Compost: The “Secret Ingredient!”
Put your kitchen scraps to work in your garden—by composting!
Rokko Jans is an avid composter (incidentally, by profession, he is a composer!) He tells us that compost is the result of the composting process, in which kitchen scraps such as eggshells, fruit and vegetable peels and other organic material is allowed to break down into a nutrient-rich product that is beneficial to garden and house plants.
Rokko says that there are numerous benefits of using compost, but his “top three” include the improvement of soil composition, greater accessibility of nutrients and moisture retention.
If you would like to start composting, is easy! Begin by saving your kitchen scraps in a closed container.
Meanwhile, prepare your compost situation outdoors—a bin, enclosed piles, etc. Rokko suggests looking online for indoor and outdoor containers and other ideas for keeping compost.
Smaller bits of the organic material you add will break down more quickly. Do NOT include meat, pet waste, diseased plants or pine needles in your compost.
Rokko also advises treating your compost pile as you would your garden—by watering it and turning it over regularly. It should be ready to add to your plants and garden beds in two to three months.
Rokko maintains that compost is the “secret ingredient” to a successful garden!
