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Composting Made Easy
A Step-by-Step Guide to Backyard Composting
 What is Compost?
Compost is one of the most valuable resources for beautifying your landscape, preventing waste and saving money. Typical yard waste such as leaves, grass clippings, and shrub trimmings are some of the ingredients used to make compost. Finished compost is produced when bacteria and fungi break down organic matter in the pile or bin.
Why Should I Compost?
- First, Composting helps prevent waste and saves both you and the city valuable tax dollars. Few residents realize that 20 percent of the refuse picked up on collection days is yard waste. Composting also prevents yard waste from being raked or blown into the street, where it can clog storm drains and street gutters.
- Second, Composting yard waste can help you avoid the trouble and expense of purchasing mulch.
- Third, mixing Compost in your soil assists the soil in holding nutrients and moisture where plants can use them, reducing the need for fertilizers and excess watering.
- Fourth, using Compost decreases soil erosion and water run-off. Plant roots penetrate compost-rich soil easier and hold the soil in place.
- Fifth, Compost can be used as mulch around plants helping the soil retain moisture and restricting weed development.
What Should I Compost?
Do Compost:
- Grass clippings
- Coffee grounds & tea bags
- Raw vegetable/fruit scraps **
- Flowers, houseplants
- Weeds (without seed)
- Leaves
- Shredded newsprint
- Dryer Lint
- Shrub trimmings & twigs
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Don't Compost: - Food scraps of any sort if rats are a problem in your neighborhood**
- Diseased plants
- Insect riddent plants
- Weeds with seeds
- Dog and cat feces
- Meat, dairy, or fatty foods
- Poison Ivy, etc.
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How Do I Create Compost?
The bugs, fungi, bacteria, and worms in your yard make composting easy. Just throw grass clippings, leaves, wilted flowers and other yard waste into a compost pile or bin, and nature’s compost critters will eat away until there is finished compost.
Here's what you'll need to get started:
The Composting Bin or Pile
A compost pile can be as plain or fancy as you want - you don't even need a bin to make compost. If you do plan on composting regularly, you may want to consider purchasing your own compost bin at a local hardware store. A compost bin should be well-built, economical, easy to assemble, and allow easy access for turning the compost. It should also be large enough to store all of your yard waste.
The ideal size for a compost pile/bin ranges from a cubic yard–3 feet long x 3 feet wide x 3 feet high to 5’ x 5’ x 5’. Larger piles will not allow sufficient oxygen to reach the center of the pile, while smaller piles will not be able to retain enough heat to properly decompose. However, all piles eventually decompose.
Making the Compost
To begin composting, follow this simple recipe to build your pile:
- +50% Brown materials (carbon sources - leaves, hay, straw, dead plants, dryer lint)
- +50% Green materials (nitrogen sources - grass clippings; coffee grounds, tea bags, and appropriate raw food scraps if there are NO RATS in the neighborhood)
- =100% of a compost pile
- When building the pile, add alternating layers of “green” and “brown” materials. As additional material is added, STIR. It is important to keep the ‘greens’ and ‘browns’ mixed.
- As you build the pile, dampen the layers with water. Keep the pile as damp as a wrung-out sponge. During droughts, it may be necessary to water the pile from time to time.
- Turn the pile. This could be once a week or once a month, depending on how active you would like your compost pile to be. This brings oxygen into the pile and aids the work of the bacteria and fungi.
* For best results, chop or shred materials before adding to the pile. Increasing the surface area of the materials allows for quicker decomposition.
* Some people may want to add bioactivators or soil to help ‘inoculate’ their compost pile. This is unnecessary; bacteria, fungi, etc. will quickly populate your pile naturally. However, if soil is added, it should be loose, with no clumps.
Composting may be complete in a few months if optimum conditions are maintained. However, it can take up to 2 years if you do ‘cold’ composting.
Trouble Shooting
Composting can be one part science and one part art form. Learning how to achieve the right balance of materials in your compost pile often takes practice. Below is a list of common problems that can arise with compost piles.
Problem |
Possible Causes |
Solution |
| Rotten Odor |
- excess moisture
(anaerobic conditions)
- compaction
(anaerobic conditions) |
- turn pile or add dry porous “brown” material such as straw, leaves, or sawdust (untreated)
- turn pile or make pile smaller |
| Ammonia Odor |
- too much nitrogen or “green material”
(lack of carbon) |
- add high carbon or “brown” material such as straw, wood chips, sawdust, or leaves |
| Low Pile Temperature |
- pile too small
- insufficient moisture
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poor aeration
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not enough nitrogen or “green material” |
- make pile bigger or insulate sides
- add water while turning pile
- turn pile
- add “green material” (nitrogen sources) such as grass clippings
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| Pests such as rats, raccoons, insects |
- presence of meat scraps or fatty food waste |
- NEVER include meat, dairy or fatty foods in a compost pile.
- Composting should not attract pests or cause of any rodent problem, however, it can aggravate existing problems if improper composting is practiced. |
How Can I Use My Compost?
Compost keeps plants and soils healthy, as it contains a wide variety of minerals needed for healthy plant growth. You can also use compost in the following ways:
Mulch: Spread compost around annual plantings, trees, shrubs, and exposed slopes. This will help eliminate weeds, protect soil, and keep roots moist.
Soil enrichment: Mix several inches of compost into garden beds or soil surrounding new plants, trees and shrubs before planting.
Potting mix: Make your own potting mix by using equal parts of compost and sand.
For More Information:
Contact the City of Alexandria Department of Transportation and Environmental Services
• Solid Waste Division: 703.519.3486
• Office of Recycling: 703.751.5872 |
