Make Your Own Organic-Rich Humus, and Never Buy Bagged Soil Again

Make Your Own Organic-Rich Humus, and Never Buy Soil Again

Just a quick introduction! I’m Steve and I run a small plant shop in Lexington, KY. Keep that in mind during your read so you understand the differences in climates potentially to where you live compared to me in Zone 6/7 Kentucky. With some time, and minimal effort, you can generate 10, 20, or however many gallons of hummus you need each year to be used in your gardens or shared with friends and family.

Let’s go over some safety rules real quick so that no one here becomes a statistic to the gardening gods. Of course I always have to suggest wearing gloves and safety goggles when working with things, this is a great opportunity to get your hands dirty if you so choose! Duringr the entire process, your working bins should be stored a minimum of 6 feet from your home and flammable structures. While incidence is low with this type and scale of composting, composting in itself can generate heat which in some specific circumstances may result in fire. Don’t let this scare you off, as this is something that happens in large scale and massive compost piles typically where feet of soil act as insulation that can reach flash points. In this method we’re sticking wit’s small containers which renders this scenario nearly impossible. But I say this so that if you decide to move on from small composting to larger piles in the future, that you consider the safety!

Okay, so the first thing you’ll need is a large tote. For the sake of our future on this planet, let’s try to upcycle when possible! You can often find people giving totes away because they’re old or worn out or don’t lock closed; this doesn’t matter much to us. If that fails, grab a Clear Tote here. Just have it shipped right to your door with any other necessities you may need. Here’s your list:

• Large Tote with Lid (Clear works best) $0-$14
• Peat Moss or Coconut Coir (Can re-use old soil if you’d like or grab some:  Coco Coir Blocks ) $0-$15
• Vegetable and Fruit Scraps $0
• Coffee Grounds $0
• Earthworms & Isopods $0-$12 (I’m giving you all a special offer here if you need help getting your setup going because I want you to succeed.)

Let’s discuss how to acquire some of these items. The first two are relatively easy, recycle when you can. Keep in mind that old soil may have in organics like perlite, vermiculite, stones, etc… this will carry into your final product. But you could always sift these things out before or after.

As for the scraps, you’ll have several weeks after setting up your system to when they’re needed, so you’ll have plenty of time to make some. Apple skins, banana peels, orange peels, that piece of broccoli sitting in your fridge for a month looking super sad. Anything such as that. Just avoid onion and garlic skins (for worm health), meat scraps (some blood is okay), and fats. As you are adding them be sure to mix them in every week or two.

Coffee grounds may be tricky initially to find, but are a core part of this setup. So it’s worth your initial time. Reach out to coffee shops and Starbucks and ask them to hold them for you. They will almost always help you out by saving you that days grounds. You want about 1/3rd of your initial mix as coffee grounds. I have made a simple calculator for you to use to get the rough measurements you’ll need. Just punch in your container size and the rest will be done for you.

 

Compost Mix Calculator

Compost Mix Calculator

Enter the size of your tote in quarts:

Calculate

(The calculator may or may not work at the moment - I am working on correcting this)

Once we have or are working on getting the other parts, we start with our tote. I prefer clear because I can visualize the process easier. It allows sunlight in as well which I find helps to stimulate a strong micro biome. You do not have to though. Sterility is not an issue here, as during the process a lot of stages are going to happen. Begin by filling roughly 1/4 of your container with peat moss of coconut coir. If you’ve elected for coir bricks, you’ll need to soak them for a few hours in warm water to help them expand. Easy enough! If you’re still working on the grounds, you can add them anytime. But try to get all of this done within a month. The quicker you get it going the quicker things will kick off.

The next step is the grounds and scraps equally 1/4 of the tote, or 1/3rd of your final mix. I say 1/4 of the tote because I want you to finish with only 3/4 of the tote full so you have some air space. I have considered for this in the calculator above as well for you. Over the course of a days or a few weeks if you need to, you’re going to be adding grounds and food scraps until we get to our 3/4 mark. If you need a rough guide, it may help to use a sharpie and make a mark roughly where you feel that final spot should be. These are the main ingredients here. If you’d like to, you can also add things like leaf litter, old coconut husk and chips. I really suggest avoiding eggshells as they won’t breakdown as much as you may like in this process. You’ll need calcium in your soil but you’ll likely have plenty initially from your scraps. You can always adjust this at the end.

Once you’ve finished, within a few weeks you’ll notice things slumping some as your scraps give up their air space and water. At this time we will add additional pest or coir to help fill the gaps. This is the first and final time you will mix things for a while. Mix the coir or peat into your current tub about 2/3 of your mix. We don’t want to mix into the first bottom peat or coir layer. This is important to keep your organics from rotting at the bottom which will just take too long to convert back to usable organics.

Now that things are starting to breakdown, we will add a handful of earthworms (10-20 is a good start depending on size,) and if you can add about 20 isopods. Again this is where I can help you out if need be with the special I shared above.

Once that’s been mixed in and critters added, we close the lid and forget about it 1-2 months. Over this period should you be curious and succumb to peeking, youll likely notice a ton of mold, you may see worms crawling around, springtails if you added leaf litter (which I suggest but isn’t required), spiders, flies, anything is possible during this phase and for a while. Most things will be contained in or out of the bin but we don’t want a complete seal as we want some moisture to move in and out and oxygen, but we do want to prevent the free movement of flies and such. This is another reason we do this outdoors. Do not do this in your house.

So what’s going on here? We’ll as the available organics begin to break down, adventitious molds and fungi will begin consuming the organics, converting them into different and more complex molecules that will later become food for the worms and isopods and other critters. You’ll have several phases of feeding that are relatively contained and cyclic. You may several flushes of activity; this is all normal.

From here on out you’re going to be using a small trowel or stick to mix everything up twice a month during spring, summer, and fall. Check to see if you see a healthy distribution of critters. If not, you may need to add more occasionally, but this should be minimal. After Fall, you’ll need to add more peat or coir. And then you’ll leave it alone all Winter and come back to it in Spring. In climates where freezing doesn’t or rarely occurs (Zone 10 and above), you will continue the monthly mixing but you can now reduce to once a month.

Roughly 12 months from the beginning of your project, you’ll have a ton of super broken down, nutrient dense, organic rich material. It will be heavy is castings, and oftentimes will be a large mass of dark blackish goop. You’ll need to mix in the peat or coir well before using this, as it will be very strong! I like tonic it 50:50 or 75:25 peat to our super mix. You can of course add other ingredients to help maintain soil drainage and aeration such as coconut husk, perlite, rice hulls, etc… After mixing, it may look close to this:

This process will help save you a ton of money each year, allowing you to skip the expensive bagged soils, and just make your own by mixing your concentrated soil with peat moss and coir.

With the high organics and abundant nutrients, your plants will thrive all season long, leaving you with a healthy garden and the best tasting veggies!

If you need any help with this project, you can always reach out to us on Facebook with photos or questions and we’ll be happy to help.

And a note of full transparency, some links in this article that lead to Amazon earn us a small commission if you make a purchase. I have been diligent to find the cheapest and most effective options for you! If any of the links change just let me know and I’ll fix them for you. Some links also lead to my own product pages. Do your own shopping if you’d like, I truly just want you to have healthy plants!