What's New With Composting • Robyn's Southern Nest

“What’s New with Composting?” If you know where that quote is from we can be friends. 🙂

It’s about that time of year when we start our compost pile. Chris and I added a tumbling composter back when we first moved in to our house. He absolutely loves composting especially in the warmer months. I had him sit down to share a few of his tips and tricks to get the most out of your compost pile.

You want a healthy mix of Greens (Nitrogen Rich) and Browns (Carbon Rich) materials to help your compost thrive. Here’s a good list of a mix of the two types of materials you’ll want to add to your compost bin.

A Few Things to Avoid:

Vegetables that have a lot of seeds like tomatoes or peppers may tend to germinate. We had a few night shade tomatoes growing around our potted plants one year. All I did was replant them into their own container.

Glossy Newspaper

Avocado Seeds (These won’t decompose and will most likely germinate in the bin)

Dog and Cat waste: You can definitely use their feces in your compost, however if you plan to use the compost soil in a garden where you are growing vegetation to be consumed I would not use it. Their waste contains parasites. The compost bin will get up to temperature and kill off the parasites when done properly, but personally I would just use this compost for plants and flowers not vegetation.

Compost Collection

I keep a smaller scrap bin under our kitchen sink so when I’m cooking I can throw in the food scraps for the larger barrel in the backyard.

You can also buy these compostable bags to line your small bin making it easier to empty straight into the large compost container.

The Creepy Crawly Guys

Grubs are your friends, but just like with friends they can overstay their welcome. You just don’t want too many. If you see an over abundance of grubs put in some sawdust or dry leaves, things with high carbon to kill off the grubs. During the Summer months rotate it every day or two because the dead stuff will help the new stuff decompose due to the heat that is built up.

Also to note the flies that provide the grubs are not your typical house flies they are soldier flies. Black soldier flies resemble wasps but they are harmless and do not generally try to enter your residence like a house or horse fly would. They generally do not try to come in contact with humans and won’t swarm around you like house flies do.

If you have any fisherman in your family you’ll have plenty of bait with all of the grubs on hand.

Prep for the Season

To start the next Spring’s composting cycle use the dried leaves from the Fall as the carbon-base to begin next year’s compost. Also if you have any seasonal plants that are annuals go ahead and add those as a base as well. Mums are great for this. Same goes for pansies when they are finished for the Winter add them to your bin.