Let your leftovers and trash boost your gardens productivity

Spring is in the air!!!!! If you are anything like me all you want to do is be outside. I typically cannot keep a plant alive!!! BUT, I have a new found LOVE........Gardening! Who woulda thunk it?! Well being an "all natural/ Organic" mom, I decided to compost to ensure our veggies are truly organic!! So We started our compost project just a few weeks ago Here are a few tips and tricks I have found useful!!!

Keep a Tupperware container on the counter (make sure you have a lid on it to ensure you don't have flies roaming around your kitchen) As you make your meals or do your daily house chores instead of throwing things away put them in your Tupperware, at the end of the day you can add them to your compost bin outdoors. I tend to do this after dinner when I go out to water my plants.

 In Florida it is hard to get your compost to break down instead of rotting, We use a few cups of Lime (Garden Lime) in our bin every few days or as needed. We also add a few cups of Organic soil we have purchased at the local garden store once a week.

Make sure you have a place to put your compost bin ( we used a Rubbermaid storage box and drilled holes all the way around on every side/top/bottom) where isn't easily accessible by rodents!

Also make sure you keep it in the garden, this ensures when you are ready to use your compost in your soil that you wont have to move it!!!

Here is a list Ive found of great things to boost your compost:
1.  Dryer lint
2.  “Dust bunnies”
3.  The insides of a vacuum bag (just empty the bag into the compost bin)
4.  The contents of your dustpan (just use discretion)
5.  Coffee grounds
6.  Coffee filters
7.  Tea bags/loose leaf tea
8.  Soy/rice/almond/etc milk
9.  Nut shells (but not walnut, which may be toxic to plants)
10.  Pumpkin/sunflower/sesame seeds (chop them to ensure they won’t grow)
11.  Avocado pits (chop them up so they won’t sprout)
12.  Pickles
13.  Stale tortilla chips/potato chips
14.  Stale crackers
15.  Crumbs (bread or other baked goods)
16.  Old breakfast cereal
17.  Bran (wheat or oat, etc)
18.  Seaweed/nori/kelp
19.  Tofu/tempeh
20.  Frozen fruits and vegetables
22.  Egg shells
23.  Old, moldy “soy dairy” and other dairy substitutes
24.  Stale Halloween candy and old nutrition/protein bars
25.  Popcorn kernels (post-popping, the ones that didn’t make it)
26.  Old herbs and spices
27.  Oatmeal
28.  Peanut shells
29.  Booze (beer and wine)
30.  Wine corks
31.  Egg cartons (not Styrofoam)
32.  Toothpicks
33.  Q-tips (not the plastic ones)
34.  Bamboo Skewers
35.  Matches
36.  Sawdust
37.  Pencil shavings
38..  Fireplace ash (fully extinguished and cooled)
39. Paper towels 40.  Paper napkins
41.  Paper table cloths
42.  Paper plates (non wax- or plastic-coated)
43.  Crepe paper streamers
44.  Holiday wreaths
45.  Old potpourri
46.  Dried flowers
47.  Fresh flowers
48.  Dead houseplants (or their dropped leaves)
49.  Human hair (from a home haircut or saved from the barber shop)
50.  Toenail clippings
51.  Trimmings from an electric razor
52.  Toilet paper and paper towel rolls (shredded first)
53.  Newspaper 54.  Junk mail
55.  Old business cards (not the glossy ones)
56.  Old masking tape

So happy Composting Enjoy the fruits and veggies of your labors!!! 

 

~Opal 

Post Inspired by

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/80-items-you-can-compost.html?page=3