Making a Compost Pile

If you have a garden or a yard and do your own plantings, then you should seriously consider making a compost pile. Learning to compost is quite easy and, when done correctly, can produce a product that is like black gold for your plants.

What Is Compost?
Compost is simply organic material, anything that was once living, that has been broken down by microbes into a substance that looks like fluffy soil. Compost is not fertilizer (although it does return nutrients to the soil) but rather a mixture of organic, decaying matter.

Benefits of Composting
The obvious benefit of compost is its ability to improve soil structure and provide nutrients necessary for plant growth. If you have poor soil, either sandy, heavy clay or nutrient-poor, composting may the answer to your planting woes. An added bonus to creating your own compost is that you will no longer have to collect and haul off waste such as grass clippings and food scraps.

Methods of Composting

• Sheet composting. Experts at Michigan State University say that if you leave the grass clippings when you mow and allow them to decompose, you can skip one application of fertilizer. Do the same with leaves. Don't rake them. Instead, run over them several times with the mower and let them stay where they are. You can also spread your organic waste over the garden.
• Cold composting. For many, a layer of rotting garbage under the roses just doesn't look right. A compost pile may be a better solution. If you live in a country setting without close neighbors and aren't in a rush to use your compost, you can just make a pile from your organic waste. It will eventually rot down to compost.
• Hot composting. Even if you don't live in a country setting, you may still have the option to compost, though you will need a small compost pile that rots quickly without much smell. Hot composting speeds up the decaying process by heating up the pile of waste.

You can buy or build a number of products that will speed up the decaying process and keep your waste pile hidden from view. Compost barrels or compost tumblers take small amounts of organic matter and rot them in a matter of weeks. Turning the compost makes it rot faster, and these compost barrels or compost tumblers make that easy. You'll find them for sale in a number of garden catalogs and stores.

You can also make or buy compost bins. These are just devices to hold small piles of organic matter that you will turn over with a shovel or pitchfork from time to time. You can make them from old pallets, a circle of wire or slats of wood, or you can buy various bins at gardening stores.

The disadvantage of compost tumblers, barrels and bins is that they can only handle small quantites of material. You may need more than one to hold grass clippings or fallen leaves.

What to Compost
If you want to make compost quickly and without much smell, you want to put in equal amounts of juicy matter and dry matter. Compost needs to be moist to begin the decomposition process, but it will smell if it is too wet. If you are managing a compost pile, you may want to store some dry matter for times when you have a lot of juicy garbage.

Things that can used for composting include lawn and garden waste, which includes grass clippings, weeds, leaves, pruned material and dead plants. It can also include household waste such as vegetable peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, rotted fruits and vegetables and some food scraps. You want to avoid putting meat, grease and a lot of sweet food waste into the compost pile. These attract animals and cause odors.

You can also use shredded paper as long as you leave out glossy paper. That's a good way to deal with junk mail. If you have manure and used bedding from farm animals, pile it on. Don't use manure from dogs and cats. This may carry parasite eggs and diseases that are transmittable to humans.

The smaller the pieces that go into the pile, the faster it will decompose. Turning the pile over every week or so will also speed up the process. If you have very dry weather and the compost dries out, it won't decompose. Adding moist matter or water can help.

If you notice a smell from your pile, it is probably too wet or you have added meat scraps. Add more dry material and protect the pile from heavy rain with a tarp.