The Importance of Covering Food Scraps

 

bin temp 1
When I went out to the compost pile this past weekend, I noticed that I needed more cover material… how?

It just started getting warmer out, and I noticed that the top of my pile had a lot of bugs flying around… when a pile is covered properly, this won’t happen.

I had been uncovering/depositing without adding new brown material, and since I got lazy this is what happened.

You can see halfway above the compost thermometer that there’s a section of greenish material/hay and then a solid blanket of leaves on top.

I get so happy when I shred a bag of leaves…it gives me several inches of fresh cover, which looks like this:

fresh cover

You’re looking at the solution to most composting issues.

Ample (shredded & dampened) leaf cover on top will:

-Negate any odors
-Kickstart your pile by providing enough carbon for your food scraps
-Insulate the pile (especially in winter, of course)
-Avoid attracting pests, neighbors or pesty neighbors

When making weekly food scrap deposits, dig a hole in the center by pulling back the cover material, dump and cover it up.

Have fun!

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