Organic Compost - The Easy Way
Tom Johnson
Organic compost is the very best material for growing successful crops. Good compost is exactly what your plants will thrive on, simply because it's made up from lots of great organic material. It's also the safest substance in which to grow your flowers and vegetables.
The starting point is plenty of carbon, which is the foundation of a good compost. Get it going by using brown material such as shredded newspaper, dead flowers, dried leaves and straw. A lot of people forget to add these important ingredients, but you won't.
The next layer should be green waste that's full of nitrogen. All your lawn clippings, kitchen waste and green garden prunings should be thrown onto your heap. When we talk of kitchen waste we mean any vegetable peelings, fruit peel or green leftovers, but never any meat!
Then you need to top it off with some soil from your garden. It's very important to remember to add some natural soil to your compost heap to get it started.
So far you've started with a layer of brown waste to which you've added some green waste and then some garden soil. Now you start the process again with another layer of brown material. At this time you should also add some water to dampen your compost, but make sure it's exactly that... damp! It should be just moist, not soaking wet!
You continue adding layers in that order until you've got a pile about 3 feet square. As a rough guide you want to have about three parts brown waste to one part green waste. Keep adding more material to your pile as it becomes available until it's about 3 feet tall.
Every one to two weeks you will get your garden fork (or pitchfork) and turn your compost heap. The object of this execise is to take the material from the middle and move it to the outside and the outer stuff to the center.
As you're turning your pile, if the moisture level is correct, you'll see steam rising from your compost. This shows that decomposition is occurring and that you're using the right amount of water. The decomposing action ceases if you allow your compost heap to dry out.
You can accelerate the process by adding earthworms to your compost pile if you want to, they are readily available at any fishing bait store. The truth is that the resident worms in your garden will quickly find your pile anyway.
To stop your compost heap from being an untidy eyesore you can either make or buy a bin. There are even rotating bins available that make your task of turning your compost over much easier. The choice is yours.
As your compost decays it will turn into a nearly black substance that will have a sweet smell. At this stage it's ready to be mixed into your garden soil to enrich it with all the nutrients needed to grow fantastic crops. It's also excellent for use as potting soil, you don't need to add anything else to it. Over time you will replace all your garden soil with this enriched organic compound and your plants will thrive.
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