Composting

A man stands by a compost bin.If you have a yard that generates most any kind of green waste, you probably have the right ingredients and enough room to set up your own compost bin.

Composting is easy and cheap, you can cut down your garbage by hundreds of pounds each year, and create a mixture that can be used to improve the soil.

Remember, do not place your compost area next to a wetland, pond, lake or creek: the nutrients that run off can promote aquatic weed and algae growth

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For information on composting and how to implement it please visit reduce.org or contact the Hennepin County Environmental Services Department for information on their site, www.rethinkrecycling.comd. The University of Minnesota also has additional information on mulch and composting.

Instructions for building a compost bin.

A recipe for composting

Materials and ingredients needed
  • Compost container
  • Stirring tool—fork or shovel
  • Water
  • Oxygen
  • Brown yard waste (carbon source)
  • Green yard waste (nitrogen source)
  • Soil or finished compost (optional)
  • Fruit and vegetable food scraps (cooked or uncooked)
Instructions
  1. Construct or purchase a compost container.
  2. Mix brown and green yard waste and food scraps. Add to container until 8–10 inches deep.
  3. Add a nitrogen source (such as 1–2 inches of manure, a packaged compost additive, 1–2 inches grass clippings or blood meal) if you have a lot of brown material. Add a bulking agent (i.e., sawdust, straw, dried leaves) if you have a lot of green material. Water until moist, but not soggy.
  4. (Optional) Add a 1-inch layer of soil or completed compst.
  5. Continue adding brown and green materials, and nitrogen or bulking agent, if needed, until pile is completed.
  6. Turn the compost heap regularly (up to once a week). Add water as necessary.
  7. Small amounts of fresh materials may be added as long as the pile is occasionally turned.
  8. When the compost is finished, use as desired.
Helpful hints
  1. Ideal container sizes range from 3′ x 3′ x 3′ to 5′ x 5′ x 5′.
  2. Brown compostable materials include leaves, straw, coffee grounds, small amounts of wood ash and sawdust. They are high in carbon.
  3. Green compostable materials include weeds, grass clippings, table scraps, plant trimmings and lake plants. They are high in nitrogen.
  4. The smaller the pieces, the faster the materials will decompose.
  5. Each pile ideally should be between 3 and 5 feet high.
  6. Turning the compost prevents unpleasant odors and quickens decomposition. If strong odors occur despite regular turning, then add a bulking agent (course materials such as leaves, mature plant material, straw, sawdust and wood chips).
  7. Compost should be watered as necessary. Composting material, when squeezed in the hand, should be “sponge damp.”
  8. When the compost is finished, the pile will be about half its original size and have an earthy smell to it. It will have a dark, soil-like color and consistency.
  9. Uses for finished compost:
    1. Additions of 1–3 inches of compost into top 6–8 inches of garden soil will create desirable soil structure, making the soil easier to work.
    2. May use as mulch. Apply 2–4 inches of compost around base of garden plants, annuals and perennials.
    3. Use ¼ to 1/3; by volume as an ingredient in potting soil mix.