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How to Make Garden Compost - Urban Farmer's Guide
Home > Gardener's Guide > How to Make Garden Compost
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Composting is an easy way to effectively reduce solid waste at home. Compost can be used as a valuable, natural soil amendment. Adding compost to your garden will enhance nutrients and improve your soils texture. Compost can both loosen heavy clay soils and increase the water-holding capacity of sandy soils.
A compost pile is a collection of plant materials combined in a way that encourages fast decomposition. Bacteria and fungi help break down this plant material into a soil-like consistency. These organisms will need oxygen and water to survive and flourish. You can give the pile oxygen by occasionally turning it and provide water to keep it moist. If the compost is well made, it will heat up quickly, give off no odor and produce great compost in as little as a month.
Composting steps:
Step 1
Collect equal parts of dried, brown, carbon rich material (old leaves or straw) and fresh, green nitrogen rich material (grass, vegetation, kitchen waste). Be careful, not everything belongs in a compost pile such as pet waste, bones, and weeds.
Step 2
If possible shred the organic waste into smaller pieces. This will allow better circulation and easy access for the microorganisms to do their job. Try having the pieces smaller than 1 inch.
Step 3
Build a pile that is 3x3x3 feet, alternating your brown carbon rich material and green nitrogen rich material. Try placing a thin layer of soil every 18 inches of depth. Soil carries microorganisms that will help speed up decomposition.
Step 4
Wet the pile as you build it. Keep the pile damp but do not overdue it as this will slow decomposition.
Step 5
After the temperature of the pile begins to decrease, turn the pile and wet while doing so. This will allow oxygen and water to find the microorganisms. A well made pile will heat up within one week and will reach temperatures as high as 160 degrees. Use a garden fork to turn the pile.
Step 6
When the compost begins to turn into a soil consistency it is ready to be spread onto your garden. Be sure to allow the compost to cool before applying.
What can be added to a compost pile?
Ashes, chicken manure, coffee grounds, eggshell, flowers, vegetable peels, fruit pulp, grass clippings, hedge clippings, leaves, pine needles, sawdust, sod and soil, and wood chips.
Like this article? Tell a friend!
A compost pile is a collection of plant materials combined in a way that encourages fast decomposition. Bacteria and fungi help break down this plant material into a soil-like consistency. These organisms will need oxygen and water to survive and flourish. You can give the pile oxygen by occasionally turning it and provide water to keep it moist. If the compost is well made, it will heat up quickly, give off no odor and produce great compost in as little as a month.
Composting steps:
Step 1
Collect equal parts of dried, brown, carbon rich material (old leaves or straw) and fresh, green nitrogen rich material (grass, vegetation, kitchen waste). Be careful, not everything belongs in a compost pile such as pet waste, bones, and weeds.
Step 2
If possible shred the organic waste into smaller pieces. This will allow better circulation and easy access for the microorganisms to do their job. Try having the pieces smaller than 1 inch.
Step 3
Build a pile that is 3x3x3 feet, alternating your brown carbon rich material and green nitrogen rich material. Try placing a thin layer of soil every 18 inches of depth. Soil carries microorganisms that will help speed up decomposition.
Step 4
Wet the pile as you build it. Keep the pile damp but do not overdue it as this will slow decomposition.
Step 5
After the temperature of the pile begins to decrease, turn the pile and wet while doing so. This will allow oxygen and water to find the microorganisms. A well made pile will heat up within one week and will reach temperatures as high as 160 degrees. Use a garden fork to turn the pile.
Step 6
When the compost begins to turn into a soil consistency it is ready to be spread onto your garden. Be sure to allow the compost to cool before applying.
What can be added to a compost pile?
Ashes, chicken manure, coffee grounds, eggshell, flowers, vegetable peels, fruit pulp, grass clippings, hedge clippings, leaves, pine needles, sawdust, sod and soil, and wood chips.
Like this article? Tell a friend!
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