5 Great Tips For Building A Compost Pile

1. EDIBLE DOESN'T MEAN SAFE! Don't think that as long as its food you can plop it in your compost heap! Not every food byproduct is safe for composting.

DO USE: Vegetable and fruit scrap, bread, grain, cereal, pasta, coffee grounds, teabags, eggshells, coffee filters, and paper napkins.
DO NOT USE: Meat, poultry, seafood, bones, butter, fat, milk, cheese, and greasy food.

2. NOT ALL MANURE IS EQUAL! Neither should you use human or pet feces in building a compost pile. Human waste needs expert treatment to make it acceptable, while using cat or dog feces is just asking for trouble. Make sure that you bury pet feces only where you will never plant things you intend to eat or your family may fall victim to all sorts of diseases. Bird feces are fine – if you know the bird isn't sick.

3. OH, THE SMELL! Many people regret building a compost pile because they can't control the smell – something that is really easy to do! Three things can cause your pile to smell: too much water, insufficient air, and an imbalance in your ingredients. If you use a great amount of food byproducts, but fail to supplement it with dry material, you'll be creating a huge, slowly decaying, stinking pile.

The minute you smell a hint of ammonia, turn the heap, and then add some dry leaves, newspaper shreds, and/or sawdust (but make sure the sawdust isn't from wood that was treated with chemicals). If the smell persists, add some ash from a wood fire. For a sweeter smelling pile, try German chamomile – which is also calcium-rich!

4. ROACH & RAT ATTACK! Your compost pile is only a hop, skip, and jump from your backdoor, so OF COURSE roaches and rats playing in your pile will freak you out! Even before you notice these creatures, you'd do well to use lime in your compost (it will keep ants away too).

Whenever you put food in, cover it with newspaper shreds or soil immediately. Putting in unacceptable food (see no. 1) will also attract these creatures. “Composters” often use a wire screen or fine mesh to protect the pile from mice.

5. PLANT & WEED ALERT! If the plant died from a disease and you toss it in your compost heap, you are putting your future crop at risk. Weeds should be TOTALLY DEAD, TOTALLY DRY. Building a compost pile with live weeds may cause your garden to become overrun by them. So sun them thoroughly for at least two weeks, but lay them on an inorganic surface where they won't take root.