Why Compost?

Most people who maintain gardens have a large amount of organic waste, from grass clippings to leaves and dead plants. Unfortunately, many waste money and time having these wastes transported to a landfill. It isn't just a waste of good compost; it's a waste of everything that goes into the process of transporting it (the trash collector's time, the money you pay for the removal, etc). It is truly a travesty.

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All this garbage that people are trying to get rid of may possibly be a better supplement for your garden than any fertilizer or chemical. If you properly facilitate the decomposition of all of the garbage, it will alter chemically until it is in such a state that it can be all beneficial nutrition for other plants. Therefore you can turn all the stuff you would have gotten rid of into top grade fertilizer for your garden.

Usually compost is maintained in a pile somewhere in your backyard. Usually the thought of a compost pile brings disturbing images to ones mind; heaps of rotten garbage emitting a horrid odor. However, if you maintain it correctly you'll have the ability to produce great compost without producing an offensive odor. When I first began my compost heap in an effort to improve environmental health, I made several major errors. These included preventing the pile from the oxygen it truly needed, and keeping it to dry. It wound up decomposing in a very non-beneficial way, and producing an odor so foul that I had government agents knocking at my door.

When you are choosing your spot where you will be putting all these materials, you should try for a higher square footage. Having a really deep pile of compost is not a good idea, because generally the deeper sections won't be exposed to anything that is required for the process to work. It is better to spread all of it out over a large area. If you have a shed or a tool shack of some sort, it is a possibility to spread it over the roof (with boards to keep it from falling off, of course). I have seen this done several times, and it helps keep the pile out of the way while still maintaining a large square footage.

A compost heap can be composed of any organic garbage from your yard, garden or kitchen. This includes leaves, grass, any leftover food that won't be eaten, or newspaper (no more than a fifth of your pile should consist of newspaper, due to it having a harder time composting with the remaining materials). Usually if you have a barrel devoted to storing all these things, it will fill up within several weeks. It is quite easy to obtain compost, but the hard part truly can be found in getting it to compost.

After you have begun to obtain a large assortment of materials in your compost heap, you should moisten the whole pile. This encourages the process of composting. Also chop every element of the pile into the smallest pieces possible. As the materials start to compress and meld together as they decompose, frequently head outside and aerate the pile. You can use a shovel to mix everything up, or an aeration tool to poke dozens of tiny holes into it. Doing this will increase the oxygen flow to each area of the pile, and oxygen is required for any decomposition to come about.

If maintaining a compost heap seems like something that would interest you, start considering the different placement options. The hardest part about maintaining a pile is choosing a spot that provides enough square footage without invading the rest of your yard or garden. While usually you can prevent the horrible odors that most people connect with compost heaps, it's still not a pleasant thing to need to look at whenever you go for a walk in your garden.

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