Tomato Facts

Through out time, composting has always been the preferred way of fertilizing gardens. Learning how to compost lawn, garden and certain foods and make it into a natural fertilizer can be the best way to save money on fertilizer. And what’s more, it helps you reduce waste. You will know the compost is ready when it becomes dark and crumbly and the organic matter can not decompose any further. Compost will replenish lost nutrients in the soil, improve the plants, eliminate the use of chemical fertilizer, retain water better, and improve bad soil.

So what are the steps required to make your own compost? The most common way is this: 2 parts of brown material mixed with 1 part green material.

A compost pile is a teeming community of micro organisms that help break down organic matter like yard debris into compost. You will need two parts brown material, such as leaves, or anything that contains carbon, to get the micro organisms going. Next one part green material which contains lots of nitrogen will be mixed with the brown material, such as grass clippings, and you have yourself a natural  fertilizer, the perfect formula to promoting large populations of micro organisms that will heat up your yard debris and produce compost quickly.

Use The Following Materials For Composting The Brown Parts:
dried grass, leaves, branches and twigs that have been shredded, straw, newspaper

List Of The Green Material:
Lawn grass, green leaves and hedge trimmings, plants, fruits, vegetables, used coffee grinds

Material You Do NOT Want To Use:
Plants and weeds that have been treated with chemicals, plants with disease, weeds that carry seeds, pet feces, grains or breads, oil, grease

Size Matters
To speed up the composting process, try cutting large pieces. Composting will be completed quicker the smaller the material is. You can use shears to chop garden debris. Use a chipper shredder or lawn mower to shred leafs into smaller pieces.

Make the pile about 3 feet high and about 3 feet in length for quicker compost. Why would the size of the compost pile matter? Because composting actually happens with the heat generated from the millions of microorganisms in the soil. This is a good size to heat up the compost and it will be ready for use faster.

The Importance Of Air And Water
Every form of life on earth needs some amount of air and water to survive. The microorganisms can do their job best when they are supplied with enough water and air. Add a little water to the pile. Getting it wet as a wrung out sponge is ideal. Also make sure there is plenty of air passages for air flow.

If you need information on how to make a compost bin take a look at this website, and see the most recent plans, how to build a shed.