What’s the Difference Between Compost and Fertilizer?

What’s the Difference Between Compost and Fertilizer?

At the most basic level, fertilizer feeds plants, while compost feeds the soil. Proper composting services in Chicago and elsewhere can help you create your very own, living and natural fertilizer with just a couple steps. While this is a little reductive, knowing the benefits of composting vs simply adding fertilizer to balance the soil’s ratio of vital plant nutrients will help us explore the difference between compost and fertilizer more fully. Below we dig a little deeper into the question of fertilizer v. compost. 

The Benefits of Compost v. Fertilizer

If you’re interested in building the right kind of soil for your garden, knowing the difference between fertilizer and compost is crucial. Simply stated, compost can be an essential part of seasonal fertilizer, and its application over time can reduce the need for store-bought fertilizer altogether! Generally, when composting in Chicago, a backyard in Evanston, or anywhere you want a healthy, living soil, you are seeking just the right amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and other macro- and micronutrients. Inorganic, inert fertilizers are a great way to help quickly correct an imbalance of nutrients in your soil right before a growing season, but its effects are limited and brief. On the other hand, a soil built from compost can sustain seasons upon seasons of growing and harvesting. Whether you carefully maintain your own home compost bin or utilize a devoted compost service in Chicago, the rich ecosystem created by compost-led soil is just a few steps away.

How to Turn Compost into Fertilizer

If you have already taken the steps to turn your food and yard waste into compost, then it’s only a couple of steps to get your compost garden ready. It should be noted that a backyard compost or vermicompost may not have the right ratios of nutrients for your soil, and it may be difficult to properly sift out any lingering materials that have yet to decompose. Test your garden soil as well as your composted material to find the ratio of nutrients right for your plants.

Or, you can take advantage of a compost service in Chicago that has the full capacity and range necessary to compost anything found in a standard food waste pickup, including that of wedding event composting, school composting programs, and whole neighborhood blocks. With the proper bulk, a compost pile attains the right heat to break down harmful chemical compounds, large food waste items like bones or seeds, and destroy harmful bacteria that can persist in smaller programs. 

Build a Stronger, Healthier Soil with The Urban Canopy

Whether you’re interested in zero waste events in Chicago or an easy compost service that arrives right at your doorstep (or apartment door or alley), The Urban Canopy can help supply your soil with proper nutrients to keep it thriving season after season. At least, it certainly does the trick for our own farm in the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago. Compost club members can receive a gallon of Healthy Soil Compost every ten food scrap pick-ups, and our event composting around Chicago has you covered wherever the winds take you. Get in touch today to take the first steps to a closer food community.