Proper composting - With Bokashi & in the garden

You want to learn how to Proper composting and create your own compost? Then you've come to the right place! By composting, you can easily turn organic kitchen waste into a natural fertilizer for your plants in the garden or at home. By composting correctly, you avoid plastic waste and the transportation of organic waste and make your own natural plant fertilizer. In this article, you will learn how to make compost in the kitchen as well as in the garden and what exactly a bokashi bucket is. Let's go!

• Advantages
• Tips
• Composting in the kitchen
• Bokashi bucket
• Worm composter
• Composting in the garden
• Summary

Advantages of proper composting

Before I explain how you can make your own compost, I would first like to show you the many ways in which you can make compost. Advantages of composting closer:

• Your household waste is significantly reduced
• You avoid the environmentally harmful transportation of your organic waste
• Your organic waste does not have to be recycled in waste plants using a lot of energy
• You can compost indoors (kitchen) and outdoors (balcony, garden)
• Valuable plant soil for garden and house plants (and plant fertilizer) is obtained
• Proper composting does not smell
• Composting is not time-consuming

At Zero Waste Lifestyle composting the organic waste produced is an important factor. But it also simply makes sense to make your own fertilizer or plant soil. As you can see, composting has many advantages and creates good reasons for creating your own compost heap.

Important tips for proper composting

Whether you want to make compost in the kitchen or in the garden. If you want to compost properly and achieve rapid composting, you should follow these basic tips:

• Mix the compost well to speed up the composting process
• Organic waste should therefore also be reduced as much as possible
• Avoid fruit flies by loosening the compost from time to time
• For quick composting, you should ensure sufficient air in the compost (airy container, as well as twigs and branches)
• Bones, coal ash, chemical residues and meat scraps should not be disposed of in the compost
• The compost should not be too moist (mold growth) and not too dry (poor composting)

You can speed up the decomposition of your organic waste with these composting tips.

Correct composting in the kitchen

It doesn't always have to be the compost heap in the garden. If you live in the city, you usually don't have your own garden. But fortunately, there are also alternatives for composting directly in the home. Without the smell and without destroying the aesthetics of the kitchen.

Bokashi bucket for organic waste

In Germany, we throw away an average of one third (18 million tons - see article Tips against food waste) of the food we buy. However, there is a cool alternative from Japan for the smelly garbage cans and garbage cans full of fruit flies: the bokashi bucket. Although they are usually made of plastic, they can be used for ages. Incidentally, bokashi is the mineral-rich fertilizer substrate that you end up with. In the bokashi bucket, you can collect all the organic waste from your household and have it processed into high-quality plant fertilizer. Better than paying the high fees for waste disposal, right?
The Bokashi bucket is unfortunately made of plastic, but lasts half an eternity. Two Bokashi buckets are recommended, as the full bucket needs a certain amount of time to decompose. You can then fill the other Bokashi bucket daily with your organic waste while the other one is being processed.
Here you can get the complete starter set for your Bokashi

Bokashi bucket and compost bucket - difference?

In contrast to the conventional compost bin in the kitchen, the organic waste in the bokashi bin is largely odorless. This is due to so-called microbes that you sprinkle over the organic waste and which then slowly decompose it. As you can see in the photo, there is a "tap" at the bottom of the bokashi bucket for excess liquid from the waste. But the liquid is not that superfluous. You can use it directly as fertilizer for your houseplants. After about 2-3 weeks, the organic waste is processed or fermented.

Correct composting with worms

To find out more about this, I met with the founders of Wurmkiste.at, who are described in the article Worm bin - worm composter for organic waste leave no question unanswered. Food waste such as eggshells and shells are very difficult to biodegrade. A young start-up from Switzerland came up with the idea of decomposing organic household waste with the help of earthworms. Without the smell and in a specially designed worm composter. In total, the system in the so-called WormUp composter consists of three layers, from which plant fertilizer can be easily obtained on a regular basis. The worm composter is a great alternative for protecting the environment with your organic waste and producing valuable plant fertilizer. The worms are able to completely transform a layer into fertilizer in around 2-3 months. The life expectancy of such an earthworm is around 2 years. The earthworms reproduce naturally in the composter. However, nature has arranged it so that there is never an overpopulation of worms. In the following video, the StartUp WormUp gives you a picture of the worm composter.

Proper composting in the garden in 4 steps

The compost heap is great for adding extra nutrients to the soil in your garden. If you want to create a compost pile in your garden, there are a few things to consider. For example, your compost bin should be easy to open on at least one side. As you can see from the cover picture of this article, compost bins that are nailed together from wood are suitable. You can also build your own container from old Euro pallets. An open container allows enough air to reach the compost heap. In addition, you should always ensure there is enough oxygen in the compost heap by adding branches and twigs. It is also best to place the compost heap in a shady area so that sufficient moisture remains in the compost and the heap does not start to really stink. If the compost heap is too dry, you should water it lightly on a regular basis. In the following I would like to show you in 4 steps how you should create the compost:

1. the base of the compost heap

If you want to compost properly, you should create the compost in the optimum layers. A balanced ratio between dry and moist compost is crucial. Ideally, the base of the compost heap should be in the following layers from bottom to top:

• Layer 1 (approx. 30 cm): Lawn clippings, leaves, small twigs and hedge cuttings form the basis of the compost heap. In this layer, it is advisable to add mature compost, if available. To start composting more quickly, you can alternatively add a Such compost starter add to it. A compost starter is particularly recommended if you want to create your compost in a closed container.
• Layer 2 (approx. 10 cm): Healthy garden soil to bring microorganisms into the compost. The soil closes off the base of your compost heap. Make sure that the microorganisms have sufficient oxygen available by integrating chopped branches into this layer.

The ideal basis for correct composting is now in place. Now you can put organic waste from your household and garden into the compost.

2. create compost and close off the top

You can now also throw other organic waste onto your compost heap. Make sure that the heap does not become too dry and that there is always enough oxygen available in the heap. If you want to create your compost properly, you should close the top of the heap again with grass cuttings at a height of around 1 - 1.20 m. To avoid attracting vermin, you can also cover the heap with a tarpaulin. Now the organisms in your compost heap will get to work properly.

3. put the compost heap around

Has your compost been working for a few weeks now? Then it should have become much smaller and it's time to turn the compost and mix the layers. By mixing the inner and outer layers of the compost heap, you can speed up the decomposition process even more.

4. use of the resulting compost

The patience has paid off. After about 9 months, the microorganisms should have finished their work and you can use the resulting compost. To cleanly remove coarse material such as branches and the like, you should simply tip the soil through a large grid/sieve. You can now use the compost for your plants. You can use the coarse leftovers for the base of the new compost heap or for mulching (covering the soil with unrotted material).
If you want to create your compost in the garden, you can also get inspiration from Stefan in the following video:

Proper composting - Simple, right?

You can create your compost both indoors and outdoors. In the kitchen, on the balcony or in the garden, you can ensure that you dispose of your household waste in accordance with the Zero Waste Lifestyle and at the same time obtain great plant soil and natural plant fertilizer. It's simple and environmentally friendly.

I hope that the instructions and tips on correct composting will help you and look forward to your questions, suggestions and personal experiences with composting in the comments below this article.

Best regards,

PS: You have reduced your organic waste very well. Is your garden or balcony already bee-friendly? In the article Bee pasture garden you'll learn how to make your garden bee-friendly.