Garden Compost Bins: Recycling Organic Waste for Nutrient-Rich Soil
People are starting to understand the value of having small gardens for food and herbs, but most urban and suburban soil has had the topsoil scraped away. That means the soil needs nutrients it doesn't have, which can be helped with compost from household food and yard scraps, which is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than store bought options. The best way to get the compost is via compost bins, either bought or made by the homeowner. Understanding the way to handle compost bins can save a person a lot of time, especially by knowing the best practices.
Garden Compost Bin Types
There are several ways to get compost, with some methods being exceedingly simple and some requiring a little more knowledge. Starting with the simplest, a person can just throw everything into a heap in the backyard and let it compost that way. It is simple and what's best for those who have a lot of material to compost along with the space to use it for the growing of whatever a person desires. There are other simplified compost bins that just contain composting heaps for those who do not have the space for an open version.
There are models of bins that people can buy that are more complicated, such as the tumbling bins that normally have two chambers to separate compost and what is decomposing. This allows people to deal only with what they want without manually separating everything. There are both hand-cranked and motorized, which allows people options via the price. There are also tumbler versions for people, either to sort or just help in the composting process, that do not have multiple chambers. Turning the composting chambers helps in the process and helps aerate the material in a way that speeds up composting.
A last style to consider is the types that are made for kitchens, or at least indoors. They need to make sure not to let smells out and keep pests from using them for breeding grounds. They're normally the more expensive versions on the market but are usually more convenient for those with people's smaller gardening needs. This allows people the chance who do not have a lot of space to have a way to grow herbs and smaller vegetable plants a chance to both help the environment and get non-chemical ways to enrich pots or small plots.
Key Features
The first factor that people need to consider is what they need the compost for, as size matters when looking at composters. Someone who is using a quarter of an acre or larger will most likely need to use a heap bin, which will produce the most. While some insects and animals can help the process, this can lead to breeding grounds, so making sure that the bin has the right options in place is another factor to consider for people. A last factor for many is the ease of maintenance, as this will make sure people are going to be able to fix any issues.
Bin Benefits
People may not think about where their household waste is going, but the amount of land that is used by landfills can be prohibitive to other uses. Food and other compostable materials can be used for far more than lay in these places, which allows people a chance to do more for themselves and others. It also gets people thinking about what they can use this compost for, which gets them more active, using plants that enjoy carbon dioxide more than grass in the lawn and can help the environment immensely.
Many people will give you advice about gardening, but most never realize that soil is different, even a few miles from one another. That is why composting can be important, as many constructed areas have the topsoil removed by contractors, as this is valuable. People wanting to enrich their soil have the advantage when they start using what they have made. It takes time to get the first load, but this may become an advantage if the soil is not prepared. There are places to test soil, as well, to help learn what is necessary for the soil to grow plants easier.
Healthy plants have too many benefits to a person to break them all down here, but good composting helps all of this by providing nutrients that can cost quite a bit at stores. Having flowering plants brightens the days of people, which has a positive psychological effect. Vegetables and herbs grown at home lower food costs for people, which helps with the effects of rising inflation. They clean the air, especially for people living in congested cities that have more tarmac than green areas. These are a few ways keeping healthy plants can make life better.
There are many groups that are working to have community gardens in cities, which means people will need fertilizer in some form. A person with a decent amount of land can help them with a heap-style compost bin if the garden wants to use all available space. This allows people a chance to be far more proactive within their community and everywhere needs community leaders and volunteers who step up to show there are positives still happening. This may not seem to be a large benefit of starting composting, but it helps others, which creates a more positive community that will find other ways to be peaceful for all.
There are many reasons to get a compost bin, but education helps make them even more valuable. Gardening does not need to be limited to outdoors, but good fertilizer makes it far easier. While many people are not able to grow enough to live off of what they grow but any amount helps. Flowers make people have better days, which allows their issues to be lessened in their minds so they can function better. While bins are a small thing in the grand scheme of things, they open entire worlds to those wanting a productive hobby that could lead them on many good paths.