{"id":6278,"date":"2015-11-24T14:11:07","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T14:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chesmar.com\/?p=6278"},"modified":"2015-11-24T14:11:07","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T14:11:07","slug":"why-you-should-compost-and-how-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/24\/why-you-should-compost-and-how-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Compost, and How To Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have a garden, or need good soil for any reason whatsoever,\u00a0composting<\/a>\u00a0is just about the most sensible thing you could possibly do. Here\u2019s what a compost pile is: A whole bunch of organic material \u2014 grass clippings, food scraps, dead plants, pet waste, etc. \u2014 piled up together for long enough they turn into dirt. Rich, nutrient-dense, cost-free dirt that cost you nothing and makes your plants very, very happy.<\/p>\n

Why to Compost<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re into green living, composting is a great way to be resourceful, and not waste any material. You\u2019ll reduce your need for commerically produced fertilizers and top soil, and you\u2019ll be insuring that less of the food you buy goes to waste. Think about the following cycle: You grow a tomato in your garden, you eat that tomato, and you throw the trimmed off parts into your compost pile, where it eventually turns to dirt that you then place back into your tomato garden, which helps grow a new tomato, which you eat, and toss the trim into the compost pile, where \u2026<\/p>\n

See? It\u2019s an incredible and totally\u00a0natural life cycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But even if you\u2019re not into hugging trees, composting is a good idea because it is simply the best soil you can get, and it won\u2019t cost you anything. The way compost works is that when all that organic waste is collected in a confined area, microorganisms start doing their thing. Worms and bugs, too. They eat and eat and eat, and after a few weeks or months, what\u2019s left is a bunch of dirt that is chock full of nutrients. And you just go back there with a shovel and shovel away.<\/p>\n

How to Compost<\/h2>\n

At a basic level, all you\u2019re doing is making a pile of biodegradable garbage and waiting for it to become dirt. It\u2019s simple enough, but there are some ways to speed along the process. First, create some kind of a container. Some people build them out of wood pallets, but a roll of chicken wire will also work. You just need something that breathes, and something that will sort of loosely hold together a pile of dirt.<\/p>\n

Also, it\u2019s a good idea to layer your garbage. Alternate between what we\u2019ll call \u201cwet\u201d waste (banana peels, egg shells, pet waste) and dry waste (leaves, grass clippings,\u00a0ashes<\/a>). This will speed up the process and have you naturally fertilizing your garden in no time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have a garden, or need good soil for any reason whatsoever,\u00a0composting\u00a0is just about the most sensible thing you could possibly do. Here\u2019s what a compost pile is: A whole bunch of organic material \u2014 grass clippings, food scraps, dead plants, pet waste, etc. \u2014 piled up together for long enough they turn into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesmar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}