WELLINGTON COUNTY – If you’re growing veggies or flowers in your garden, you might want to think about growing nutrient-rich soil too.
Composting will do that, saving time and money from buying fertilizer or additives. And there are a number of benefits to Wellington County as well, which in turn benefits us all.
“Backyard composting is the superior method,” said Das Soligo, manager of solid waste services with the county.
“It reuses what you already have on your own property. It reduces the need to purchase fertilizer, and it reduces costs to the county.
“Backyard composting is an excellent activity.”
The county sells two types of composters.
Earth Machine composters are the black, upside-down barrel-looking composters that sell for $50 at any of the county’s six waste facilities. Green cone digesters look like green cones with a basket on the bottom. The basket is buried into the ground and the cone affixed on top. They sell for $100 and must be ordered online.
There are other ways of composting, including home-built compost containers, commercially-available compost barrels on stands, or you can just leaving piles of compost to cook away, depending on budget and size of your property.
Soligo said the county started offering composters for sale when it assumed responsibility for waste services in 2001.
And now, with the green bin program, “We hope no one is throwing food waste in the garbage,” he said.
Food waste that breaks down in a landfill will create methane gas, which is more potent than other greenhouse gases.
Soligo said contents of green bin collection go to a commercial composting facility, which is a better way to treat rotting organics but does cost the county and therefore taxpayers.
Backyard composters can take all kitchen waste except meats and bones, which take a long time to break down and may attract wild animals. Meat and bones can go in the green bin though, making the compost bin and the green bin “complimentary systems,” Soligo said.
How to start
Select a site for your composter, break the ground and remove any sod and then set the composter in place. Piling rocks or logs around the base can prevent rodents and other critters from getting inside by digging under.
For cone digesters, you have to bury the lower portion into the ground. Cone digesters can handle kitchen scraps and pet waste, which is its biggest benefit.
Now get going
Start your compost with a layer of twigs or straw for ventilation. Then add a layer of ‘brown’ carbon-rich material like dried leaves and then a layer of ‘green’ nitrogen-rich material like kitchen waste and grass clippings.
Repeat
Add to the compost daily or weekly, turning regularly and watering when it gets dry. Your compost should be at least 15 degrees C and moist, not soggy.
“If too dry, add more green materials; if too wet, take off the lid,” is the recommendation on the county website.
Compost is ready to use when it looks like soil and not bananas anymore. Soligo said if you start in the spring, you should have compost ready to use before the end of the season.
Spread compost in vegetable or flower beds to improve soil structure, water retention and nutrients for your crops.
If you don’t want to compost food waste in your backyard, use the green bin program and save leaves and twigs for the backyard composter.
That will reduce the threat of rodents causing a problem. Soligo advises against putting weeds in the composter.
“The heat from the composter should kill the seeds but I personally would not put weeds in the composter,” he said.
They are fine to put in yard waste bags, which the county also collects from April to November.
“That’s the best place for weeds,” he said.
The county runs composting workshops throughout the year “and that’s an excellent opportunity to speak with experts,” Soligo added. The ultimate goal is to separate waste and get it to the appropriate place: composting, recycling and, as a last resort, landfill.
Garden centres and gardening groups, like the Guelph-Wellington Master Gardeners, can also offer advice on how to make and use compost.
