So. Last week, I was all about controlling the devastating smell of our new, and what we were hoping to be, productive compost-making machine. After the initial disaster, I was convinced our house would always reek of composting food, and we almost pulled the plug on our NatureMill. Instead, we started over, gained some patience, and let the machine do the work. We added food, balanced it out with baking soda and sawdust pellets and waited until the upper chamber of the machine was full and we could transfer it to the “curing tray” below.

After about two weeks of adding and mixing, we were ready to transfer! All it took was the push of a button, and the compost dropped down into a tray that resembles a small windowbox planter. We read the instructions again, which recommended waiting a week or so for the compost to cure, or dry out, so it would be ready to mix with soil.

Finally, the moment of truth had arrived. We had our first finished batch of compost and were ready to feed our plants. Since we live in an apartment, our entire garden is potted – orchids, bamboo, various succulents and other plants and flowers. We have two balconies, one which is shaded almost all day, and the other completely exposed to the elements day and night. Talk about extremes! We placed the compost on each plant, kind of mushed it into the soil, watered – and pretty much forgot about it.

About a week later, I went out to water the plants, and it hit me – the plants looked amazing. Their coloring was beyond greener, as vibrant as I’ve ever seen them. The orchid flowers seems to brighten up as well, and were overall so healthy looking. I thought about the food cycle in our kitchen, and how what we’ve been eating can even benefit the plants in our home. The best part is, we don’t have to buy fertilizer sprays anymore, avoiding more waste (even to recycle), and only using compost from foods coming from our kitchen. It was an incredibly satisfying feeling, as an amateur gardener and greenie.

Thanks for coming with me on the ups and downs on this composting journey! I hope I’ve given you a clear idea of how simple and accomodating in-home composting can be – and hopefully inspired some of you to try composting for your garden!

Here are some additional articles about composting without a machine, if you have a larger yard and want to try composting. It’s just as simple and effective!

• Treehugger’s guide to composting**
• EPA’s comprehensive guide** with FAQs and regional composting information
• Keeping brown material** around to help a compost balance (from 5 Minutes for Going Green**)
• Vermicomposting** (composting using worms)!

**You are leaving the FilterForGood Web site. The Brita Products® Company is not responsible for the content or data collection of that independent site.