By: Chris Dailey

Garden composting has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. Due to the exponential increase in population and the demands that a industrial civilization require in order to sustain itself, the natural processes have been set aside in regard to fertilization of our soil in an attempt to ramp up the production machine and at the same time forget how we used to simply go outside and begin to plant our garden during the planting season.

With the rise of increasing amounts of pesticides and other chemical imbalances in our industrialized food, there is a quiet movement that is growing more loudly each day that is moving toward a more naturalistic society which involves remembering how we used to create the food that we ate everyday. Here are a few tips on how you can begin to create a very rich soil for your new garden through composting the easy way.

The first thing you should know about the purpose of compost is that it is used to enhance the very structure of the soil itself. For instance, a good garden soil does not have a hard, dry consistency to it but it is loose and capable of holding enough water for the plants as well as providing an adequate exit route for excess water and drainage. Good quality compost can even be added to the most clay filled soils and improve their soil structure enough to yield high producing quality crops. Moreover, garden composting will take your average garden and make it into an extremely fruitful and profitable garden if you choose to market your excess yields.

Another important aspect of the composting process is the release of necessary nutrients such as nitrogen to the soil and many who use compost produce excellent garden soil without the need of any kind of fertilizer at all. And while you are doing this, you realize that not only are you saving money by creating compost with recycled garden waste, but you are helping the environment at the same time by not utilizing our many landfills for the organic material that we are accustomed to throwing away.

Now let’s get into how we can use space in our garden to begin the composting process so that later we can begin to mix it in and easily move into the planting process.

Most organic materials will decompose. You should use in your compost pile things such as leaves, grass clippings, and any substance that is organically based such as straw or hay. From your kitchen, you should add things such as coffee grounds, egg shells, and that any organic material such as left over vegetables that were not eaten.

If you are a contractor, you can even add a little sawdust if you believe that your nitrogen to carbon ratio will be too high. Obviously, do not add residue from pets such as dogs in that they are very capable of passing disease into your compost pile. Also do not add things such as grease or any milk products as this will attract any nearby rodent populations which will again add diseases such as Haunta virus to what you are trying to create.

Once you are in a routine of adding these materials to your pile, you will have to wait several weeks for your ingredients to reach a certain temperature. It is during this stage that any remaining disease or organisms will be eliminated because the pile can reach temperatures of 160 .

Basically, this becomes kind of a balancing act between the ingredients that you have added and the results that you wish to achieve. For instance, if you have too much carbon-based material such as paper or well aged cow manure your in your pile, your compost pile will have trouble reaching optimal temperatures in order to eliminate the bacteria that you are trying to kill. Likewise, if you walk past your pile and smell the fresh scent of ammonia, more than likely you have too much nitrogen in the pile. However, in the end, given enough time, your compost will be created.

Once the compost pile is finished, you can then begin mixing this with your soil to enrich your garden area so that your crops produce bountifully and in record time. Other possibilities are that you could use a trashcan or a structure such as a box that you could make in order to hold your compost but if all you have is a tarp that you can place over the compost so that it does not dry out, you are in business in creating the best material on earth for a successful garden venture. Either way, following this very simple system for creating your own compost will take very little time or effort and will generate high yields for you and your organic gardening family.

By: Davinos Greeno

Making compost from garden and household waste is one of the best things any gardener can do. Its easy and costs very little in time or effort.

Making compost will help you reduce pollution and cut down that landfill! Your plants will grow healthier and look happier for it and it will save you money on fertilisers too. Our local council in Manchester has now given us brown bins for us to add leaves, grass and other compost matter into, which is then emptied every two weeks once it has reduced to less than half its size.

What is compost?

Garden guides often describe composting as natures way of recycling.

Composting is indeed a natural way of recycling, harnessing natural processes rather than machinery and man-made chemicals, but it takes people to do it.

Soil maintenance is at the heart of organic growing: dont feed the plants, feed the soil — the plants will look after themselves. The extremely complex subject of soil maintenance can happily be summed up in one word: composting.

A smelly hole at the far end of the garden filled with putrefying kitchen wastes and flies buzzing round. Thats what compost isnt. No stinks, no flies, though kitchen waste is welcome.

Compost is not just decayed organic matter. Composting is applied microbiology at its most complex, involving the interactions of thousands upon thousands of different species of micro organisms in a highly complex ecosystem.

What can I compost?

If it can rot it will compost, but some items are best avoided. Some things, like grass mowings and soft young weeds, rot quickly. They work as activators or hotter rotters, getting the composting started, but on their own will decay to a smelly mess. Recycle your plant-based, kitchen and garden waste by making it into compost.

Older and tougher plant material is slower to rot but gives body to the finished compost - and usually makes up the bulk of a compost heap. Woody items decay very slowly; they are best chopped or shredded first, where appropriate.

A container or brown bin is not an absolute necessity as you can make perfectly good compost in a free standing heap as long as it is large enough. You will see later why this may be a drawback. Assuming then that we need to make a container we are faced with many choices.

Why not make or buy a compost bin? Theyre usually cheap to buy, and are available in wood or recycled plastic (that might otherwise be in your local landfill site). If youre keen you could combine it with a wormery or use a shredder which increases the amount of compostable waste. Do not compost foods such as dairy produce, meat, bread etc as these attract flies and vermin.

How do I know when its done?

That depends. What was a pile of plant material will gradually, from the bottom up, turn into a pile of dark stuff that looks like brown dirt. Eventually, none of the items you put in there will be recognizable. If youre using it out in the garden, a few small recognizable bits wont hurt - theyll finish composting in the garden. If youre using it for houseplants or to start seeds, its better to wait until its well finished so you dont have microbes attacking the fine rootlets of new plants.

Dig it in to have a healthy, fertile garden and your fruit and vegetables can be organic. Dont assume the waste is harmless and bin it. Putting it in landfill costs money and it will produce methane (a global warming gas); also it may pollute the groundwater.

Compost waste often comprises about 20-30% of your total household waste and the impact on recycling is significant.