By: Vicki Duong

As an avid gardener who takes advantage of the many benefits that composting has to offer, I can tell you that right from the start I had no idea what I was doing and what I had gotten myself into! I had a rough start to begin with and I’ll admit, it’s not like I was born with composting knowledge. I mean, I read up on a few articles and blogs that you’re not supposed to use any meat, bones, dairy products and animal fats in any of your compost bins or piles. Yeah, that’s common sense, but I wasn’t aware that there were other tender, loving, caring efforts that you still needed to implement into your compost heap.

For instance, you have to make sure that your compost heap is consistently aerated. Okay, so I didn’t quite grasp that at the first time I tried all this. Learn from my mistake here, folks, it’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. There are plenty of compost tumblers out there on the market that make aerating your compost really quite easy and fun. A lot of models actually include a rotating bin or a handle that allows you to wind up your bin, which circulates heat and oxygen within the compost matter. Without proper air circulation, the organic matter in your compost won’t be able to break down quickly and properly, and chances are will make things smell a bit rotten. Believe me, you don’t want to know what that smells like! Websites like Composters.com will definitely offer you a selection of compost tumblers and compost bins.

Bad odor is usually something that not everyone is too fond of and it’s even worse if it’s coming from your compost bin. But with some proper TLC, you can either avoid the problem or fix it altogether. One way to do this is to figure out what there’s too much or too little of. If it smells kind of like cat urine or ammonia-like, you may have way too much yard wastes in your compost. If it smells like wet dog, or maybe wet organic matter, then you need to start adding some dried leaves and maybe some hay and turn your compost; this will absorb all that excess moisture while adding heat to your pile.

With proper maintenance and tender, loving care, you’ll eventually be able to achieve the ideal compost pile for all your gardening needs. It’s a bit of a challenge in the beginning, but soon enough you’ll be able to figure out for yourself just what you need and how much of it is necessary for your compost pile.

By: Warren Peters

The best organic fertilizer comes from your garden. Don’t throw out the grass. If managed properly, grass can be the answer to your composting problems. With a little effort and care, you can keep the grass from rotting. All you have to do is take a few precautionary measures to succeed in your goal of making the perfect compost heap.

When you trim your lawn, allow the blades of grass to fall on the lawn. Your lawn mower can do it for you if you make a slight alteration. Detach the grass catcher and mow your lawn as you usually do. The grass automatically falls out wherever it’s been cut. Ensure that the mower blade is sharp and the grass is absolutely dry before you begin your operation, else the lawn mower will get clogged.

You now have your own natural fertilizer. This process is known as grasscycling. It is economical and saves you the time and bother of clearing the grass or putting the blades of grass into bags. However, this strategy may not be viable if you have toddlers and pets.

If you wish to do things in a more conservative way rather than resort to grasscycling, here’s how you go about making an effective grass compost heap. Fresh mown grass contains moisture and is rich in nitrogen. There is a tendency for the moist grass to stick together, thus preventing the oxygen from penetrating.

If you simply pile up the grass, it will turn slimy and rot. The smell is offensive, to say the least. The best way to prevent the grass from caking up is to layer it with materials that have high carbon content. These browns comprise leaves, twigs or wood chips. These are placed in between the layers of grass and give the heap a looseness that allows the oxygen to penetrate.

In order to help the oxygen circulate, it would be wise to aerate the pile by turning the contents over, frequently. You don’t want the heap to turn into a slimy, putrid mass!

If you have more grass than other materials, you should avoid stacking up the grass to form one huge unmanageable pile that could go bad simply because of the abundance of grass. You could have many piles that are easier to manage. When you regularly turn each over through the summer, you will notice them turn into compost at which time you could lessen the number of piles by combining them.

If space is your constraint and you find it difficult to manage a number of heaps at once, dry the newly cut grass in the sun. Spread the grass anywhere in your yard and allow it to sun-bake the whole day. Once the moisture and the sourness go out of it, you can start your compost heap.

The one thing to avoid is to have chemically treated grass on your compost heap. In case you have used pesticides or herbicides to promote grass growth on your lawn, don’t cut the grass for fertilizer, unless a good shower of rain has washed the residue out.

Adding lime to the heap of grass for compost is a good idea to hasten the breaking down process. This is also the surest way to prevent mold formation, which is responsible for the foul smell.

With these tips, you could make your own fertilizer out of grass clippings. Not only is the method economical but it also gives you a sense of achievement when you see your garden flourish.

By: Ellen Bell

One of the biggest complaints people have about composting is that it smells.  And in some cases, this is true.  When organic materials are heaped up in a pile and left to sit, they essentially rot, and we all know that rotting food and plants are going to smell.  But did you know that composting doesn’t have to stink?  It’s true!  In this article we’ll explain the 3 simple steps that anyone can follow to go from smelly to odor free composting.

The first step in odorless composting is to understand the two basic methods of composting: aerobic and anaerobic.  As the name would suggest, aerobic composting requires air, specifically oxygen, to be successful.  Anaerobic composting, on the other hand, is what occurs when the compost isn’t exposed to the air.

