How to use Compost
We keep food out of landfills and recycle it into compost using traditional, natural methods - and a whole ton of worms! After a few months, your leftovers have been transformed into garden-ready compost, teeming with life and vital plant nutrients. Here are the differences between our compost, vermicompost and potting mix, and how to best use each – indoors and out!
Compost
Our compost creates a healthier soil - and healthier plants! Unlike the compost you may have come across in a hardware or gardening store, our compost is not a plastic-bagged product. It's a living product, filled with beneficial microorganisms, some wigglers, maybe even a roly poly or two. When you add our compost to your outdoor plants and beds, you're doing more than just applying a "product" – you're giving your soil a transplant teeming with life! Add a 2” (a little more or less depending on the condition of your soil) covering to your garden beds and outdoor container gardens annually, in the spring or fall.
Not sure how much you need? Use our handy calculators to help you figure it out.
Standard Garden Plot or Beds:
To calculate how much compost you need for a 2" top dressing for a standard garden plot or beds, determine cubic feet by multiplying length by width in feet by 0.17 (or 2”, your top dressing), multiply by 7.5(gallons in a cubic foot), then divide this number by 5 (gallons in bag of compost), or: (((L x W) x .17 ) x 7.5 ) / 5
Bulk Compost Calculator:
If you need more than 40 bags of compost, bulk compost may be a more cost effective option for you. We deliver anywhere between 1 and 8 yards of bulk compost in Philadelphia and it’s surrounding suburbs. Check here for pricing!
For Circular Spaces:
To calculate how much compost you need for a 2" top dressing on a circular space, determine the area of your circle using standard formula, then follow the above formula to determine how much compost you need, or: ( (πr^2) x .17 ) x 7.5 ) / 5 )
Vermicompost
VVermicompost is compost made by worms, and is also called worm compost. Our busy worms are at work 24/7, breaking down your scraps. Worm compost contains all the nutrients essential for plant growth, including 5x more nitrogen, 7x more phosphorus, and over 10x more potassium than ordinary soil. It's also teaming with beneficial microbes essential for healthy soil.
This is a drier product than our compost, has the consistency of ground coffee, and smells like the earth. It can be used both indoors and outdoors, from your garden and outdoor space to your indoor house plants. Add at least a half cup (or up to a quarter of the volume) to your containers each growing season or whenever they seem to need a boost.
Not sure how much you need? Use our handy calculators to help you figure it out.
Vermicompost Calculator:
To calculate how much vermicompost you need for a 1/2” top dressing on your houseplants, measure the diameter of your containers and input the total number of containers you have that size. When in doubt, round up! If you have extra, just store it in a cool, dry place until next time.
Potting Mix
Our potting mix is a blend of our compost, vermicompost, and the sustainable remnants of crops like coconuts (coco coir) and rice (rice hulls). We created this blend specifically for container gardening and seed starting. It's packed with the nutrients in our compost and vermicompost, and the rice hulls and coconut coir both promote drainage AND equally distribute moisture throughout the container. As always, make sure your containers have drainage holes in the bottom so excess water can run through. If you’re starting containers with our potting mix, there’s no need to add additional compost or vermicompost that first growing season. Our potting mix is trusted by many of Philadelphia farming and gardening powerhouses including the Philadelphia Horticultural Society, Weavers Way Farms and Germantown Kitchen Gardens for all of their seed starting.
Not sure how much you need? Use our handy calculator to figure it out.