this is Tim from organic backyard gardening for years I've been using only a hundred percent
compost in my garden I've had super healthy plants with excellent yields I made compost
in a simple compost bin made from free materials in this quick video you'll learn why composting is
important and how to do it differences between a bin versa tumbler how to make a compost bin with
free materials and tips I've learned along the way composting should be at the center of every
garden right here in my back yard on the forest floor composting is taking place every day leaves
pine needles twigs are all being broken down by microorganisms and turning into rich nutrient
filled illness to feed and grow new plant life in your garden every time you grow vegetable
nutrients are being taken out of the soil you always want to give back more to the soil than
you take out you want to keep a positive balance the way to do this is to feed the soil by adding
nutrients thus compost any people feed their plants synthetic fertilizers or organic water
soluble fertilizers these only provide short-term gains if the soil is never fed it will eventually
become depleted crops will be starved and always be dependent on fertilizers but what is needed to
make compost well you need green material nitrogen Brown material carbons you need water air and my
current organisms nitrogen's can consist of grass clippings weeds flowers coffee grounds kitchen
waste garden waste and the brown material can consist of things like dry leaves hay twigs so
you don't want to compost or meat fish bread dairy they may attract rodents and smell you don't want
to really compost anything it's like heavy coated paper or large branches so it just won't break
down you can look online for other things that you definitely don't want to compost all of you talked
about the components of composting how does the process take place how do all these things break
down well there's two different ways there's either a hot pile or a cold pile so hot pile is
when you have enough material on hand to make one big pile and you typically use two parts carbon
to one part nitrogen so you put everything into a pile and then anywheres from 24 to 36 hours after
you'll start to heat out it'll get up anywhere from 141 degrees to 155 degrees it'll stay there
for several days or weeks and you can measure this with a thermometer I'll put a link below
you can turn it as the temperature goes down you can turn it to keep keep the reaction taking place
and the good thing about this is it kills weed seeds if you have weed seeds in there see it's
smoking you smell it now a cold pile decays over time you add small amounts and continue adding to
the pile now this may take about a year as where - a hot composting pile will take maybe months now
this won't kill the weed seeds however if you're mulching the garden bed after putting the compost
down you really don't have to worry about the weed seeds growing there are some products on
the market you can buy called compost arters these have microbes and nitrogen in them I've
never used them I don't think it's worth the cost and something I do when I start my compost I will
take take garden soil and throw it into the new pile to make sure that I the microbes there are
some of the key differences between bins verse tumblers well tumblers make it easy to mix the
compost you can mix it by hand right on the tumbler that speeds up the composting time
you can also easily access the finished compost and they look a little more neat in some of the
residential areas however they are quite expensive now with a compost bin they may be a little more
difficult to turn the pile over you may have to use a pitchfork but they are much cheaper and you
can easily make them from recycled material which I'll show you in a few minutes you're finding this
video helpful please click the like button below and click subscribe so how do I compost and how
did I build my compost bin well I first started off by checking Craigslist for free pallets in
the free section and there are a lot of lessening Zand I went out and I grabbed a bunch of pallets
the design I came up with was a two bin system I wanted one bin that I could put all my material in
and let it decompose over time and have another bay that I could put all my finished compost in
to easily access it for the garden the left side consists of four pallets and the first
front pallet is cut in half and it has a hinge so you can easily move the door to the open and
closed position and easily get in and turn the compost with the pitchfork on the right side for
the finished compost I attached two more pallets and I remove the lats and position them very close
together at the bottom sections to make sure that none of the finished compost would fall out of the
open sections I simply screwed all the pallets together in place some designs I saw online you
can put netting on the inside of the pallets so a material doesn't fall out but I haven't really
had that problem many people overcomplicate composting and don't know how to get started
and the best advice I have is to create a simple plan and what I recommend is to build your bin or
get a tumbler start collecting material near the bin I like to collect garden scraps in a
five-gallon pail on my deck with the cover after the last harvest in the fall time take all your
garden waste and put it near the bin collect dead leaves I like to run my mower over the leaves and
shred them up once you have enough brown and greens remember you need two parts carbon to
one part nitrogen build the pile it'll heat up then don't add to it let it finish it'll finish
within several months and could even take up to a year but in the meantime create another pile
nearby so you can continue adding to that pile once that second pile is big enough blood B so
to quickly recap each time you grow something in your garden you're taking out nutrients you
have to make sure you're keeping it balanced in your garden and always feeding the soil not the
plants by using compost in your garden you'll be giving any plants all of the nutrients they need
and you can do this two ways you can use a bin or you can use a tumbler really anything to keep the
material in a pile you need to use two parts carbon to one part nitrogen in hot compost if
you have enough material on hand which is quicker or you can cool compost which takes longer if you
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have any questions or comments post them below I try to get back to everyone thanks for watching