How to Set Up a Compost System at Home

You don't need expensive equipment to start composting.

In nature, a constant cycle of growth, death and decay maintains soil health and nutrient levels. As plants succumb to winter, dying back or shedding their leaves, these materials enrich the soil for the next spring's new growth. In the garden, composting replicates this natural process, similarly boosting the levels of nutrient and organic matter in the soil. Setting up a home compost system can be as simple as deciding to start an open heap or as involved as setting up equipment, such as a compost tumbler, which makes composting a faster and less labor-intensive process. Choosing the system you use depends on the amount of money and effort you wish to devote to composting, as well as appearance, volume and the need to protect the compost from marauding scavengers.

Things You'll Need

• Compost unit (optional)
• Garden fork
• Hose

Instructions

1. Select your compost system. Open heaps require no monetary investment, but you need to expend more effort to turn the pile, if you want compost quickly. Open heaps can also draw scavengers. Compost bins contain compost better and can be inexpensively constructed from materials you have at home, but they also require turning with a garden fork to speed up the process. Compost tumblers produce compost quickly and with relatively little effort but tend to cost more.

2. 

   Even simple compost bins help to keep animals from raiding the pile.

   Begin adding materials to your compost system. You should add about two parts of carbon-rich "browns" -- which include dried materials such as fallen leaves and paper scraps -- for every one part of "green," fresh, moist ingredients such as kitchen scraps, manure, grass clippings and coffee grounds. Don't worry too much about the balance; compost will happen whether you balance it properly or not. A better balance only speeds up the process.

3. Add a handful of fertile garden soil or finished compost to provide a starting population of soil microorganisms.

4. Aerate your compost every few weeks by turning it with a garden fork, if you use an open heap or bin, or by rotating it in a compost tumbler. Mix ingredients thoroughly and check for any dry or overly wet spots. Moisten extensive dry areas with a hose, if needed.

5. Spread compost on your garden as mulch or till it into the top 6 inches of soil. You know that compost is ready to use when it becomes dark and crumbly and you cannot identify the original contents, aside from woody pieces.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid adding diseased plant material unless you heat it first to destroy pathogens. Fungi and other diseases can survive in compost to reinfect your garden. Also, avoid using herbicide-treated plant material in your compost, which can stunt plant growth.

References

• "Grit; Compost Made Easy; Barbara Pleasant; May/June 2010
• University of Florida IFAS Extension: Constructing Home Compost Units
• "Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening"; Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis, and Ellen Phillips, editors; 2009
• University of Illinois Extension: Composting for the Homeowner -- Finished Compost
• "Mother Earth News"; Contaminated Compost: Coming Soon to a Store Near You; Barbara Pleasant; 2009