Hello World! Welcome Friends! For people who love gardening, composting is one of the most important activities they actively engage in. After all, it’s one of the most beneficial things you can do for your garden to flourish.
That said, while it’s true that composting offers numerous benefits, it also carries potential downsides that you may want to avoid. In this article, you’ll find the numerous pros and cons of composting in your garden to help you decide if and when to use it.
Pros of Composting
Improves Soil Quality and Structure
Perhaps one of the most well-known advantages of composting is that it helps in improving soil quality. When it’s mixed with other soil components, compost can help improve the nutrients in your soil, which results in healthier growing plants. Thus, composting is a great way to improve the conditions of your vegetation.
In addition to improving the nutrient mix in your soil, composting also helps enhance soil structure. With the use of compost, the soil can retain water more efficiently. This is critical during the hot summers as most garden plants won’t be able to survive without frequent irrigation much longer compared with soil that’s not mixed with compost.
Cost-Effective
Instead of buying expensive fertilizer to help plant growth, you can simply make your own compost for free. The primary ingredient for your compost is organic food waste, so the cost of composting is almost zero.
That said, the only cost you’ll need to worry about is the initial cost of purchasing a compost bin. Other than that, composting requires little to no cost. In the long run, you can save a lot of money as you won’t have to buy fertilizers anymore.
Eco-Friendly
Another huge benefit of composting is its eco-friendliness. For one, composting helps in reducing your food waste. Did you know that food waste comprised the fourth biggest material category of solid waste in the US? It’s estimated at over 63 million tons or over 20% of the total generation of waste in landfills.
In addition to filling up space for years, the waste in most landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 20x more powerful than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. This gas can also stay in the Earth’s atmosphere for up to 15 years, creating serious implications for the environment.
In addition, composting also helps reduce or eliminate your reliance on fertilizers which can pollute the soil and water systems, causing further damage to the environment.
Cons of Composting
Produces Unpleasant Sight and Smell
The main ingredients for compost are food scraps and other organic waste. Thus, you should expect the production of unsightly materials and unpleasant smells.
The compost itself is not a pretty picture at all. So, if there’s a large amount of compost around your garden, the overall visual appearance of your home will suffer. You can try using a single, hidden spot for your composting activities to prevent this.
In addition, depending on the type of organic waste you use, different unpleasant smells can be produced in the composting process. That said, you can always opt to cover the pile under a foot of leaves, newspapers, and straw to reduce the unwanted smell emanating from your property.
Efficiency Depends on the Quality of Organic Waste
There are different types of compost. While all can enhance the quality of your garden soil, its efficiency will depend on the quality and amount of organic waste you use. For instance, food waste contains much higher quality ingredients than most garden waste, so it’s a more efficient fertilizer for your garden.
If you only produce low-quality and a small amount of organic waste, the effort associated with the production of the compost might not be worth the reward.
Attracts Pests and Diseases
Another issue of composting is that it also attracts all sorts of pests and wild animals, which threaten your family’s safety. While compost usually attracts harmless bugs, it may also attract rats, raccoons, and even snakes. Thus, you should be careful when setting up your compost bin to avoid pest infiltration.
In addition to potential pest infestation, the presence of rodents can increase the risk of diseases and other health problems for you and your family. Also, as organic waste is decomposed material with the help of bacteria, it may cause the spread of disease if not responsibly managed.
Takeaway
While composting does have numerous benefits, it also comes with significant issues. If you’re thinking about whether or not you should do composting, this article should help you decide. Take a moment to consider the above points before starting your compost pile.
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