Knowing More About DIY Compost
People like you and me plant and grow a garden. We use chemical fertilizer, but it harms the environment, and it costs money.
To grow organic vegetables and gardens, we need to use organic fertilizers.
One you can spend the money to buy organic compost.
Instead of that, you should save money and produce organic fertilizer in your home and enjoy gardening.
What is composting?
The first thing that comes to our mind when we hear compost is organic matter.
In a more subjective term, we can call it a process in which the organic matter turns to organic fertilizer.
Why composting?
Composting adds nutrients to the soil, helps the soil retain these nutrients as well as water, and keeps the soil well aerated.
Compost is made up of yard waste as well as kitchen scraps.
Note: Do not put meat, coal and charcoal ashes, dairy products, animal litter, plants that have been treated with pesticides or herbicides, or diseased plants into the compost pile.
All these materials harm the beneficial microbes and the rest of the materials in the compost pile.
Bacteria and other microbes rapidly multiply in the compost pile.
They are essential in breaking down the material into usable compost. Heat is generated through oxidation, which speeds up decomposition.
As the microbes break down the material, nutrients become available to larger decomposers, which in turn further break down the material.
There are three primary stages to compost:
- Raw material; is comprised of the yard and kitchen waste.
- Half-finished material; an excellent organic fertilizer to add to the garden soil as it will continue to break down.
- Finished material; all the materials are broken down and are great as a top dressing.
The first step in the making of DIY compost:
- The easiest way to make compost is to start with a pile of the yard and kitchen waste in a hole in the ground.
- Dig a hole approximately three feet in diameter and two feet deep.
- Pile the dirt next to the hole, as the dirt will be used during the decomposition period.
- Change layers of waste and dirt. The dirt dug from the compost hole is beneficial as it already contains microbes, earthworms, and other beneficial critters.
- Within a few months, the bottom of the pile will have broken down enough to be used in the garden.
- The turning of the compost pile will speed up the decomposition of the materials.
- A pile that is not turned periodically may become overly wet, and oxygen intolerant bacteria will create a sewer smell.
- Use a garden fork to turn the compost pile. This tool will break up any matted material and will grab more compost than a shovel.
- Compost should only be turned when it is ready.
- If turned while the temperature in the centre of the pile is at least 130 degrees F., the decomposing may slow down.
- At this temperature, the microbes are actively breaking down the material.
- When the temperature in the centre of the pile has dropped to the same temperature as the top of the pile, it is ready to be turned.
- When turned, air and new material are moved to the centre of the pile, and the decomposition cycle starts over again.