Baker Creek Enhancement Society, Quesnel Community Gardens and Quesnel Climate Action Group invite you to create a backyard compost! Also, join the Wednesday morning work-bees from 10 – 12 p.m. at the community gardens, behind QJS, to help with weeding and chores, meet other gardeners and share in the harvest. The gardens are soon to get a new gazebo, so if you’d like to help, come on down to the community gardens.
Backyard Composting
Did you know 33 per cent of residential solid waste is kitchen and yard waste!
Composting is a natural form of decay: bacteria, fungi, worms and other small organisms in the soil and air break down organic material resulting in beautiful compost.
Composting is a simple way to add nutrient-rich humus which fuels plant growth and restores vitality to depleted soil. It’s also free, easy to make and good for the environment. Composting is a simple and efficient way to deal with yard and household organic waste, it’s nature’s way of recycling. There are many different ways to compost and one of the simplest is done in your backyard.
To make backyard compost
Choose a bin. There are free wood pallets at the Community Garden you can use to create a great bin. Three to five feet across allows proper air circulation.
Gather equal weights of carbon/brown (ex. shredded dry leaves) and nitrogen/green (ex. Peels, rinds, coffee grounds) materials.
Layer around a holey pipe: brown materials, green materials, sprinkle with water, and a bucket of finished compost or soil to activate. Repeat layers.
All compostable materials are either carbon or nitrogen-based. The secret to a healthy compost pile is simple: maintain a working balance between these two elements.
If you’d like to see a different kind of composting system come to the Nature Centre and take a look at our vermicompost. Worms will eat a quarter to half their weight per day and can be kept indoors or outdoors. We can also give you instructions to make your own vermicompost.
Nothing beats the satisfaction of turning your waste into something that helps both your gardens and the environment.
–submitted by Amy Law education programmer at Baker Creek Enhancement Society.