Sustainable gardening has been getting more and more popular every year—and for good reason.
Not only is it better for the planet, but it also tends to be much lower maintenance and less expensive than the alternatives. Sustainable gardening includes everything from leaning into native plants to using organic mulches, but one great way to make your space more sustainable, less expensive, and, dare I say, more efficient is to use your own food scraps in the garden.
There are two main ways to effectively garden with food scraps: composting them or planting them directly into the ground to regrow what you once ate.
The Spruce / Michelle Becker
You probably already know about composting your old food scraps, but here’s a healthy reminder. You can toss fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, tea bags, nutshells, and more in a compost bin.
Add yard waste like leaves and grass clippings, and make sure you maintain a balance of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich materials—one way to do that is to ensure you have a balance of green and brown in your compost.
You'll want to turn the pile to aerate it regularly and after a few months, the compost will break down into a dark soil you can add to your garden beds. Similar to composting, you can also add food scraps into your vermicomposting bin. Vermicomposting is basically composting with the additional help of red wiggler worms.
If you’d like to decompose and enrich your soil naturally but don’t want to compost, you can simply bury the food scraps about six to eight inches deep in your garden bed. Over time, the scraps will break down and add nutrients to the soil. Just be careful with this option because too many scraps could attract pests.
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