Keeping a Compost Heap

Many gardeners generate a large amount of organic waste, ranging from grass clippings to leaves and dead plants. Unfortunately, many people waste money and time having their trash transported to a landfill. It's not just a waste of good compost; it's a waste of everything that goes into transporting it (the garbage collector's time, the money you pay for removal, and so on). It is a heinous crime.

All of the garbage that people are trying to get rid of could be a better fertilizer or chemical supplement for your garden than any fertilizer or chemical. If you properly facilitate the decomposition of all garbage, it will change chemically to the point where it can be nothing but beneficial nutrition for other plants. As a result, you can turn everything you would have thrown away into high-quality fertilizer for your garden.

Typically, compost is kept in a pile in your backyard. Typically, the thought of a compost heap conjures up images of rotten garbage emitting a revolting odor. However, if you properly maintain it, you will be able to produce excellent compost without emitting an offensive odor. I made several major mistakes when I first started my compost pile in an effort to improve environmental health. These included denying the pile the oxygen it required and keeping it dry. It decomposed in an unfavorable manner, emitting a foul odor that had government agents knocking on my door.

When deciding where you will store all of these materials, you should aim for a larger square footage. A very deep pile of compost is not a good idea because the deeper sections will not be exposed to anything necessary for the process to work. It is preferable to spread it out over a large area. It is possible to spread it over the roof if you have a shed or a tool shack of some kind (with boards to keep it from falling off, of course). I've seen this done before, and it helps to keep the pile out of the way while still maintaining a large square footage.

Compost heaps can be made from any organic waste from your yard, garden, or kitchen. This includes leaves, grass, and any unfinished food or newspaper (no more than a fifth of your pile should consist of newspaper, due to it having a harder time composting with the rest of the materials). If you have a barrel dedicated to storing all of these things, it will usually fill up within a few weeks. The easy part is getting compost; the difficult part is getting it to compost.

When you have a large variety of materials in your compost heap, you should moisten the entire pile. This promotes the composting process. Also, cut each element of the pile into the smallest possible pieces. As the materials begin to compress and meld together as they decompose, go outside and aerate the pile on a regular basis. You can mix it all together with a shovel or poke dozens of tiny holes into it with an aeration tool. This will increase the flow of oxygen to each part of the pile, and oxygen is required for any decomposition to occur.

If maintaining a compost pile sounds like something you'd be interested in, start thinking about the various placement options. The most difficult part of keeping a pile is finding a location that provides enough square footage without invading the rest of your yard or garden. While you can usually avoid the foul odors that most people associate with compost heaps, it's still not a pleasant sight to see whenever you go for a walk in your garden.