How to Make Compost for Your Lawn or Garden

The absolute best thing that you can do for your garden is give it some nutrients and organic matter in the form of compost. Sure, you can buy it at gardening centers, but once you know how to make compost you won't have to anymore. That's right, the best thing that you can do is free! So grab a shovel and let's get started.

What Is Compost Made From?

A lot of the things in your yard that you might consider waste are key ingredients in compost. This could be grass clippings, twigs, leaves, old annuals or just about any other organic plant material. You can even use peelings from the kitchen or old coffee grounds. All the things we have listed fall into the two general categories of 'green material' and 'brown material'. These two groups, plus water, are the ingredients for our compost. Watch out when you are looking for ingredients not to include any diseased plants or aggressive weeds. Also don't toss anything in that would attract animals, like meat waste. Be mindful of the neighbors and stinky things. If you follow the recipe and pay attention to your compost pile then you won't have to worry about smells, just make sure that you have good ventilation. Activated compost piles reach temperatures from 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and this heat is not only how you know you are doing it right, but this is also what kills the smells, most weed seeds, insect eggs and diseases. When the compost is optimal it will have a fresh, earthy smell to it.

A good ratio is two parts brown material and one part green material. So this would be two parts ratio of materials like cardboard, leaves, twigs, chopped brush, sawdust and other dry material, with one part of more moist, green material like fresh lawn clippings, kitchen scraps, peelings, fruit cores, and eggshells. Any kitchen waste that is not meat or greasy can be used. You can use weeds that you have pulled, just make sure not to use the seeding parts! It is wisest to avoid the very aggressive weeds, but a proper compost pile will kill most of the seeds. If in doubt, do without the weeds.

Secrets Of A Good Compost Pile

The carbon/nitrogen ratio is the first key. This is just a more technical term for 'brown material' and 'green material'. Remember when you are doing things right the pile will be hot in the center. If you are getting a funky smell then you either have too much green material or the pile is too moist, which is our next key. Make sure that the pile is damp, but not dripping. If you don't have any fresh soil, a bag of compost starter or garden soil will help activate your compost pile by adding microorganisms. Make sure you leave room for aeration and drainage: a foundation of twigs or even an old palette make a good base to allow airflow and water drainage.

A Bin For Your Compost

A compost bin is just a fancy place to put the pile. You don't have to have a bin at all. The pile should be somewhere close to four feet by four feet so that it will hold heat, but not bigger than five feet by five feet or there won't be enough oxygen available. You can make the bin out of whatever material you want so think of what is most important to you, whether it be aesthetics or cheap or leftover materials. The only thing that really matters is that you can easily access the pile so that you can turn it.

Turning Your Pile

The maintenance for you pile is going to be turning it once a week. This isn't anything complicated. What you want to focus on is getting all the outside of the pile into the middle and all of the middle on the outside. If your pile is hot, damp and turned regularly then all factors are good!

Conclusion

Following these steps your pile will be well on it's way to completion in one to two months. On the other hand, if you just allow it to set, it may take up to a year. Now you will have a valuable resource whenever you plant herbs or new plants. You can also use it in areas where there are ruts in your lawn - grass will grow great on this fertile ground mixed with a little soil.