How To Compost

THE HOW-TO’S OF COMPOSTING

Composting is actually very easy. Once you understand the principle the how can become an everyday action that turns what would be landfill waste into a nourishing soil addition. Here are simple directions and examples of compost containers that you can either make yourself or buy–depending on your space and location. Worms are great for the processing so you can also buy them or help them migrate into your pile. Having two smaller containers is better than one large one because when the first one fills up you, then you can start the next one and let the first pile come to the usable stage of integrating the compost into your garden.

Start with a dry component as base–straw (having a bale is handy for mixing in), sticks, dried leaves, or such. When layering with grass clippings–mix ratio of 1 –either torn into strips newspaper(not glossy) , straw,  or dried leaves–to 4 grass clippings so they don’t become a slimy mess. As you add your other ingredients–you want to have half brown to half green. Vegetable scraps, leaves and broken up wood pieces, hair, manure (not pet–good is chicken, cow, horse–), seaweed, someone else’s compost, coffee grounds, cut up natural fiber clothing, a little lime. No meats or grease. The main idea is to have layers of green and brown components which you aerate by turning once in a while, not let it dry out completely–and let it heat up to do the decomposing process which also kills off unwanted bacteria. Patience will bring you the reward of a rich source of material for your garden. For more details this website is a good resource   www.eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html