Composting

Thinking about starting a compost pile? Finished compost makes a great addition to any soil and makes a great mulch as well. Compost in most cases can be used for a non-burning fertilizer and is inexpensive and clean to make. Using compost as a soil amendment improves your soils structure and texture making the soil capable of holding more moisture that your garden can benifit from. The organic compost that you make, will make nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus freeing you from adding any chemically made fertilizers.

Understanding how to make and use compost is in the public spotlight, as the problem of waste disposal climbs toward a crisis level. Landfills are brimming, and new sites are not likely to be easily found. For this reason there is an interest in conserving existing landfill space and in developing alternative methods of dealing with waste. Why throw away materials when you can use them to improve your lawn and garden! Start composting today..

Composting bins can be made from many available item and most free if you look. Shipping pallets make and easy four sided bin that allows air to circulate and the contents of the bin to be contained. With this system you may find that natures critters tend to like to help themselves to your food scraps. An alternative to an open style compost bin is an enclosed version, sometimes your local solid waste authority will have these available at a discounted cost. We found our by advertising on a classified looking for them and found a willing donor that had two of these contained composting bins. The Contained style bins will keep rodents out of your food scraps and make for an environment that microorganisms love.

The Compost Recipe

Almost any organic material is suitable for a compost pile. The pile needs a proper ratio of carbon-rich materials, or "browns," and nitrogen-rich materials, or "greens." Among the brown materials are dried leaves, straw, and wood chips. Nitrogen materials are fresh or green, such as grass clippings and kitchen scraps.

Mixing certain types of materials or changing the proportions can make a difference in the rate of decomposition. Achieving the best mix is more an art gained through experience than an exact science. The ideal ratio approaches 25 parts browns to 1 part greens. Judge the amounts roughly equal by weight. Too much carbon will cause the pile to break down too slowly, while too much nitrogen can cause odor. The carbon provides energy for the microbes, and the nitrogen provides protein.

Kitchen Refuse includes melon rinds, carrot peelings, tea bags, apple cores, banana peels - almost everything that cycles through your kitchen. The average household produces more than 200 pounds of kitchen waste every year. You can successfully compost all forms of kitchen waste. However, meat, meat products, dairy products, and high-fat foods like salad dressings and peanut butter, can present problems. Meat scraps and the rest will decompose eventually, but will smell bad and attract pests. Egg shells are a wonderful addition, but decompose slowly, so should be crushed. All additions to the compost pile will decompose more quickly if they are chopped up some before adding.

Pine Needles need to be chopped or shredded, as they decompose slowly. They are covered with a thick, waxy coating. In very large quantities, they can acidify your compost, which would be a good thing if you have alkaline soils.

Grass Clippings break down quickly and contain as much nitrogen as manure. Since fresh grass clippings will clump together, become anaerobic, and start to smell, mix them with plenty of brown material. If you have a lot of grass clippings to compost, spread them on the driveway or other surface to bake in the sun for at least a day. Once it begins to turn pale or straw-like, it can be used without danger of souring. Avoid grass clippings that contain pesticide or herbicide residue, unless a steady rain has washed the residue from the grass blades.

Start your compost pile today!

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