Garden Design | Composting Made Easy
When I moved out of the city three years ago, I never imagined myself doing any gardening, never mind composting. Today, I have a pretty decent veggie garden and composting is part of my daily existence. And you know what? It’s pretty cool.
WHY COMPOST?
Composting is fantastic for your garden, and it’s a productive way to dispose of a lot of your food waste. Alice Marcus, co-founder of Groundworks Inc., a garden design firm in Brooklyn, N.Y., says composting is “basically gold for your garden bed. It finishes the garden bed not only aesthetically but also internally. Black and rich in nutrients, compost is a natural source of nitrogen (which makes plants form proteins for better, stronger growth). It also allows the soil to retain moisture and keeps weeds at bay if used as a mulch dressing. The best compost is a balance of three-quarters brown stuff to one-quarters green stuff and avoid meat, vegetable and animal fats altogether. Why buy it when it’s free?”
WHERE TO START?
Curious about composting, but intimidated by it? “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting,” by master gardener Chris McLaughlin, is a great jumping-off point, as it guides you, step by step, through the process. It addresses container options, “ingredients,” temperature and how to use the end product to enrich your garden.
McLaughlin extols the virtues of composting: “Composting reduces landfill waste by recycling food and yard waste that would otherwise go into the trash. It also reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers and reduces water usage by helping the soil retain water – all plusses for people concerned about the environment.”
IT STARTS IN THE KITCHEN
The first step is to collect food scraps in the kitchen. Most of us are bothered by the thought of rotting fruits and vegetables stinking up our kitchens (and attracting flies), and that is why there are special containers like the amazing Fresh Air compost collector by Full Circle ($29.99, fullcirclehome.com). The Fresh Air is an unobtrusive container that sits on your
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