Composting for Beginners: The Only Guide You Need for Gardening Gold

Food waste is one of the most rampant problems in the developed world, and mindsets about it need to change. Composting is one of the best and most impactful ways to reduce carbon footprints, which is why it’s getting more publicity and popularity in recent years — even for people who don’t have a garden. Learn everything there is to know about composting for beginners, what tools are needed for conventional composting, and what impact you will have by committing to the habit.

How Does Composting Work in Simple Terms?

Composting is recycling for organic matter. People who compost create the perfect conditions for food waste and other materials, like leaves and animal manure, to transform into fertilizer. A composting environment contains a balance of these elements:

• Moisture
• Oxygen
• Temperature
• Pile structure
• Green and brown compostable materials
• Beneficial bacteria and fungal growth and activity

Adopting this practice as part of your sustainable journey is one of the most important you can do. Over 92 billion pounds of food goes to waste, just in the U.S., annually. Around 38% of grown and produced food never sees a dinner plate. It remains unsold, and on its way to landfill, it used plenty of emissions during transportation and the growth process. Composting negates these emissions by restoring the planet with nutrients.

Food in landfills decomposes over time, so what is the difference between putting it there and putting it in a compost bin? As mentioned, composting can only occur under the right circumstances. Landfills don’t support the composting process. Instead, food in landfills produce greenhouse gases that contribute to the climate crisis instead of mitigate it. 

Now that you know what composting is and why it’s important, these are the tools you’ll need to get started as a beginner composter. For the purposes of this guide, we will focus on backyard and home methods, such as vermicomposting with worms and tumbler composting. Depending on what works best for your needs, you may not need all of these items to succeed.

1. Compost Bin or Tumbler

You have to have a single location to make black gold. The most common devices are bins and tumblers, and the former comes in several forms.

You can store a large bin outside or have a smaller bin to keep indoors as you gather food scraps. There is something for every housing situation, even if you live in an apartment. These will require you to transport scraps to an external location for mixing or to have another tool to stir the compost mixture.

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A tumbler is similar to a bin, but it requires regular rotations to promote the composting process. This eliminates the need for multiple bins or another tool for aerating.

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2. Compost Aerator

If you let the compost stand still without interacting with it, the mixture won’t obtain the oxygen it needs. It has to move around occasionally, which is why tumblers work. However, if you don’t have a tumbler, you can use a compost aerator to incorporate oxygen. It speeds up decomposition.

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3. Browns and Greens Collection Containers

Compost thrives best with the right ratio — try three parts brown material to one part greens. Here are a few suggestions for what constitutes each:

Brown	Green
Wood chips	Grass clippings
Straw	Fruit and veggie scraps
Leaves	Coffee grounds
Newspaper	Flowers

You will need somewhere to store excess brown and green materials until it is time to introduce more into the compost mixture. Containers can be placed near your compost area or in your kitchen for easy access.

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4. Compost Thermometer

Compost gets hot over time because the reaction creates heat. If the compost gets too hot or too cold, then it could signal something is wrong. Get into the habit of checking temps with a compost thermometer. The ideal range is around 90° and 140° F.

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5. Shredding or Mulching Tool 

If you have bulky, unwieldy yard waste like piles of leaves and branches, put them through a shredder to make them more appropriate for your compost pile. If you include too big of pieces in your bin, it could slow down decomposition. Making pieces smaller makes the composition more uniform.

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6. Moisture Meter

You don’t want your compost to dry out, but you don’t want it to be too wet either. To find the Goldilocks zone, use a moisture meter. Both extremes hinder the composting cycle.

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7. Compost Activator or Starter

This is not a necessary product, but if you’re afraid you’re not going to succeed, composter activators or starters contain tons of helpful microbes to kick-start the organic reaction. If you don’t have enough matter to feed the bin, this could supplement any gaps.

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8. Garden Gloves

You should always wear protective gloves when interacting with compost, especially if it involves sharp branches or manure. Stay clean and safe by nabbing durable gloves.

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9. Worms

If you’re composting with worms, also called vermicomposting, then you will obviously need some wiggly friends to help black gold happen. Red wigglers or nightcrawlers are the go-to species for most people. Vermicomposting typically still uses aerators to mix, so be careful when handling worms not to kill too many when using tools. 

10. Screen or Sifter

Compost bins form layers, and sometimes, decomposition happens for some of the mixture but not all of it at the same time. You can use a sifter to separate fertilizer, leaving you with material to put back into the bin for further decomposition. 

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Composting for Beginners the Right Way

Now that you have the composting tools, you can learn the intricacies of the composting world. You may not create perfect fertilizers on the first try, but you’ll have everything you need to set yourself up for success. Numerous influences, like the local climate, can change how the reaction performs, so remain patient and optimistic as you see your food waste have a new life.