch, it will protect the soil from eroding while keeping it moist. Watering will send the nutrients into the soil below. If you are working with sandy soil, the compost will act as a sponge to retain water.

As a boost to house plants, you can take a bit of your compost and add water to make a tea. Let it sit for a few minutes and then add it to any plant that needs some help.

The Benefits of Compost
• Adds organic material to the soil
• Eliminates the need to use toxic chemicals
• Improves drainage of soil
• Helps soil retain water
• Protects plants against drought
• Keeps soil porous
• Adds beneficial microbes to soil
• Adds nutrients to soil that then passes on to plants
• Helps ailing plants
• Can be used for houseplants, gardens, lawns
• Is sustainable and is a boon to the environment

-Michele Kadison