- Making and using compost is the easiest and most inexpensive way to improve your soil, fertilize your lawn and enrich your garden. You can make compost from ingredients you already have on hand. Instead of hauling your kitchen scraps and yard waste to the curb, make them work for you instead. Making your own compost also saves you money normally spent on commercial fertilizers and amendments.
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The quality of your compost depends on what it's made of, how it's made and how it is stored. In simple terms, compost is decomposed organic matter. Organic matter is decomposed plant and animal material that rots into a nutrient-rich soil amendment known as humus. Look around and you'll be amazed at the wealth of organic matter you can find in and around your home. Here is a comprehensive list of items you can--and should--recycle in a compost pile:
* Egg shells
* Coffee grounds and leftover coffee from the pot
* Coffee filters
* Tea bags and grounds
* Fruit and vegetable peels and scraps
* Leftover cooked rice
* Shredded newspaper (black and white print only)
* Old or dried-out herbs and spices
* Matches (paper or wood)
* Houseplant trimmings
* Cooked or uncooked plain pasta
* Corn cobs and husks
* Nut shells
* Seafood shells (rinsed first)
* Fish bones
* Leftover wine and beer
* Wine bottle corks
* Pencil shavings
* Wood fireplace ashes
* Hair and fur
* Grass clippings
* Green weeds
* Flowers and fallen leaves
* Chopped twigs
* Wood chips
* Pine needles
* Straw or hay
* Rotted manure (not from dogs or cats)
What shouldn't go into a compost pile is just as important as what goes in it. Things that shouldn't be added to your compost pile include:
* Meat scraps, bones or fat (attracts rodents and other pests)
* Pet droppings (can contain harmful parasites)
* Noxious weeds or weeds that have set seed (can spread into lawn and garden)
* Diseased plants (can spread harmful pathogens)
* Charcoal ashes (too alkaline)
* Pesticide-treated plants, fruits and vegetables (may kill beneficial organisms) - Good compost comes from the right mix of good ingredients and has little to do with the container or location it's made in. You can make compost in compost bins and tumblers, in barrels or on pallets, in a simple wire fence enclosure or an old garbage can, in a corner of the yard or in a raised garden bed, in sun or shade, in winter, fall, summer or spring.
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The secret to making good compost lies in the right mixture of "brown" and "green" ingredients.
Brown ingredients include leaves, hay, paper, pine needles and straw. Brown ingredients are dry and high in carbon. Green ingredients include fruit and vegetable peels and scraps, grass clippings, coffee grounds and manure. These ingredients are moist and high in nitrogen.
A compost pile with all brown ingredients won't decompose. A pile with all green ingredients will turn slimy and smelly. The ideal compost recipe is 2 parts brown materials to 1 part green materials, piled in alternate layers when possible. This blend of greens and brown creates optimal conditions for the microbes responsible for decomposition and provides them with a wealth of food to feed on.
The Process
As the microbes begin feeding, temperatures at the core of the compost pile can rise to as much as 113 degrees F. After a week or two, the temperature can reach as high as 150 degrees F, and the pile begins to show a noticeable sag or shrinking. At this stage, weed seeds, insect larvae and many lower-temperature microbes are killed off.
As the higher temperature microbes gradually deplete the food supply, it slows the heating process and the pile begins to cool. At this point, you can use a pitchfork to turn and aerate the pile or leave it undisturbed to finish composting.
Depending on the size of your pile and with the proper conditions, compost can be ready in as little as 6 to 8 weeks or take as long as a year or more. You'll know it's ready when most of the bulkier pieces are broken down, and the compost is dark and crumbly and it gives off a pleasant earthy smell. - Compost feeds and conditions the soil and makes a great fertilizer for the lawn and garden. It increases the nutrient content in soil, helps it retain moisture and reduces pests and plant diseases, meaning there's less need for water, fertilizer and pesticides. Composting is easy and economical, puts yard and kitchen waste to good use and helps reduce landfill waste.
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Smelly compost--If your compost is smelly or slimy, don't despair. Chances are it's too wet. Turning and aerating the pile should take care of it.
Little or no activity in pile--Keep your compost damp like a wrung-out sponge and break up larger pieces to speed up decomposition.
Grass and leaves aren't decomposing--Shred large clumps of leaves and grass, then turn the pile to aerate.
