Don’t just throw away your plant (veggies, fruit, herbs, and flower) scraps in a plastic bag!
Everyone has an opinion on how to compost. After researching, I decided to use the method that is explained in Eliot Coleman’s book titled “Four-Season Harvest”.
The compost ingredients include brown material, green material and soil.
Formula: Here is the formula that I am using in my compost bin:
- 3 inches of brown material
- 3 inches of green material
- 1 inch of soil and then repeat the layers
Also, it is important to keep the composting material moist like a sponge not soggy!
Brown Material: This category includes straw, hay, alfalfa. I used straw in the past, but an employee of Tractor Supply Co. told me about using alfalfa instead. What I like about the dried alfalfa is that it breaks down faster than straw.
Green Material: The ingredients of this category include vegetable, herb, fruit and flower scraps/waste such as the stems, vines, leaves, roots and blooms. Basically any part of the plant that is healthy and you are not eating. The vegetable, fruit and herbs should be raw or dried, NOT marinated with butter, oil, etc. In the kitchen, I use a container with a lid to gather up the green materials. I usually chop, cut or mulch the green material so it composts faster. I started using the chipper shredder to help with all of the garden green material.
After about a year or less, you will have compost which is also know as black gold!
