Some call it Black Gold
For most gardeners, this is an indispensable source
of organic material to get great plants in your garden
Let's see how to make compost!
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First let's see what is compost
Compost is nothing but decomposed organic matter
Soil Micro organisms like aerobic bacteria
& fungi as well as earthworms decompose
organic matter into nutrient rich fertilizer/soil amendment
Let's see what materials you need to start composting
These 30 gallon trash cans which you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot
are a great starting point
They are cheap and rugged and make great composters.
The first step in setting up your compost bin
is to make sure you drill holes all around the compost container
This will allow the air to come in and oxygen is very much needed
for the composting process to complete
Make sure you drill holes all around the container for good airflow
So once completed your container should look like this
And as you can see it has a lot of holes here
which will allow you to start your composting process very easily
I usually use 2 or 3 composting bins
The composting process can take up to 6 months
So while one of my compost bins is preparing the compost
I can continue to add organic matter
in my other bins and that way it that ensures I have compost whenever I
need it
Now let's look at what I add in my compost bin
The easiest things to add are vegetable and fruit scraps
They make excellent "green" additions to the compost bin
And this is so easy
All you do is collect all the left over peels & rinds of vegetables and fruits
And add it to your compost bin
I also rake in leaves under my trees
Guava leaves in this example
And they are a great "carbon" source for the bin
So you can use leaves from any trees
Just avoid pine needles because they are acidic in nature
Other than that all dried leaves are good to go into your compost bin
Other than this, left over roots and other parts of plants that you've harvested
Make excellent additions to the compost bin
So what I usually do is pick out all the plant remains
After I have recycled my containers
And you can find a lot of organic matter in your container soil
And instead of using this soil again
I just toss it into my compost bin
So that it's well composted and then it can be used
I also add a layer of used potting soil
which has the soil micro organisms
that kick start the composting process
You can use any kind of soil for this purpose
You can even add earthworms to your compost bin
These worms will happily eat all food scraps
And convert it into nutrient rich fertilizer
So here are some things that you can add to your compost pile
Coffee and tea grounds (but not made with milk)
Egg shells ,hair, vegetable and fruit peels/scraps
plant remains, leaves, greens or dry, grass clippings
straw/hay, any parts of plants
shredded newspaper and cardboard
and wood chips or saw dust
This is what you should not be adding to your compost bin
anything that's cooked, meat/bones
human or pet waste since they spread diseases
pine needles, use sparingly because they are acidic in nature
In general a compost bin needs to have an equal mix of "green" matter
which provides Nitrogen
And "brown" matter which provides carbon
This in addition to air and water
helps micro organisms turn organic matter into compost
Maintaining your compost is pretty simple
Since composting process needs 3 key things
Aeration - which you can do by turning your compost with a garden fork
or dump the compost on a tarp and then put it back
Moisture - keep the pile moist but not wet
And add in a compost activator like Blood Meal or organic fertilizer
This helps speed up the composting process
So the composting process takes 2 months to 6 months to complete
Its faster when the temperatures are high
Once the process completes, you should no longer be able to
see the original components
The compost just looks like this
So I hope you liked this episode on
how to make your own compost
And this is the technique I use to make my own compost
And I'd love to hear from you what your techniques are.
I'll see you again soon...Happy Gardening!
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