How to Make Good Compost
Compost is any material made from recycled garden, kitchen or animal waste. It may also be made from paper waste. Composting is the act of turning these organic materials into a substance that is beneficial to plants. This process is one of the cornerstones of organic gardening.
Making and adding compost to your soil is one way of feeding, conditioning, and nourishing it. Some people might try skipping this part of gardening, thinking that it is a complicated process. The truth is, it really isn’t. What composting requires is having the right ingredients and the patience to deal with the entire process.
Composting Ingredients
One can compost almost anything that was once alive. However, you should be wary about composting meat, dairy, and cooked food since they can attract vermin. The best compost is a combination of different things including equal volumes of green and brown matter, along with older or tougher plant material.
Here are some examples of the “greens,” or nitrogen-rich ingredients:
· Urine (diluted with water)
· Leaves
· Raw vegetable peelings
· Grass cuttings
· Tea bags and leaves
· Coffee grounds
· Green prunings
· Animal manure from herbivores such as cows and horses
· Poultry manure
The following are examples of the “brown” ingredients, which are rich in carbon:
· Cardboard, like cereal boxes
· Paper waste, including junk mail, glossy magazines, and newspaper
· Bedding from vegetarian pets (birds, hamsters, etc)
· Woody prunings
· Sawdust
· Wood shavings
· Hair
· Wood ash
· Egg shell
· Cotton or wool
As a rule of thumb, DO NOT make a compost out of the following:
· Meat
· Fish
· Cooked food
· Coal and coke ash
· Cat litter
· Dog feces
· Disposable nappies
Making the Compost
The quality of good compost comes from the combination of ingredients. Ideally, you should have more or less equal amount of the greens and the browns by volume. The mixture should also be a combination of other ingredients.
To make compost, you simply add compostable items in a compost heap. Make sure that your heap is placed in a sunny or semi-shaded area, directly on the soil or turf, and if possible, away from any standing water. Remember that it may take a long time for your ingredients to compost, so be patient.
There are 3 different routes on how you can make the compost: the cool heap route, the heat heap route, and the hybrid route.
The Cool Heap Route
1. Gather enough compost materials and make a pile of at least 30 cm tall (about 12 in) or more.
2. Come up with a balanced mixture of the greens and the browns. If you have wood chippings or shavings, place them in the bottom to improve air circulation and drainage.
3. When your compost bin is almost full, remove the material from the bin. Mix everything, adding water if the mixture is very dry, or by adding dry material if it ends up being too soggy.
4. Replace the lid and leave to mature.
5. If the lower layers have composted, use them.
The Hot Heap Route
1. Gather enough materials for your compost bin.
2. Mix ingredients together, making sure to add more green items, which sometimes tend to dry out.
3. Fill the container, watering it as you go.
4. The heap will start to feel hot. When it starts to cool down, usually a week or two later, turn the heap. Remove everything from the bin and mix them all up.
5. Apply the same process. The heat will become less as you go on.
6. When it no longer heats up, leave it undisturbed to finish composting.
Hybrid Route
This is a combination of both cool and hot heap.
1. Fill the bin as you create waste.
2. Turn the heap if you have time.
Note: The more you turn it, the faster it will compost.
Organic matter may compost as quickly as 6-8 weeks, or might take as long as 1 year. The final composting material usually turns out as dark brown, earthly-smelling, and sometimes crumbly material. If you find large bits in your final compost, you can remove them and add them back into your new batch of compost.