Composting How To Tips
Composting How To Tip No. 1
KEEPING A YARD NEAT even with a compost pile is easy. If you think a homemade pile or container is unsightly, simply invest in a commercially produced bin or tumbler. Most of them are attractive space-savers that speed up decomposition as well. When you've spent a long time composting how to store your pile becomes especially important since you'll want to make extra space for the abundant food crop your soil is sure to produce!
Your container choices:
* Popular colors – green and black
* Size – directly proportional to household size (e.g., 250 liters for a family of 4 or 5)
* Bins – fixed on (and exposed to) the ground for a slowly decomposing pile
* Tumblers – rotating for faster decomposition through better aeration
* Barrels – rotating wooden tumbler for even better aeration and quicker decomposition
Composting How To Tip No. 2
SPEEDING UP DECAY may not only be achieved by using a specially aerated tumbler, but by choosing the right mix of materials (browns and greens) or by easy methods such as thoroughly crushing eggshells and chopping up wood before tossing them in, or not using hard-to-decompose material (e.g., charcoal, which may also be harmful). Below is a simple guide.
Use 75% or less browns and 25% or more greens:
* Browns – decomposes slowly, therefore crush, chop up, wet down (e.g., wood, straw, sawdust from conifers; but deciduous sawdust decays fast)
* Greens – decomposes rapidly (e.g., fresh plant waste, vegetable scraps, fruit rinds)
Shredding speeds up decay because it increases the surface over which decomposition can take place; while turning speeds up decay because it gives microbes that work on decomposing a pile more oxygen.
Composting How To Tip No. 3
ELIMINATING SMELL is only an issue for improperly kept compost piles. If your pile has the right balance between browns and greens, is properly aerated, kept moist enough, AND uses only correct ingredients, smell will never be an issue.
Remember, rapid decomposition is your goal. Therefore, do not use hard to break down (not to mention unsafe) ingredients, such as meat scraps, bones, processed food, dairy products, and fat.
Also, turn your pile regularly. That is the advantage of using a tumbler that you can just turn every time you put in something; as opposed to a pile where you'll have to grab a shovel and toss your compost pile manually.
Finally, a composting how to guide will not be complete without a brief word about keeping pests away from your pile. Smell is one thing that could attract flies; but if you have that under control, you can simply close your container immediately after you add anything to it. If flies get in there, they may breed. If you use a ground pile, simply cover food scraps with several inches of wood chips or newspaper shreds; or use a tarp to cover the hole.
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