How to Start a Compost Pile

Many people want to compost, but they don't know where to begin. Below are simple steps to start a compost pile.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• fruit and vegetable scraps
• used coffee grounds
• egg shells
• a large dark-colored plastic trash can with a lid
• shredded newspaper
• grass clippings
• a bowl

1. The easiest way to begin a compost pile is to put a bowl on your kitchen counter in which to put the things you wish to compost. Some good items for composting include fruit peels, vegetable peels, coffee grounds, egg shells, and things of that nature. As long as your items are not dairy or meat based, and do not contain seed parts, you may put it in the bowl.

2. Now that you've got your kitchen scraps collected, it's time to add your brown items. Kitchen scraps would most likely be considered green, as they are heavy in nitrogen. Brown items are organic (once living) in nature, but older. Some good examples of brown items include newspaper, cardboard (as long as it does not have a waxy coating), sticks from the yard, or old hay.

3. Take your green items from the bowl in the kitchen and put them in a dark-colored plastic trash can in the yard. When you collect your green items in the kitchen it's best to get them into the trash can as soon as possible, as the nitrogen escapes rapidly. Add your brown items to the trash can and stir them together. The trash can will now contain your compost pile.

4. Continue to add to your compost container every day, being sure to include equal amounts of green and brown material. Stir your compost pile once a week. Depending upon what you have added to your pile and how hot it had been allowed to get in the middle of the pile, you could have compost in as little as one month.

5. Add the compost to your garden to improve your soil. You will have beautiful results with your plants, whether they are rose bushes, runner beans, or anything in between!

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure you know exactly what you can and cannot add to your compost pile. Only add items you know you can add.
• Spent plants make good additions to compost piles, as long as the seeds are removed beforehand.
• Make sure your pile stays moist (not damp) by adding a little water when it starts to dry out. Rain water is excellent for adding to compost piles!
• Cut your materials for composting into small pieces in order to hurry along the decomposition process.
• Do not add any dairy or meat products to your compost pile, as they will cause the pile to smell bad and may attract critters.
• Be sure to always keep the lid on your trash can so that nothing can get in, and nothing can get out!

Resources

• ehow Going Green Guide
• Get your Supplies at Tractor Supply Co

[djackman]

on 7/21/2009 great idea for starting a compost pile 5* recommended