When you’re out in the garden and you put on your best work gloves, you will need to feed your plants and give them the appropriate nourishment that they need.
A lot of the time compost can be expensive to purchase but if you know how to make compost yourself, it’s all good! So, what’s the best way to make compost? We are going to tell you all about it.
Compost the correct materials
To get started with compost, you’ll want to use up all of the things in your fridge that you never get to. By doing this you will eliminate waste efficiently. Keep a small container in your kitchen put the correct materials in it. You also make a compost tumbler and transfer things from the kitchen to it.
Here are some materials that will start your pile off:
- Vegetable scraps;
- Fruit scraps;
- Plant and grass clippings;
- Dry leaves;
- Bark chips;
- Wood chips;
- Coffee grounds;
- Shredded newspaper.
As an added tip, do think twice about onions and garlic. It is believed that these actually repel worms that do all the dirty work to create your compost. Make sure that you also break up your eggshells into small pieces otherwise they won’t break down fast enough. You’ll be waiting forever.
What to exclude
Got to know what not to put in. This is just as important. Avoid any of the following:
- Rotting meat;
- Diseased plant matter;
- Sawdust from wood that has been pressure treated;
- Cat or dog faeces;
- Dairy products.
Combining brown and green material
One of the best ways to get everything off to a good start is to combine wet green items with dried brown ones. You can think of brown materials as any fallen leaves, plant material, cardboard, shredded tree branches or the like. Green materials speak for themselves – you may add in anything from plant matter to coffee grounds.
Combining these two is a great tip as it allows enough nitrogen to get into the soil, plus moist conditions are created.
Water your compost pile regularly
A lot of people disregard watering their pile but do so on a regular basis. However, don’t waterlog the pile because the microorganisms inside may drown. Your compost pile should feel rather warm and you can monitor this with a temperature thermometer if you like.
Essentially, you will want it to be moist and warm but not rotting. A good tip is to urinate into your pile to provide added nutrients if you are able to!
Stir things up
Just like adding water, you should oxygenate your pile by turning it once a week using a garden fork or equivalent instrument. Start from the centre where it feels warm and stir it up in order to help it cook faster and prevent any material from becoming squashed down and developing a strong odour.
After a couple of weeks, you needn’t worry about brown and green layers because they would have served their purpose by this stage. An added tip is to shred all of your compost ingredients into tiny pieces to speed up the whole process.
Great ways to make compost
You’ve got all of the know-how now, so we hope that you can produce some compost of your own. Find a place to make a compost pile and get going. Pretty soon you will have nutritious material for your plants at little or no cost at all. Have fun!
What’s your favourite way to make compost bins? Tell us in the comments section below.
Kay Burton is a copywriter from Austin, Texas. He studied the English language at Nashville University before going on to become an editor for his local newspaper. Nowadays, Kay loves to write on a freelance basis. This man has a lot of gardening experience, so he sure knows all the ways to make compost.