Installation & Assembly
A Composting Introduction
Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and
other organic materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly
substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or
enriching garden soil. It is the way to recycle your yard
and kitchen waste, and is an important step in reducing
the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for
disposal.
In the natural world, composting is what happens as
leaves pile up on the forest floor and begin to decay.
Eventually, the decomposed leaves are returned to the
soil, where living roots can finish the recycling process by
reclaiming the nutrients from the decomposed leaves.
Today, with landfill space becoming scarce and
expensive and people becoming more aware of the
impact that landfill sites have on the environment, the use
of composting to turn organic waste into valuable
resource is expanding rapidly.
You can contribute to the 'composting revolution' by
composting your own garden and kitchen wastes at home.
Composting Fundamentals
Good composting is a matter of providing the proper
environmental conditions for microbial life. Compost is
made by billions of microbes (fungi, bacteria, etc.) that
digest the garden and kitchen wastes (food) you provide
for them. Keep in mind the following basic ideas while
building your compost pile:
Air
Composting microbes are aerobic -- they can't do their
work well unless they are provided with air. Without air,
anaerobic (non-air needing) microbes take over the pile
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