Composting: A Cheap and Easy Way to a Healthy Garden

Composting can do miraculous things for your garden this spring. Compost is technically any form of decayed or decomposed organic material. You can buy it from your local gardening center in bags for a precious penny or you can make your own at home. You have the ingredients readily available. Compost can actually be made without spending a cent and the results are miraculous!

Good compost can be made from almost every imaginable type of plant matter. Yard waste like grass clippings, leaves, pruned plants, and straw are excellent ingredients for rich compost. You can also include sawdust or paper items as long as they have not been treated in any way. It is recommended that you do not add any freshly pulled weeds to your compost as any remaining seeds may germinate inside the compost pile. Finally, vegetable peels and leftover vegetable items can be dumped in as well. Other kitchen items that may be used include used tea bags and egg shells. It is generally recommended that you do not include meat, meat products, dairy, and high-fat items. These will eventually decompose also but have a tendency to attract pests and have an odor.

Other items such as wood ash can be used sparingly. Manure is always an excellent addition and should only come from vegetarian animals. Manure from meat eating animals may contain dangerous microbes and should be avoided. Even lint from your dryer may be added to the pile if the source is cotton clothing.

An affective compost pile needs a good ratio of "brown" items to "green" items. It is difficult to find the perfect combination, but it is often said to use 25 parts "brown" to 1 part "green". Dried leaves, straw, and woodchips would be considered brown items and should be made as small as possible before adding them to the pile. It is often preferred to grind them in a chipper or shredder or mow over them before adding them. The smaller the size of the items the quicker the decomposition. Green items include the grass clippings and vegetable remains and need to be well diluted with brown items in order to avoid clumping or odor within the compost pile.

When selecting a site for your new compost pile, find a level and well-drained area. It is much more convenient if it is relatively close to an outside door if you will be adding kitchen scraps to the pile. This ensures that the pile isn't "forgotten" in the back corner of the yard. In cooler areas, the pile should have direct access to sunlight to allow the temperature to remain high inside the pile. In much warmer climates, the pile should have some shade to avoid drying out. The pile should be started directly on the soil instead of on asphalt or concrete to take advantage of already present microbes, worms, and nutrients.

Some people simply place everything into the pile and wait for the decomposition to occur without any help. This is an effective method of obtaining compost but may take a year or more to achieve any form of usable compost. Other people prefer a more active role. Turning the compost regularly (either in a rotating compost bin or by using a stick/shovel) can speed up the process significantly. Maintaining an internal temperature higher than the outside air and a moisture level similar to a wrung-out sponge are also tactics used to speed up the composting time. Well-made compost will be dark brown, rich, crumbly, and very earthy and easily spread over your garden area.

Compost does so much for the soil in a garden. It improves the texture, structure, fertility, and water-retaining capacity of soil. It feeds natural microorganisms in the soil which will release nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus needed for healthy growth of garden plants. Everyone knows, healthier soil makes healthier plants!