Making Your Own Composting

     Making compost is easy and requires just a few steps. It’s inexpensive, a great way to recycle biodegradable goods, and it’s a natural, organic way to fertilizer your plants and lawn.

     1. Step one to making your own compost is finding the perfect location. The size of your compost pile is based on the amount of scraps you have as well as the size of your lawn. Some people make a compost tumbler, which is exactly as it sounds. This box of sorts will tumble and mix the compost for you so that you don’t have to. If you don’t want to take this step simply choose an even, drainable section of your property. Most compost piles are three to four feet in diameter and are about five feet high. It may be a good idea to put fencing in your pile using chicken coup or other wire fencing. This allows oxygen to get in, which promotes the biodegradation.

     2. Compost is everything and anything organic. Leaves are a great base for your compost pile. The mold that grows on leaves works as a conditioner for clay and sandy soils because of its water retention value. Other good things to add are grass clippings, branches, any tree, shrub, or houseplant trimmings, and any organic material from your home. This includes vegetable and fruit stems, peels, and husks. Rinds are also beneficial, as well as coffee grounds, and eggshells. Debris from sweeping is also good to use as well as pet hair and sawdust. Any animal bi-products should be avoided as they will attract animals to your compost pile. Pines and woods should be avoided due to their slow decomposition rate.

     3. It is necessary to create the right mixture of compost. The ratio should be three to one by volume of carbonaceous to nitrogenous material. The carbonaceous “brown material” is usually things like dead leaves and dried grass while the nitrogenous “green material” is mushier, softer, and easily bruised. This means things like fresh grass or kitchen waste.

     4. Compost has to cook! The temperature within the pile will rise during biodegradation, and will cook out weed seeds and disease organisms. It is necessary to turn the pile (this is where the compost tumblers come in!) about every three days to add oxygen to the pile. This will also move decomposed material to the center. With this process, the compost pile will be ready for using in approximately two months.

     5. Sometimes compost is poorly made but this can be corrected. Even though it sounds wrong, the compost has to smell! If it has too much carbon material, add more kitchen wastes or grass clippings which will give the compost more nitrogen. If the compost is dry add enough water to dampen the pile. If flies, fruit files, or other bugs are attracted to your compost pile, you need to cover the kitchen scraps more adequately. Cover the waste with fruits or leaves.

     When your compost is ready, work it into the soil and enjoy the benefits of a natural, inexpensive fertilizer.