How to Compost

Composting offers immense benefits for you and your garden. It is economical and puts to good use waste that would otherwise be discarded. Compost produces soil that is rich, dark and full of nutrients which is extremely beneficial for your garden.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Purchase a compost bin from any garden or hardware store. You can also make one yourself but allow for enough circulation all around the compost bin.

2. Collect organic materials such as grass clippings, dead leaves, wood chips, shredded tree branches, kitchen scraps such as fruit peel, vegetables, crushed eggshells, and basically anything organic that you can think of except for meat or fatty and greasy items.

3. Put the collected compost materials above into the compost bin. Fill the bin until it is about 6 inches full.

4. Add 3 to 6 inches of fresh manure or soil on top of the compost materials.

5. Alternate between the compost material and the manure or soil until it reaches about 3 feet tall.

6. Poke holes all over the compost pile and add some water to keep it moist. Do not over water.

7. Keep the compost away from direct sun, some shade is ideal. This will help prevent the compost materials from drying out.

8. Turn the pile of compost about once a week for proper circulation and to avoid unhealthy bacteria from thriving. This also helps to prevent bad odors, which is typically a sign of poor circulation.

9. The compost is ready to use when it turns dark and has a rich earthy smell. There should not be a rotten odor.

10. Use your finished compost for all your garden needs.
    
    
    
    

Tips & Warnings

• Chippings from certain trees are not desirable and even poisonous for composting such as Eucalyptus, poison ivy, Poison Oak and Sumac.
• Live Oak, Holly and Southern Magnolia take a lot longer time to decompose because of the texture of the leaves.
• Avoid composting weeds.