Can composting save you money? Well, if you’re thinking about purchasing a compost bin, worm bin, or tumbler and you’re debating whether it’s worth it financially, here are a few things to think about.
Composting Can Reduce the Use of Pesticides
Composting can reduce your use of pesticides. It’s an effective organic fertilizer that boosts the health of your plants, increasing their resistance to disease. Composting also creates porous soil, creating gaps where roots can move into the soil and collect nutrients and water.
All of this develops a plant that is robust and resistant to pests and disease. These robust plants are also less likely to falter when it is very cold, wet, or dry out, times when garden plants face additional challenges. Gardeners have been known to dose sickly plants directly with compost tea to give them a boost.
Think about what you spend on pesticides, and think about what you’d spend on compost. It’s free, and it’s like a vitamin pill for your plants, reducing any need to spray the plants with pesticides.
Composting Can Eliminate Your Use of Fertilizer
Compost is an excellent fertilizer. It contains microorganisms that break down organic matter into its usable parts, so that plants can thrive. Compost will also attract worms, and these worms aerate the soil and create more readily available nutrients for your plants. It’s also neutral in pH, creating the ideal environment for plants to thrive.
Over time, compost breaks down in the garden, making nutrients available to your plants. Compost also contains nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the fruit, vegetables, leaves, and other items that you place in the bin. It contains trace elements like copper, iron, manganese and zinc that you might not find in commercially-produced fertilizers and soils.
Unlike some fast-release commercial fertilizers, it does not provide an instant nutrient infusion, followed by nothing. Instead, compost is slow and steady, saving you money on fertilizers in both the short term and the long term.
Composting Saves Room in Your Trash Can
Do you pay for the garbage that you produce? If so, you’ll benefit directly if you reduce the amount of garbage that you create. All of those fruits and vegetables can be heavy, and sending them to the compost bin instead of the garbage can makes a huge difference to those who pay directly for waste disposal.
While we don’t all have a bin fee for our garbage cans, we all pay taxes. The taxes that you pay go in part to garbage collection. Reduce the financial strain for garbage collection, and who knows – perhaps money will go to other programs that will benefit you instead!
While we often think about the start up costs to purchase a compost tumbler or a worm bin, these start up costs occur for a very small amount of time. Yes, a bin may cost a hundred dollars or more, but you can use this bin for a long, long time.
Even if you only spend $40 a year in fertilizers, soil amendments, and pesticides, a $120 bin will pay for itself in three years. Many of us spend a great deal more than that!
Now that you see how composting can save you money in many different ways, why don’t you start doing it today?
Want to learn more? Lars Handley is a Master Composter based in Dallas, Texas. Learn how you can make compost faster and more easily at his web site, Compost Instructions. Dont miss his page about the different types of compost bins. You can ask your question about composting there, and get an answer directly from Lars.
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