The primary differences between aerobic and anaerobic composting are speed of decomposition and odor created.  Aerobic bacteria work very quickly and efficiently.  Compost that’s properly aerated can decompose to a finished product within a month or two, under the right conditions.  Anaerobic bacteria, on the other hand are very inefficient, sometimes taking as long as a couple years to produce finished compost.  Anaerobic bacteria also product methane and sulfate gasses as a byproduct of the composting process.  These gasses are bad for the environment; they are greenhouse gasses that deplete our ozone.  Furthermore, these are the gasses that smell offensive to humans.  When we think of a smelly compost heap, what we’re really thinking of is anaerobic composting.  Aerobic bacteria, on the other hand, do not produce these gasses, thus the reason that aerobic composting results in little to no odor.

One of the best ways to ensure that your compost is aerobic is to use a compost tumbler.  These drum-shaped devices are usually mounted on an axel so they can spin or rotate freely.  The action of the compost turning and tumbling inside the bin aerates the material, providing the necessary oxygen for the aerobic bacteria to do their job.

If you don’t have a compost tumbler, or simply don’t want to invest in one, you can encourage the growth of aerobic bacteria in a regular compost heap by simply turning the material on a regular basis.  You may want to invest in a long handled tool such as a large shovel or pitchfork to make the turning process easier.  Regardless of whether you have a compost tumbler or a basic compost heap, you should aim for turning the material every 2 to 3 days for best results.

The second step in odorless composting is to maintain the appropriate ratio of browns and greens in the bin.  Examples of browns, or carbon rich materials, include dried leaves, shredded paper, sawdust, and dryer lint.  Examples of greens, or nitrogen rich materials, include green grass clippings, vegetable or fruit peelings, cooked rice and pasta, and seaweed or other aquarium plants.  If you get compost bin with too many greens, the material will begin to smell.  This is easy to adjust by simply adding more browns.  In addition to the items listed above, other browns might include peat moss, pencil shavings, shredded paper napkins, coffee grounds, chopped hay or straw, potting soil, nut shells, and tea bags.  Finished compost will also act as a brown material.

The third and last step in avoiding a smelly compost bin is to keep out all meats, eggs, and dairy products.  When the proteins in these items break down, they create an unpleasant odor.  Also to be avoided are any fatty wastes including butter, shortening, cooking oils, lard, and other animal fats.

And that’s all there is to it!  With 3 simple steps, you can change your smelly and slow compost heap into a lean, mean, and odorless composting system that will turn out finished compost in a matter of weeks.  So what are you waiting for?  Begin your odorless composting system today!

By: Warren Peters

There’s so much waste that is generated in gardens every day. You’ll find leaves, dead plants, twigs and grass clippings. It takes too long and probably involves a lot to take it to a landfill so what do you do?

The simplest solution is to start a compost heap saving a lot of time and money, not only yours but others as well if you were thinking of paying the garbage disposal people and getting them to take it away. Especially when all this waste can be converted into excellent food for your plants.

Food that’s better as far as your plants go than any fertilizer you can buy. The great thing is that every bit of all that stuff that you consider waste can be turned into nutritional and beneficial food. You get the best fertilizer going without having to buy it paying so much for it.

Unfortunately, compost usually means rotting heaps and awful odors to most peoples minds. This need not be the case if you mange your compost heap well. You need to maintain it so that it gives you great compost without smelling to high heaven.

What you need to make sure of is to see that the heap gets enough oxygen. For this, you will have to turn it over periodically. If you don’t, you’ll probably have the neighbors banging on your door or worse still, you could have the authorities coming to check what you’re up to.

When you start off with your compost heap, try and make sure the area you allot for it is shallow and covering a larger area that a deep and smaller area. This is because there are more chances that the deeper it is, the less likely that the bottom portions will be turned out so that they get exposed to the air.

The best thing would be if you had some kind of a flat surface like the roof over your shed to spread it out on. This way, you get it spread over a large area.

Now, what goes into the compost heap? Any kind of organic waste from your kitchen or garden. So you could put in your vegetable peels, leftovers, leaves, grass, twigs and even newspaper ? but remember not too much of newspaper, just one-fifth of the total volume or it will take longer to compost. This is the easy part ? getting everything together. Now you need to get the compost going and that?s a little tricky till you get the hang of it.

Once you have piled up a whole lot of stuff in your compost pile or bin, you should wet it. It?s easier for the material to get moist if they have all been broken up or ripped up into small pieces. Soon, you’ll find this moist mass beginning to meld together.

You need to prod it along by turning it over once in a while with a shovel and making sure it stays wet. You could also use one of those aeration tools you get and poke it into the mass, making holes in it. This is to get the oxygen into the pile as that makes for quicker decomposing.

Interested? Then start off by deciding where in your garden you would like your compost heap to be. It shouldn’t be a source of intrusion or take away from the beauty of your garden in any way. Find a place where it is tucked out of sight and you are ready to begin.