Calling All Gardeners: Why You Shouldn't Miss Out on Composting!

There are plenty of reasons to start a home garden but one of our favorites is the opportunity to compost. Home gardens give you a place to put your food scraps, and sometimes a place for others to put their's. Not only will composting add nutrients, moisture and beneficial microbes to your garden, it is also an energy- saving action that can greatly reduce water usage. By using compost to make our garden's nutrient dense we are also reducing waste water and the need for treatment facilities. In turn, putting less in our garbage disposals will overall reduce our water bills. Recycling organic scraps also conserves landfill space. Composting encourages the creation of Humus- a nutrient rich matter made up of beneficial bacteria. Humus keeps soil rich, moist and ph balanced, lessening our need for harmful chemical fertilizers and even protecting our plants from pests. Home gardeners can also give back to the communit by reaching out to local coffee shops for used grounds, and juice bars/restaurants for food scraps.

Currently, our nation is making great strides in encouraging the practice of composting. New York City now requires all large commercial establishments to compost their food scraps. Restaurants and grocery stores are slowly getting involved as they will be included in upcoming years. The only road block the NYC Sanitation Department sees with including all food businesses is the lack of compost facilities to put such massive amounts of food scraps. That being said, having more home gardens to collect compost from local business will alleviate the need for more facilties (which means more space for gardening :). Before you start composting it is extremely important to know what is safe for you and your garden. Always do research if you are ever unsure about something you want to compost.

A Few Things To Compost