How to Make Compost

Compost is a natural and highly nutritious soil additive, great for any garden. Thanks to recent developments in composting including odorless compost bins and compost tumblers that can be set out on the back patio, composting is easy and accessible to everyone. Here's how:

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Organic materials including grass clippings, leaves, eggshells, weeds, and vegetable stems
• Corner of a backyard for a compost pile, compost bin, or patio compost tumbler
• Pitchfork for turning over compost pile

1. Choose a corner of your backyard to start your new compost pile. Optionally, you can cordon off a corner of your backyard with chicken wire for composting. This will contain compost for a cleaner appearance.

2. After you have selected and prepared the spot for your compost pile, begin adding organic material. Compost includes such ingredients as grass clippings, vegetable cores and stems, eggshells, leaves, and weeds. Reserve your kitchen scraps including fruit peels, vegetable peels, and rinds.

3. After you till your garden in the springtime, head over to your compost pile. Using your pitchfork, turn the compost pile over to recover rich humus underneath. It is this humus that you will want to till into your garden to provide natural nutrients for optimum plant growth.

4. After you have recovered the nutritious humus, turn compost pile over to give the top of the compost heap a chance to decompose.

5. This composting process is repeated each spring, providing the gardener with an all-natural, organic approach to soil and plant nutrition.

Tips & Warnings

• Add worms to your compost pile to aerate compost and to aid in organic material decomposition. Worm feces, otherwise known as worm castings, are highly nutritious as well.
• The composting process is achieved when heat and bacteria work together to break down organic materials.
• While humus and compost are used interchangeably, humus is actually compost in its final stages of decomposition.
• Compost that is ready for use (humus) is black in color with a soil-like texture.
• You can also use a compost tumbler on your back patio for composting. See Resources below for more information.
• Start your new compost pile during the summertime when you have fresh grass clippings to add and, in the fall, leaves.
• If you are concerned about odors from compost pile, you can purchase a special compost bin that will fully contain your compost.
• Certain compost bins also speed the composting process, providing compost quickly and efficiently.
• Newer types of compost bins make it easy to recover nutritious humus from the bottom of the pile.

Resources

• CompostBins.com
• Greenfeet: Composting & Yard
• Planet Natural Compost Bins & Tumblers