How to Make Your Own Compost

Credit to : blog.yourgardeningtools.com

 

So Why Make Compost?

 

There are so many benefits to creating your own compost that I think it’s not only worth the effort, but an integral part of your organic gardening system.

1. Wherever you make your well made compost heap it will get so hot that the soil underneath it ‘burns’, along with any weeds – so it will even kill Couch or Kikuya grass. Native soil life can bury down under the hot surface area to survive. Enough nutrients leach down into the soil under the heap for them to feed on. This area under your compost pile becomes a very fertile, cleared planting bed – too good to waste by building the next compost pile in the same place. Consider building your next compost pile where you want your next planting area.

2. Compost gives an initial quick boost to the population of soil micro-organisms when you are first establishing an area. Using compost to plant out (at least for the first time) provides your garden beds with starter cultures of micro-organisms.

3. Use your compost to create your own seedling raising and potting mixes. Combined with worm castings and river sand, compost based seedling raising mix has the right texture, water retaining and draining qualities and is nutrient-rich enough to give seedlings and cuttings a great start.

4. To provide additional nutrients in the garden when planting out heavy feeders following another heavy feeder.

5. To incorporate organic matter into the garden that isn’t suitable for feeding to the chooks. So many household and garden materials can go into creating wonderful nourishment for your plants that would have to be otherwise disposed of. By turning it into compost instead, you are greatly reducing the burden on the environment while keeping yourself fit in the process.

6. Compost is often used as a nutritious layer of mulch, reducing evaporation and helping keep down the weeds.

 

The Simple Science of Making Compost

Compost is a living culture – a colony of micro-organisms that convert organic matter into humic acid, locking up nutrients in large molecules that are not readily water-soluble.

This means that they don’t leach out of the soil like soluble fertilisers do, and that the nutrients are not ‘force-fed’ to your plants as they take in water. Plants can absorb and digest these nutrients with their feeder roots, taking just what they need for healthy growth.

Making compost is a process of cultivating micro-organisms. As with all living things, for them to do well they have specific needs which have to be met. Your compost heap will flourish if the micro-organisms are given enough water, air, carbon-rich food, not too much nitrogen-rich food, micro-nutrients, an acid environment and heat.

• Water comes from wetting down each layer of the pile when making (and turning).
• Air comes from allowing holes in the pile, using some ingredients that are bulky (providing air pockets), not compressing the pile and turning it over etc.
• Carbon-rich food comes from dry-ish or woody plants like hay, straw or dried leaves, cardboard and paper.
• Nitrogen comes from green plant materials (such as lawn clippings, comfrey, azolla and legumes) animal manures and human urine. (Urine needs to be diluted and allowed to stand for 24 hours before use).
• Micro-nutrients come from mixing in as broad a variety of materials as possible, including herbs, weeds, seaweed and waterweeds.
• The acidic environment occurs on its own accord, providing you do not add lime, dolomite or wood ash to your pile.
• Heat is generated by the compost micro-organisms themselves. You need to help conserve it. You can do this by having the minimum surface area – the best shape that does this is a sphere, but a dome shape is close enough.

 

What Can I Compost?

If it can rot it will compost, but some items are best avoided. Some things, like grass clippings and soft young weeds, rot quickly. They work as ’activators’ or ’hotter rotters’, getting the composting process started, but on their own will decay to a smelly mess.

Older and tougher plant material is slower to rot but gives body to the finished compost - and usually makes up the bulk of a compost heap. Woody items decay very slowly; they are best chopped or shredded first – the smaller the ingredient, the quicker it will break down.

For best results, use a mixture of many types of ingredients. The right balance is something you will learn with experience.

Compost ingredients

1. Activators :

• Comfrey leaves
• Yarrow
• Young weeds
• Grass cuttings
• Chicken manure
• Pigeon manure
• Human Urine

 

2. A balanced diet

• All biodegradable kitchen waste
• Tea bags
• Coffee grounds
• Old flowers
• Bedding plants
• Old straw & hay
• Vegetable plant remains
• Strawy manures
• Young hedge clippings
• Spent hops
• Feathers
• Seaweed (Kelp preferably – washed)
• All nut shells and husks
• Egg shells
• Prawn heads, crab & crayfish shells
• Vacuum cleaner dust
• Human & animal hair and nail clippings
• Soft prunings
• Perennial weeds
• Gerbil, hamster & rabbit bedding

3. Other compostable items

• Cotton rags (unprinted)
• Cheesecloth
• Cardboard
• Jute bags, Hessian and Canvas
• Paper towels & bags
• Butchers’ paper
• Cardboard tubes
• Egg boxes

 

4. Slow cookers - very slow to rot

• Autumn leaves
• Tough hedge clippings
• Woody prunings
• Sawdust
• Wood shavings
• Old under-felt (not chemically treated)

 

5. Do NOT compost

• Coal & coke ash
• Cat or Dog litter & faeces
• Disposable nappies
• Glossy paper or magazines

Credit to : blog.yourgardeningtools.com