Making Your Own COMPOST

An economical way to beautify your garden is to make your own compost. It is apparently also an easy way to get rid of waste. Furthermore, making your own compost also would mean to lend Mother Nature a hand as composting recycles material that would otherwise find its way to landfill sites.

Equipment for Making your Compost
To compost successfully and efficiently, you would need the right equipment and also to have a basic understanding of the principles of the decomposition process. Although you can compost organic waste perfectly well in a loose heap, it may appear untidy and would tend to decompose unevenly unless carefully managed. In most gardens, having a compost bin to develop your compost is a far better option.

Making a Compost Bin
Ideally a bin should contain at least 1 cubic meter (about 30 cubic feet) of waste to allow it to heat up adequately and compost material quickly. The bin can be a simple structure made from old pallets nailed together to form a box or a neater home-made version fashioned from second-hand, tantalized fencing timber. However, avoid using untreated timber because it will rot along with the contents.

What to Compost
Almost all organic waste materials from the garden and household can be recycled, but to decompose quickly and form the perfect texture - a crumbly, sweet smelling fibrous texture - the right ingredients must be combined. Ideally, add dry material such as dry leaves (high in carbon), with equal quantities of green, wet organic waste, such as grass clippings (high in nitrogen). Before adding to the compost heap, make sure that dry and woody material is chopped finely. And, a note of advise - do not add meat, fish, fat or other cooked foods to the compost bin because they will attract rats and snakes. Also throw away perennial weed roots and that are setting seed because these may survive the composting process.

Mix up the material before adding it to the compost bin or add the material in layers no more than ½ feet (6 in) deep.



Speeding up Composting
There are several actions you can take to minimize the time for the composting process to be completed. Give the decomposition process a kick-start by adding a proprietary compost activator such as Effective Microorganism (EM) solution which is easily available. This will provide extra nitrogen and introduce the necessary micro-organisms needed for decomposition. Fill the bin with all the material and make sure they are moist enough when added. Check after a few weeks to see if it has dried out and water if necessary.

To ensure that the material does not get too wet, cover it with a lid or a sheet of plastic. If the compost does get too wet, turn out the bin and mix in more dry material before refilling the bin. Be sure to mix the decomposing organic matter a few times a day. This will introduce air and produce more uniform compost at the end of the process. After about two months the compost should be ready to be used.