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Composting Council Article
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Step by Step Composting
from: Lawn and Garden MagicOrganic matter tends to decompose naturally, however, you can help make this easier by learning the process of composting.
Having your own compost can be easy or difficult, depending on how you do things and manage your time.
Hot or Cold?
There are two basic ways to compost -- either hot or cold. The cold type is the easier way to go. All you have to do is leave the pile to rot, which is the point of composting. Gather useful materials for your compost including matters such as leaves, grass trimmings, vegetable peelings, fruit scraps and all the waste available in your garden. However, this method takes a long time because you aren't really helping the materials on the pile to disintegrate faster.
This is the main difference in your second option, the hot type. For this type of composting, there's an art and method to follow starting from the time you put your materials in bags or compost bins. Some people recommend you place the green leaves first, add soil, then add your kitchen waste.
These include the peelings of vegetables and fruits, eggshells plus other table scraps. Just don't add materials that will attract unwanted visitors to your compost such as excess food, especially meat.
You must keep the pile holding up your compost moist, but at a moist level. Your pile mustn't be totally wet. To do this, add just a bit of water to the pile periodically or when you feel it's necessary. Some gardeners suggest using beer instead of plain water. Beers contain yeast which will then make the bacteria on the pile very content.
Your compost pile should always be maintained. Along with keeping it moist, you need to add onto the trimmings as well as the soil whenever necessary. You can also add some manure to help advance the decomposition process and also take the time to turn the pile regularly. This helps air circulation to improve and makes the process faster.
When do you know the end result is ready to be used? If it smells like earth and it looks like dark soil, then it's time to get it out of the bin and use it in your garden.
Some gardeners feel the product of compost alone won't make your garden soil completely healthy. You must aid this with other materials and use the compost the way you use a conditioner on your hair. It can be treated as an amenity, but not the total package.
To make the process easy for you, remember that you're doing this for the sake of nature. You're giving back what it's given you. Look around you very closely before starting the process. Your location should be good enough to accommodate the process and shouldn't cause any inconvenience to your neighbors or the members of your family.
Composting is a great addition to your arsenal of gardening techniques and is easy to do.
Composting Council News