Tips for Creating a Composter

Are you ready to travel the emerald pathway toward cleaner lawn care maintenance services, and a healthy environment? If so, then composting may be in the works for you. Composting is an easy way to reduce the impact you have on the environment, while also benefiting your lawn care practices and the overall health of your lawn. Nutri-Lawn Ottawa highly recommends composting as a supplement to a high quality lawn care maintenance services regime. Composting can't be taken on without a little bit of prior knowledge, though. Read on for tips about how you can work composting into your lawn care program.

What to compost for lawn care

Most organic materials can be used in your lawn care maintenance services, but there are a few that don't make the cut. Dairy products, whole eggs, oils and grease, oily foods, bones, pet waste, weeds or seeds of weeds, and plants infested with a disease or fungi are scraps that can't be scraped into your compost. Anything that has been exposed to pesticides or other harmful chemicals also should not be added to your compost. Edible non-plant matter, such as fish and meats, are not compost friendly.

Out of your kitchen, all fruit and vegetable leftovers can get chucked into your compost bin. Grinds, bags, filters, and tea leaves from your morning coffee and tea are also welcome in the composters, as well as the shells off of nuts or eggs.

For plant matter, all houseplants, plant trimmings, and grass clippings. Human hair, animal fur, hay, straw, woodchips, sawdust, newspaper, paper, paper towels, and paper tubes may also take their turn to contribute to your lawn care in compost.

Help decomposition

Larger pieces of matter will take longer to decompose, increasing the amount of time it takes until you can use your compost in your lawn care maintenance program. Help the decaying process by chopping and tearing the compostable materials into small pieces. If you're using paper, shred it up finely, as it will take a little longer to decay than organic matter.

If you have a mulching lawn mower, use it to break down the materials before adding them to your composter.

Layer your materials

Compost can't be thrown into the bin willy-nilly and be expected to produce a high quality fertilizer to supplement your lawn care services. To get the most out of your compost, Nutri-Lawn Ottawa recommends layering. When you add a layer of fresh, green organic matter, top it off with a layer of brown organic matter, paper, and fur. This will prevent flies from swarming annoyingly. Layering also reduces the smell that naturally radiates from decaying organic substances.

Layering also ensures your compost has all the nutrients it needs to be a really useful fertilizer for your lawn. Green materials – the fresher organics – are chock full of nitrogen, while the brown, dry materials contain large amounts of carbon. Keep these balanced in weight if you can, rather than in amount. This means that 50% of the weight of your composter should be in brown materials, which are lighter than green materials. This balance is important to keep a healthy, useful, nutrient-rich and relatively odourless compost for your lawn care.

Don't wait to get started on your eco-friendly lawn care program. Get your complimentary quote from Nutri-Lawn Ottawa today!