How to Make Compost: Nature's Fertilizer
Composting is one way to reduce your own personal carbon footprint while saving money. For thousands of years, composting has been nature's way to recycle waste into a nutrient source for growing plants. Having your own compost pile is easy and an excellent way to extend the life of landfills and to improve soil conditions without using chemical fertilizers.
Items to Compost
- grass and plants
- egg shells, fruits and veggies
- leaves and hay
- coffee grounds
- animal waste from chicken or rabbit
- bread and sauce free pasta\rice
- shredded paper
- fireplace ashes
- sawdust and wood chips
Things to NOT use:
- black walnut and bamboo
- BBQ coals or its ash
- all meat, diary and fatty products
- diseased plants or plants with infested with insects
- yard trimmings treated with pesticide
How to Compost:
- Get a large container with drainage hole.
- Start with brown colors, such as, dry yard scrapsm leaves, hay, wood chips, sawdust which provide carbon and helps to offset nitrogen
- Add green colors, such as, kitchen scraps, fruit and veggie trimmings, yard and grass clippings, animal manure. These are nitro packed items that kick start the process.
- Water your compost pile. Just moist, not soaking wet. Then cover. Do not allow it to dry.
- Turn your compost pile over mixing it up allowing oxygen to reach all items in the pile. why? because organisms need oxygen and they create compost.
- Time. Allows several weeks to months depending on what you put in it. Look for a a nice dark brown color with earthy aroma.