Why Should I compost?

You should be composting because it is the easiest way for you to close the organic waste cycle and turn a simple waste into an essential resource.

Finished compost is only as good as the materials that you used to create it. This means that you will have a much better end product if you used organically grown fruits and vegetables as opposed to using inputs that were chemically raised and nutritionally deficit to feed the microorganisms that break the organic matter down to plant usable bits. This means that you may have to add some extra nutrients to the compost recipe to make sure that you are getting a well balanced end product.

Composting is something that anyone can do because there are lots of different composting options that can be tailored to your space and gardening needs. Here they are listed from the smallest apartment space to an acreage:

Vermicomposting

This method is also know as worm composting, worm farming, and maintaining a worm ecosystem. The main component to this ecosystem is our little friend the red wriggler worm.

Red wrigglers are found naturally in healthy soils that contain lots of organic matter, and they can eat as much as half their body weight per day in food. It is important to use red wrigglers and not common earth worms because the earth worms will not stay in your bin. Where the red wrigglers will be happy and content as long as they have enough food and moisture, and the bin is in an area with an ambient temperature of about 17 degrees Celsius.

After your food scraps are converted into worm castings you have what many refer to as black gold because it is so rich in humic acid and beneficial bacteria and other little critters that are what help feed your plants.

Potted plants can greatly be helped out with a some black gold by gently mixing it in with the top couple of centimetres of top soil. This stuff is so precious that you don't want to waste it by dumping it onto the top of the soil where it may just dry out, so be sure to have some soil or other organic matter on top of it to protect it.

Black gold can also be used to make compost teas and used to amend any soil. Even if you find you have too much of the black gold, you can gift it to your friends to help their plants and gardens.

The one major draw back of vermicomposting is that it take take a lot of time to harvest your worm castings. Check out the Compost Centre's Vermicomposting Fact Sheet for some simple guidelines and tips to make your worm farming fun.

Backyard Composting

If you are living with more than 2 adults and a couple of children, a backyard composting system is probably going to be what you need.

For urban environments it is important that your system is rodent resistant and properly maintained.

For more information, I again will refer you to a Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre's fact sheet for backyard composting.

References:
http://compost.bc.ca/learn/howto.htm