Whenever you go into the garden section of a hardware or home improvement store, you’ll notice the shelves stocked with bags of chemical-based fertilizers that are advertised to green up the lawn, feed the flowers and help veggies grow.
These synthetic fertilizers are generally made from by-products of the petroleum industry. Although their composition contains a long list of nutrients, chemical-based fertilizers often lack any real organic matter or microbes that are necessary for biological life to thrive in the soil.
In fact, extensive use of chemical fertilizers leads to hardening of the soil, decreased fertility, and any crops produced typically have a much lower nutritional value. Furthermore, these chemicals cause major pollution such as eutrophication when picked up by water runoffs as well as releasing high amounts of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Instead of using synthetic fertilizers, why not feed your plants nutrients derived from organic sources. Or, in the spirit of waste not want not, concoct your own compost. Your pets can even make contributions!
The process of composting dog and cat waste is similar to composting any household organic waste such as food scraps and yard waste. Pet poop is a green component that can be composted separately with brown waste or added to your household compost pile.
Finished compost can be used to enrich soil around ornamentals, shrubs and trees. One key caution: Don’t use yard compost that contains pet waste on or near edible plants.
Here are two ideas for D-I-Y composting:
Contributed by Stephanie Chow, Pet Poo Skiddoo