Benefits of Composting at Home

Composting at home is a great way to keep your garden green and make your lifestyle more eco-friendly and sustainable.

By composting your vegetable scraps and green waste you can minimise the amount of waste you send to landfill, reduce your carbon footprint and improve your property’s soil quality, so your garden will thank you for it.

Composting is also fun to do with the whole family and you’ll be surprised by how much your household’s weekly waste is reduced when you’re putting natural goodness back into the earth.

So you’re not only helping your garden, but being kind to the environment and getting active while you do it!

City Livestock has a wide range of garden supplies to help you start composting at home or even in your workplace.

We’ve put together some quick tips to help you build and maintain your compost.

Got Your Garden Supplies At The Ready? Time to Set up your compost

Choose a shady spot in your backyard with good drainage to build your composting area. You’ll want it away from your central backyard activities, but close enough to the house that you’re encouraged to use it daily. You’ll want to start your compost by layering coarse material, soil and sticks approximately 20cm deep. Continue layering garden clippings, kitchen scraps (no meat or dairy), dry leaves and even damp paper. After each layer, add just enough water to dampen the contents. Repeat the process, sprinkling with soil as you go to reduce any odour and create a richer compost. City Livestock has all the garden supplies you’ll need to get started.

What can I put into my compost?

Vegetables, fruit, food scraps (no meat or dairy) tea leaves, coffee, egg shells, newspapers, grass cuttings, dead flowers, fallen leaves, used vegetable oil, and twigs. Remember to top up the heap with a little water and soil as you go to give your compost a helping hand. Occasionally you might even notice plants sprouting from the nutrient-rich compost. It’s best to transplant these into the garden so they don’t take up all the nutrients from your compost heap. If you notice earthworms in your compost – that’s a great sign you’ve got a rich healthy composting pile! Leave them in there to do their work adding to the natural nutrients of the soil.

Benefits of composting

We know the Perth environment and we know how hard it can be to successfully grow plants and keep your garden healthy. Perth’s warmer weather and often dry climate can dry out the soil and make it void of the vital nutrients your plants need to grow. By adding a rich home-made compost to your soil, you’ll boost the soil’s nutrient and moisture levels. That means you’ll not only have healthier plants, but you can also create a more water-efficient garden. This is especially important as you begin preparing your garden for the long, hot, dry months of summer.

Our team members at City Livestock are passionate about helping you create a garden you love. Visit us for garden supplies, advice on starting your own compost, and local knowledge from our friendly team, so get in touch today.