Make Your Own Compost
Don't waste all the weeds, grass cuttings and vegetable peelings you have, make a compost heap instead.

Many gardeners are very proud of their abilities to make excellent compost and with good reason. It can be entirely organic and it is using nature to put nutrients into the soil from organic matter that would otherwise go to waste. In fact, it is continuing nature's own cycle of birth, growth, death, decay and breakdown to nourish the next generation of plants.

Just because you have a small garden, don't think you can't make compost. Buy one of the many different plastic compost making bins. They can be tucked away somewhere out of the way and will still make great compost. Alternatively, if you have a large garden and space isn't at a premium, you can build your own from planks. In fact, eventually you should build two, side by side. Whilst one is rotting down making beautiful compost, you can be depositing your waste in the other one.

How to Start a Compost Heap
Get your compost bin, then start collecting organic vegetable matter. This can be anything except:

• perennial weeds, e.g. dandelions
• weed seeds
• whole woody stems like rose prunings, although, if you have a shredder, you can use them, just shred them well and mix them in.
• meat products - they might attract rats
• leaves from trees

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Start putting all your vegetable matter into your compost bin. The things you can use include:

• annual weeds without seedheads
• grass cuttings
• vegetable and fruit peelings from the kitchen
• used teabags
• torn up newspapers but only in small quantities and well mixed into the heap
• crushed egg shells
• straw

Don't put too much of one type of matter in one layer. This is especially true of grass cuttings. Too deep a layer can make your compost heap soggy and slimy. Mix them in well with everything else.

When your compost heap has reached about 12 inches in depth, you can put on a layer, about 3 inches deep, of farm manure or soil. This will activate the compost and keep in the heat. You can also buy commercial compost activators which will speed up the compost making process.

Tread the heap down when you put the manure or soil on it to get rid of air pockets. Keep the heap covered either with the lid, if you have a bin, or a tarpaulin or piece of old carpet if you have built your own.

It is a good idea to turn the heap regularly as well so that the material on the outside goes inside and vice versa. This is not so important if you have a composting bin.

When your compost bin or home made structure is full, top it off with soil and then sit and wait. After a few months, maybe just 2 or 3, maybe longer, it all depends on the temperatures that have been achieved inside the heap, you will have your own beautiful crumbly compost. Dig it into your flower and vegetable beds. It will return goodness to the soil and improve growth.

If you are interested in environmentalism, which really only means safeguarding the earth for future generations, find out how you can help by visiting The Green Challenge.

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Copyright © 2005 - Carol Fisher