Most homes have quite a bit of organic waste that goes in the bin. The unusable parts of fruits and vegetables along with grass cuttings and dead plants can be used to help keep your garden fertile. If you can find a space for it, there isn’t much you can do for free that is more helpful than a compost pile. As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
The main ingredients you will need are:
The first three are simple enough but keeping your compost well aerated and warm is a little harder. Unfortunately you can’t just throw a plastic sheet over it to keep it warm because it would get less air and you can’t spread it out because it wouldn’t get warm enough. So, your best option is to get some wire fencing and wrap it around into a circle. We’ll be using this to store the compost, so once you’ve got it inside the wire wrap, leave it in the Sun to get plenty warm.
That solves the warmth side, so now we’ll want to get some air in. Every week or so, open it up and take it apart completely. You’ll notice the centre getting a lot darker and looking a little mouldy, this is fantastic. If you haven’t got this, your compost heap isn’t getting warm enough so try to place it in more direct sunlight and make sure it is nicely compressed. Once you’ve taken it apart, water it liberally but don’t let it get soggy and put it back together, ensure it’s really well mixed afterwards.
Keep doing this every week and after a month or so you should be seeing some real process. Overall, this should only take a maximum of 2 months so don’t worry about instructions that tell you it’ll take over a year to finish up. If you aren’t able to get hold of wire, a large bin will work fine too.
Important note
Be careful where you put this, leaving it at the base of a tree could kill it if left long enough. The heat generated is pretty intense and it will scorch the earth so try to keep it away from most plants. A good place to put it is on top of a patch of weeds as it will kill them off for good.
Also, when you open it up you will see a lot of steam coming off, do not inhale this as it contains ammonia gas which is dangerous in high enough quantities. It’s nothing to worry too much about but try to breathe in as little of it as possible.
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Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more about compost.
I have a compost bin and I love it!! I have used my compost all summer in my garden, flower beds and replanted of some house plants.
It can a very educational experience for kids and adults as well. I have yakked about mine so often that my mom has decided to start her own as well as my son.
Thank you very much for this well written entry.
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