Turning the compost once a week should be plenty, but to speed up the process, mix the compost every few days to introduce more air and move materials from the edges to the middle. The heat in the middle of the pile can reach up to 150 degrees F. Air needs to be introduced by turning the compost with a fork, an aeration tool, or a rolling composter.Īs the microbes work to break down the materials, the compost heap will become warm. Packing layers of green and brown materials into a compost bin will not make compost alone. Just be sure not to replace the browns with fallen leaves, or your compost will be too wet and stinky. You can choose to compost these materials from the garden on their own or mixed in with the 1 part green / 2-3 part brown mixture. Leaves and chopped-up clippings are excellent for compost and can decompose readily on their own, without needing additional greens or browns. Deciduous leaves that have fallen and turned brown, as well as chopped up tree and shrub clippings, have higher nitrogen balance than true “browns.” Check Out These Other Articles on Smart CompostingĪre Fallen Leaves a “Brown” for Composting?Ĭolour alone is not a good indication of what is considered brown materials.Frequently Asked Questions About How to Compost.Fruit Flies, Maggots, and Rats, Goodbye!.What Will Make Compost Break Down Faster?. So, let’s learn how to compost, shall we? Eventually, those items will break down and create compost, but it is much faster, cleaner, and more effective when you know the proper compost recipe. Instead, it releases harmful methane gas into the environment.Ĭomposting isn’t difficult, but it isn’t as simple as just throwing your kitchen scraps and garden cuttings into a heap and checking on it a year later. But throwing vegetable and garden scraps in the trash means it will be surrounded by garbage and not have the proper recipe to decompose. Some people mistakenly assume that compostable materials thrown in the garbage will break down and feed the soil in the landfill. Even if you only have a small garden, learning how to compost is one of the most important activities you can do to save money and prevent waste from unnecessarily ending up in a landfill.
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