Organic Gardening Compost

What is Compost?

Compost is natural fertilizer made from decomposed organic waste material. Typically, compost is made from leftover food, grass clippings, leaves, and other natural materials that can be broken down by fungi and bacteria. Using compost in your gardening allows you to provide nourishment for the soil and plants without risk of exposure to potentially dangerous chemical fertilizers.

Making Your Own Compost

The best way to get the compost you need for your organic gardening efforts is to create your own compost pile. Look for a level spot in your yard that has good drainage and is located in close proximity to your garden. Choose an area in your yard, not on your patio. It's best to start a compost pile over soil rather than on a concrete or paved areas.

Many people find that it's very beneficial to section off the area they want to compost with picket fencing or lattice. This will keep the heap from spreading too much and looking unsightly. Ideally, choose a spot that offers protection from the elements, or over which you can place some type of shelter.

If you’d rather not set aside a spot on the ground for a pile of compost, you may want to purchase a compost bin. These containers are specially designed to meet the needs of home composters who want a neat, enclosed option for creating their own organic gardening compost.

What Goes In Organic Gardening Compost?

You can use just about any types of plant based waste materials to make your organic gardening compost. It's important to use waste materials that are rich in nitrogen and carbon. Fresh grass clippings, vegetable scraps, and flower clippings are examples of nitrogen rich materials appropriate for composting. Straw, dried leaves, and wood chips are excellent sources of carbon.

While there isn't an exact formula for making compost, it is true that your pile will need a significantly greater proportion of carbon rich substances than those rich in nitrogen. Ideally, you'll want about 25 times more carbon rich materials than nitrogen rich substances. If there is too much nitrogen in your compost pile, it will almost invariably develop an unpleasant odor. If there is too much carbon, the decomposition process will slow down.

Leaves

If you have trees around your house, it's likely that you have access to a virtually limitless supply of leaves. For this reason, many people use leaves to get their compost piles started. It's a good idea to break the leaves down by mowing over them or running them through a shredder before placing them in your compost pile. This will help them decompose more quickly than if you add them to the pile intact.

While most types of leaves work very well in compost, there are a few types you should avoid using when making your own organic fertilizer. Black walnut trees contain a plant poison, so no parts of them should be used in compost. Eucalyptus leaves can also have toxic effects on plants. You should also avoid using any types of leaves that tend to produce allergic responses in humans, such as poison ivy, oak, or sumac.

Grass Clippings

When you mow your lawn, don't throw away your grass clippings. They are the perfect nitrogen rich addition to your compost pile, assuming you allow them to dry for a day or so before adding them to the heap. If you add fresh clippings, you're likely to end up with an odor problem because they'll clump together and start to generate an odor before they begin to decompose. Of course, if your grass has been exposed to chemical pesticides or fertilizers, they won't be an appropriate addition to your organic garden.

Kitchen Waste

Keep your compost heap in mind when you're preparing and eating your meals. A great deal of the waste generated in your kitchen makes ideal fodder for compost. Keep a compost pail handy when you're peeling fruits and vegetables. Avoid adding meat, dairy products, and foods with very high fat content to your compost pile. Otherwise, just about anything you use to prepare meals can become compost.

Other Items to Compost

While leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen waste are the most commonly used items for compost, these are not the only items you can use. Before you throw organic matter away, stop and think if you might be able to use it in your organic gardening compost pile.

Additional items appropriate for composting include:

• Aquarium water
• Dead plants
• Garden clippings
• Manure (gerbil, hamster, horse, rabbits, etc.)
• Pine needles (make sure to chop them up first)
• Weeds
• Wood ashes (from your fireplace or wood burning stove)

What Not to Compost

Even though you can create compost from many different types of substances, it's important to avoid adding anything that could introduce disease to your soil or garden.

Items you should never compost include:

• Bones
• Dairy products
• Diseased plants
• Fish
• Gypsum boards
• Manure from cats, dogs, pigs, or reptiles
• Meat
• Paper (other than newspaper)

Benefits of Compost

Once you create and get in the habit of adding to your compost pile, you'll have a free supply of fertilizer in your own back yard. Using compost in your garden will enrich your soil and increase your chances of enjoying great organic gardening success.