How to Make Compost in Your Garden

How Do I Make My Own Compost?

Home composting is an excellent idea to help the environment as well as delivering major organic benefits to your garden. You can compost lots of waste from the kitchen and the garden, composting your food waste, peelings and even egg shells from the kitchen and weeds and dead plants from your garden. 

There are a few basics you need to follow for successful composting.

What Can I Put in My Compost Bin?

Getting an even balance of “brown” and “green” in your compost heap is very important, examples of these are listed below:

Green                                   Brown

Food scraps                         Leaves

Grass clippings                    Straw

Egg shells                            Wood Chippings

Weeds                                 Saw Dust

Feathers                              Tea and Coffee

Dead Plants

                                                               

Brown ingredients provide energy and green ingredients provide nitrogen. If your compost is too wet, add more browns material if it is too dry add more greens.

Do I Need a Compost Bin or Composter

If you like to keep your garden neat a bin or composter is a good idea, If you have a composter choose a part of the garden which is level and well-drained this will ensure that any excess water drains away easily. Worms can also easily access the composter to help with breaking down the contents.

What Tools Do I Need For Composting?

Very few tools are needed for composting, turning is one of the most important tasks and if you do not have a tumbling composter this is where a little bit of hard work is necessary, keeping the compost turned and aerated is very important and will significantly increase the speed of composting, turn weekly if possible, you can buy a compost aerator to help with this task..

The Benefits of Compost to Your Garden

Compost will release nutrients slowly into the soil, with better soil comes better harvests. 

What Not to Put in Your Compost Bin

Meat and dairy products, ashes from charcoal barbecues as it contains sulphur oxide. Ashes from wood stoves and fireplace are also bad due to its alkaline content. Plant material that has been insect infested, some insects can survive composting.

Should I buy Worms for My Composter?

Worms will help with breaking down the compost, they eat the waste material and convert it into liquid feed and compost.

How Can I Speed Up the Compost Process?

You can use a compost activator, these contain enzymes which can sometimes half the time normally taken to create compost.