Build Compost In Four Quick And Easy Steps

Build compost in large quantities and you'll become a famous gardener in your neighborhood. It's easy to build compost, but to build the very best product requires both knowledge and skill. Building great compost is part science and part art. It's work, but it's rewarding and fun too.

Composting is a process of decomposition. Bacteria, fungi, nematodes, worms, and all kinds of tiny critters work on organic matter to break it down. This happens very slowly in a natural environment. As compost makers, we can orchestrate that natural process to quickly make superior compost in large quantities.

Build compost properly and you can add nutrients and stable humus to the soil. Compost improves water holding capacity. It encourages the formation of beneficial soil-borne organisms. It also makes soil nutrients more available. Waste can be turned into a valuable product to grow beautiful plants and wholesome food for you and your family.

What are the basic elements of composting?

1. Choose your composting place.

Build compost so it has contact with the soil or soil must be mixed with the compost material. The organisms in the soil contact the compost pile and enter into the process. A well built pile doesn't attract pests, nor smell bad. But consider the neighbors, in case your results are a little less than perfect.

Bins are helpful to contain the materials, but not at all necessary. Various tumblers and containers can be purchased or built but aren't really needed either. Also it's good to have an area for accumulation of the raw materials for the compost pile. You always are accumulating materials to build piles. Usually you will have more than one pile in the process of composting too.

What goes in the compost piles? The supply of compost materials is limitless. Anything that is biodegradable and contains things usable and available to microorganisms can be composted. Avoid any toxic materials of course.

2. Collect your ingredients.

You build compost with two categories of materials: high carbon materials and high nitrogen materials. The two categories overlap. The ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N) for stimulating the composting organisms is 25:1 - 30:1. Finished compost is 14:1 - 20:1.

High carbon materials are usually dry and bulky. Examples are hay, straw, fall leaves, sawdust, pine needles. The C/N ratio varies from 500:1 for sawdust to 12:1 for alfalfa hay.

High nitrogen materials include manures, grass clippings, table scraps, fish meal, cottonseed meal and soybean meal.

Other useful additives can bolster the micro-nutrients of the finished compost. Examples are rock dust, limestone, seaweed, rock phosphate, greensand, and wood ashes.

Activators are available rich in enzymes and microorganisms to boost the activity of the organisms in the material. These speed the reaction and promote more thorough composting.

3. Building the compost pile.

We're trying to start and maintain a controlled aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) fermentation process when we build compost. Generally, if we mix roughly equal parts of high carbon materials and high nitrogen materials, the C/N ratio will be about right.

The particle size is also important. In living topsoil, only about half the total volume of the soil is solid. The remainder is air and water. Our compost should be similar in make-up. So the particle size of our material is best quite fine. Grind or chip very coarse materials like corn stalks if you can. Particle size should be from dust-like up to 1/2 inch in size.

The pile should be moist. Moist to the touch, but not so wet that you can squeeze water out by hand.

Layer in the materials alternating high carbon materials with high nitrogen materials. Add 5 - 10 percent garden soil throughout the pile. Layers can be 6 inches deep or so. Build compost piles 7 - 10 feet wide at the bottom sloping to 1 - 3 feet wide at the top. Keep the height at about 3 - 4 feet and the length a minimum of 3 feet.

4. Monitor the process.

Build compost piles well and microorganisms grow rapidly and temperature will quickly climb. Temperatures may spike up to 170 degrees F over a few days or weeks. Then the temperature will drop off and remain elevated for a few days or up to several weeks. Turning the pile can speed or slow the reactions especially if the mix is less than ideal. If the mix is right, the pile need not be turned or it may need turning only once.

Never fear, even if conditions are far from ideal you'll still get usable compost. If the pile doesn't heat up much, it'll take longer to decompose and the quality may be inferior. It will still do the soil good!

Conclusion

Build compost well and vastly improve your gardening success. Making compost is fun and a valuable skill. It's art for your garden!

To learn more about how to build compost..."the world's best compost"...Click Here!

Al Bullington is a former automotive engineer who enjoys a rural lifestyle with his family. He's an avid compost maker and gardener.