How to Compost Your Flowers At Home

30 Dec 16:42 0 comments

How to Compost Your Flowers

(Apartment friendly options!)

Even if you don’t own a big backyard (or a backyard at all), composting is still doable without creating a smelly corner in the kitchen that no one sits around anymore.

Composting was something that used to have a “hippie” stereotype and something that only benefited gardeners and those who grew their own food.

But with the boom of social media and the earnest learning of being as eco-friendly as possible, we’re now all taking a little more responsibility towards being more environmentally kind.

Now you might start asking yourself – “what does composting mean.”

First and foremost, compost is a mixture of “ingredients,” used to fertilize and enrich soil. Easy enough, right? We throw things away all day, everyday. Think kitchen scraps, wilty flowers, autumn leaves...natural things. These are things we can compost!

The act of composting is taking these things and allowing them to decompose; leaving you with nutrient-dense “gruel,” so to speak, which you add to your garden, flower pots, or backyard soil.

For those who live in condos, apartments and places without soil access, this is an eco-friendly option to help reduce household waste.

Take a peek at these 3 different (from least to most involved) options on which type of composting could benefit you best.

You might wonder how you didn’t start this lifestyle sooner!

1. Online Resources/ Countertop Composting

Ok, so composting seems doable but you have no soil access and have skimmed ahead and want NOTHING to do with worms (fair). We’ve got you!

With that aforementioned social media boom, more people were able to share their favorite tools, favorite brands, their overall tips, tricks and experiences...as well as their land! There are some websites that give us opportunities to utilize the yards of people who have the space and want the extra compost. All you have to do is collect your compost and deliver it.

Here are some other websites to check out to find a compost yard near you:

And a few other ways to get rid of your scraps locally:

Donate them to your local schools or community gardens
Join a local zero waste group on FB, where you can get local recommendations!
Live in the country? See if your neighbors or nearby farms could use it!

This version of composting allows you to do a little for Mother Earth without adding another giant project on your plate.

People who fall in this category will benefit most from “countertop composting,” where you’re able to contain your floral and kitchen scraps on the counter (or under the sink) until you’re able to drop them off.

2. So, you’ve got a little bit of space.

And you decided you have a bit more compost than what a “countertop compost” container usually holds.

Perhaps you’re part of our weekly Bucket of Blooms program, which inevitably creates some floral waste, or maybe you have a bigger family with picky eaters. Whatever the case, a composting Tumbler could benefit you!

“Compost tumblers are fully sealed to preserve the heat generated by your compost—thereby increasing the speed of decomposition,” writes Earth Easy.

Holding more compost, tumblers offer a sealed version that are best set up outdoors but can potentially decompose your household waste in as little as 2 weeks!

That’s right.

For comparison, some plastic takes up to 500 years to decompose (like your everyday toothbrush- yikes!)

To be able to breakdown everyday waste and scraps in 2 weeks time is not only setting you up to be more environmentally friendly, but you’ll be setting yourself up for amazing compost to add to your plants and flowers to help them thrive.

Bonus trick: bananas in the house? Don’t throw those peels away! Take the peel and place it in water for a few days to create a potassium rich fertilizer for your plants and flowers. No need to dilute! After you're done, throw it in your compost bin as usual.

3. The Big One

You’ve got a backyard and you’re ready to dig in...but where the heck do you even start? Know that this concept isn’t new; we’ve been composting since the Stone Age.

The good thing about this is any and every question you might have will have an answer, such as:

“Do I need to introduce worms to do this successfully?”

“Do people still use manure?”

“How do I know if my soil is the right pH balance?”

"Do I have to use manure?"

While we won’t go through the entire process in this particular blog, know that free resources are out there to help you on your journey, like these tried and true blogs: