Collect
Kitchen scraps go into your bin on a set schedule. Each addition is covered with dry material: shredded paper, dry leaves, or coconut coir. This keeps flies away and cuts smell.
Small-space compost planner
Turn kitchen scraps into garden food without the smell.
CompostRelay builds a week-by-week relay for apartments, balconies, and small yards. You tell us your bin, your household size, and where you will use the finished compost. We give you a clear schedule: when to feed, when to turn, when to pause, and when it is ready.
Build your compost relay
Fill in the three fields below. The relay updates live on the right. You can save this plan to your browser and come back each season to adjust it.
Your relay will appear here
Pick your bin type and household size, then press Generate relay. The week-by-week plan shows up on this side.
Your 12-week relay
How the relay works
Turn
Turning adds air. Air feeds the microbes that break down the scraps. The planner tells you which weeks to turn and which weeks to leave the bin alone so it can heat up.
Pause feeding
Two weeks before harvest, you stop adding new scraps. This lets the last batch finish breaking down so you do not end up with half-digested bits in your pots.
Use
Finished compost goes to your chosen growing space. For houseplants, mix one part compost with three parts potting soil. For balcony pots, top-dress with a thin layer once a month.
Example plans
Three common setups. Use these to sanity-check your own plan.
One person, worm bin, houseplants
- Bin
- Worm bin under the sink
- Household
- 1 person
- Use
- Houseplants
- Relay
- Feed weekly, turn every other week, pause feeding week 10, use week 12.
This is the slowest setup but the easiest to keep indoors. The bin stays small and the smell stays low if you always cover scraps with shredded paper.
Family of four, tumbler, small yard
- Bin
- Outdoor tumbler on a paved side yard
- Household
- 4 people
- Use
- Raised beds
- Relay
- Feed twice a week, turn twice a week, pause feeding week 9, use week 11.
A family fills a bin fast. The tumbler keeps it contained and turning twice a week stops it from going sour. In summer, check moisture weekly because tumblers dry out faster.
Couple, bokashi, balcony pots
- Bin
- Two bokashi buckets in the kitchen
- Household
- 2 people
- Use
- Balcony planters
- Relay
- Fill bucket in 2 weeks, ferment 2 weeks, bury in soil 2 weeks, plant after week 6.
Bokashi is faster than the other methods but it has two stages. You ferment indoors, then finish in soil. The planner shows both stages so you do not forget the burial step.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
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Adding too many citrus peels
Citrus is acidic and can crash a worm bin. Keep citrus to a small handful per week. If your bin smells sharp, stop citrus for two weeks and add dry shredded paper.
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Forgetting the cover layer
Every time you add scraps, cover them with dry material. This is the single most effective way to stop smell and flies. The planner reminds you each feeding week.
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Overwatering the bin
A bin that is too wet goes anaerobic and smells like rotten eggs. If you see liquid pooling at the bottom, add dry browns and stop adding wet scraps for a week.
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Feeding during the pause window
New scraps added in the last two weeks will not finish in time. The planner marks the pause window clearly. Stick to it so your harvest is actually finished.
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Using compost too early
Half-finished compost can burn plant roots and attract pests. Wait until it looks like dark crumbly soil and smells like a forest floor before you pot with it.
A note on kitchen collectors
The first step of any small-space relay is a good kitchen collector. A small lidded bin with a charcoal filter lets you store two to three days of scraps without smell. Empty it before it gets heavy. A full collector is the number one reason people stop composting after the first month.