Making compost is an easy process and a great learning experience for everyone. Compost is a great soil amendment, a convenient and eco-friendly alternative to trashing kitchen waste and paper scraps, and is easy enough for anyone from kindergarteners to senior citizens. Learning how to make good compost takes no time at all, and can quickly and easily be put into effect in as little as a few hours over the weekend. There are a couple of steps involved in how to make good compost.
Building the Bin or Receptacle
Composting is essentially the speeding up of naturally occurring decomposition in a controlled environment. This environment, generally a compost bin, box, heap or tumbler, must be suitable for all the complex inner workings that take place during this process. While you're still learning how to make good compost, all the different varieties of bins can seem a bit overwhelming, but as with most things it's best to just jump in with both feet and learn through hands-on application. In general, select a bin that is sized appropriately to your living arrangements (it will generally need to be outside and a little ways away from the house) and also to the quantity of food scraps that you regularly generate.
The first time you experiment with how to make compost is essentially a trial run to figure out the nuances of the process and to see if composting works well with your lifestyle. For this reason we advise starting out with a cheap, recycled or reclaimed bin and upgrading later on if you choose.
What Makes Compost?
Learning how to make compost is more involved than just throwing a bunch of garbage into a box and letting it sit for six months. There are two kinds of materials that must be introduced and arranged in a complementary way:
"Brown" materials including dried leaves, newspaper, cardboard, yard trimmings, straw, sawdust and wood ashes. (Note: certain leaves work better in compost than others, so determine what kind you have in your area and make sure to research them well.)
"Green" materials including fruit and vegetables and trimmings, eggshells, live leaves and grass clippings, coffee grinds and filters, tea bags, hair and aged composted manure.
Conditions in the Bin
Greens and browns must be combined well inside your bin in order for decomposition process to function right. There are worms and microbes in your compost that are what do the actual decomposing and "composting", and while they feed on the green wastes they must have the carbon energy of the browns in order to multiple and slow down the release of nitrogen. This prevents everything from fermenting too quickly and being reduced to a pile of smelly sludge.
The ratio of browns to green is typically agreed upon as 25 or 30 parts brown to 1 part green. This refers more to the amount of carbon versus nitrogen than to the actual amount of brown and green material used. Both materials have carbon and nitrogen in them, however since the brown material is technically "dead" much of its nitrogen has been released, causing it to turn brown. If your brown and green materials are approximately equal than this is more or less sufficient to create the 30:1 ratio. It's always advisable to shoot for a little bit more brown than green.
These materials are put into the compost bin in alternating layers, and watered frequently enough to keep things moist but not wet. (Think the consistency of a wrung sponge.) The pile must be turned every week or so in order to ensure even decomposition throughout all of the compost. And that's about all there is to learning how to make good compost - as you can see, nothing confusing or nasty about it. If you'd like more information on how to make good compost bin or other details about composting feel free to peruse the rest of the website.
Author Resource:
Wunna is a veteran provider of digital work and an experienced wordsmith, and currently writes about subject matter including how to make a compost bin and making a compost bin .
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