Recipe For Quick Organic Gardening Compost

Visit your garden center and get some straw, because you’ll need plenty of straw to make this organic gardening compost. Start your quick compost pile with a layer of straw. Don’t mistake hay for straw; they are two different things. Hay contains many grass and weed seeds that you don’t want to include in your compost.

For your second layer, use kitchen scraps or clippings from garden plants, or annual plants that are past their prime – remember, nothing that has been exposed to chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Sprinkle the pile with plenty of blood meal or bone meal..

For the third layer, add dry brown material like shredded leaves, shredded corn stalks, or small, ground-up twigs.

Keep repeating these three layers. The straw will keep the pile aerated. All you need to do is water it enough to keep it barely moist.

Amazing Additions To Your Organic Gardening Compost Pile

Certain ingredients will give your compost pile a big boost and help it cook faster and be ready to use sooner. Plants, algae, and water from a freshwater aquarium contain nitrogen and other micronutrients that speed up the decomposition process.

Dead houseplants aren’t so good for your home décor, but they make outstanding additions to the organic compost pile. Gardening outdoors is more fun, anyway. Make sure the plant is not showing signs of pest contamination or disease. Then just plop the entire plant, including the soil and root ball, onto the compost pile.

Weeds can be composted, too. Just be careful not to include any weeds that have set seed heads, or your compost pile will turn into a weed bed.

Coffee grounds add moisture and texture to the compost pile. You can compost the coffee filter, but it is very fibrous and will break down slowly. Cut it into smaller pieces so it can decompose faster.

Worst Compost Ingredients Ever

Whatever you do, do not add these ingredients to your organic gardening compost pile: Diseased plants; raw manure; sawdust from pressure-treated lumber; gypsum board scraps; vacuum cleaner bags and their contents; and meats, dairy products, bones, and fish.

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Why Do Gardening Composting

Making your own garden compost has several benefits, the most obvious one being that it’s extremely cost effective.  So much so that it won’t cost you anything whatsoever.
Using compost improves not only the texture of your soil, but also the soil’s ability to retain water.  It also increases the fertility of your soil without the use of chemicals which can be dangerous to animals or humans.  Compost can also do a great deal to fix common soil issues, such as loosening clay soils and making sandy soils a bit more water retentive. 

From a broader point of view, gardening composting also is very helpful to the environment.  It helps reduce landfill loads.  With space in landfills becoming harder and harder to find, creating your own compost means that more unnecessary waste won’t be added to the already overfull landfills.

What To Use In Gardening Composting

Any type of organic material makes for good compost.  Typically, a good compost pile will be composed of both “brown” and “green” materials.  Brown materials are things such as dead leaves, straw, and wood chips, whereas green materials are fresh items such as grass clippings and scraps from your kitchen.  The type and ratio of these materials can make a difference in the rate of decomposition, and it may take you a while to get the right ratio down.  A general rule of thumb for gardening composting is 25 parts of browns to 1 part of greens.

When it comes to natural yard waste, there are a few you’ll want to avoid using in your compost pile.  Black walnuts trees, sumac, poison oak and poison ivy are all toxic and should be avoided at all costs.

If you use pine needles, be sure to chop them up because their waxy coating makes them slow to decompose.  Grass clippings make wonderful compost, as they break down quickly and are rich in nitrogen.  To avoid them turning sour, you can spread them out on the driveway and let them sit in the sun.  This will dry them out and make them ready for the compost heap.
When it comes to kitchen scraps, pretty much anything is suitable for use in gardening composting.  Vegetable matter like melon rinds, any type of peelings, etc., can be used.  Meats and fatty foods can also go into the compost heap, but keep in mind that these will create a rather unpleasant odor as they decompose, and may attract pests to your compost pile. 
Other additions to your compost pile can include things like ashes from your wood stove or fireplace, plants or weeds pulled from your garden, hay or straw, and even manure. 

Conclusion

Doing your own gardening composting not only providing yourself with a ready source of food for your garden; you’re also helping reduce landfill refuse and saving yourself a lot of money that could be spent elsewhere.  Once you know what to put into your compost heap, all that’s left is to choose a spot or a composting bin to start it in.

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Compost is not considered a fertilizer because it does not really contain a high level of essential nutrients.  It is viewed as a soil conditioner and does serve many other important functions.  Compost can attract insects such as earthworms and it can also improve the composition or structure of your soil.

You can try cold composting, which basically means just letting the organic material sit in the bin.  This takes a lot longer than hot composting where you turn your pile every few days to supply oxygen to the organisms in your pile.

Location

The first thing you will need to decide is where to start your compost pile.  Check with your city to ensure that there are no by-laws or ordinances that might prevent you from having a compost pile or placing it where you want it.  You need to remember that a compost pile can get messy so be sure to place your pile within easy reach of the hose to deal with any dirt and muck.  Bugs will delight in your new compost pile and make it their new home, so be sure to keep that in mind when deciding on a location.  A little corner of your garden that is far enough away from your home and any neighboring properties is probably the ideal spot for your new compost pile.

Containers

There are many, many composite products on the market now.  There are even gadgets that shake, rattle and roll your compost for you, but really the only investment you need to make is a compost container.  You can simply fence off your compost pile or you can use some kind of bin or container to hold your organic material.  This can be homemade or recycled from a large plastic bin you have around the house or you can purchase one at your local garden center.  The bins designed specifically for composting come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but the important thing is to keep it simple.  You really don’t need to spend a lot of money on gadgets you don’t need.

Layer It

A good compost pile starts with layers of waste and soil.  You can start off layering leaves, grass clippings and leaves over the soil and then start adding your kitchen waste.  You can add things like eggshells, fruit and vegetable scraps, and coffee grounds to your compost pile.  You should never ever add meat or pet waste to your compost pile.  Once you have your initial layers of garden and kitchen waste, add a layer of soil and manure. 

Moisture

Your compost pile needs to be kept moist, though it should never be wet.  You can add some water whenever your pile seems to be getting dry.  You could consider adding some beer to your composite pile.  Beer contains yeast which will help keep the bacteria in your compost pile and keep those little critters happy.  Whether you add a mix of beer and water or just H20, the important thing is to keep that pile moist.

Maintenance

Your compost pile does not require a lot of maintenance.  You want to be sure that you continue adding garden and kitchen waste to your pile and that you also mix in enough soil and manure to encourage faster decomposing.  You need to keep the pile moist and you should also turn your compost pile about once a week to improve circulation and the decomposing process.

Compost is ready when it looks like dark soil and has an earthy smell.  You can now start incorporating your compost into your garden!  You can also use compost in your home plants – but be warned that it must be sterilized first.  To do this, you must bake your compost in a 200F oven for approximately thirty minutes.

There really is no best way to compost.  Organic matter will decompose regardless of what you do.  What’s important is finding a method or style that works for you and your gardening needs.

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