Guide

Using compost

Finished compost looks dark and crumbly, smells earthy like forest floor, and contains almost nothing you can recognize from what went in. If you can still spot last month's banana peel, give it more time.

Once it is ready, you have options. Mix it into garden beds a few inches deep before planting. Blend it into container soil, up to about a third of the mix. Top-dress established plants by spreading an inch around the base and letting water carry it down. Rake a thin layer over a lawn in spring or fall. Screen out the chunky bits for seed starting, since seedlings prefer fine material.

A little goes a long way. Compost is a soil builder, not a fertilizer you pour on heavy. An inch or two worked into a bed does real work: better structure, better water holding, and steady slow-release nutrition.

If you end up with more than you can use, that is a good problem, and it is exactly what Kitchen2Compost exists for: somebody nearby wants it.

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