Helpful Tips

To the right are lists of items that should and should not go into your composter.  In order to have great compost at the end of all your work, following these lists is imperative.

• Compost piles operate at a very high temperature (about 60 C) to work efficiently.  Place your composter, or pile, in a sunny accessible spot.  If you wish, you can buy a cheap compost thermometer to check the temperature.

• Compost has to be turned no less than once or twice a month with a fork or compost tool (which looks somewhat like a pogo stick) to let the air in and keep it perking.

• Keep the compost pile moist but not waterlogged.  For optimum results, if you take a handful from the centre of the pile and squeeze you should get no more than a few drops of moisture.

• The pile has to be balanced to roughly three parts soft, green waste, to one part woody stuff with a spade full of soil or manure added to give the system a hand.  The carbon to nitrogen ratio should be around 30 in an ideal compost pile.  The key is to load low nitrogen items (woody stuff and paper) when putting in high nitrogen matter, like lawn clippings or kitchen waste.

• Once your compost is complete, sprinkle a bit it your gardens to help add nutrients to the soil.  All you need is a little to get huge results. 

Things you can add to your composter:

• All green kitchen and garden waste

• Wood ash (untreated)

• Kitchen rinse water, beverages

• Cardboard, newspapers

• Coffee grounds, tea bags

• Cornstalks, cobs

• Dryer lint

• Eggshells

• Hair

• Manure (all, including hamster bedding)

• Pine needles and cones

Things you should not add to your composter:

• Coal ash or charcoal

• Lime

• Cat/dog droppings, litter box

• Diseased plants

• Fish scraps

• Meat, fat, grease, oil, bones

• Milk, cheese, yogourt

• Weeds

• Sod

• Bird droppings