The Art of Composting

Left with an abundance of yard/garden waste and food scraps? Environmentally minded? In need of some free fertilizer for your lawn, garden or houseplants? Then it’s time to get decaying… or rather composting.

Compost is a gardener’s best friend. As you build your own compost pile, bin, or tumbler, you’ll learn to love this nutrient-rich pile of possibility. The “dirt” and humus that are created from your scraps do more than just reduce unnecessary additions to the landfill. They are also essential to revitalizing your garden and providing your household and garden plants with the nutrients they need to thrive.

Thankfully, building your own basic compost pile is simple to do. All you need is green (nitrogen-rich) and brown (carbon-rich) material from your yard waste and household food scraps, and a good place to put it. I’ll cover the different methods of composting in a later post but for now, no matter what techniques you use, it’s hard to misstep. The speed with which your compost breaks down, the efficiency of maintaining your compost pile (to keep the smell and bugs down), and the potency of the nutrient-rich humus your compost creates is a slightly different story. Thus, all of the techniques and tips contained in this article will speed up the process, preserve the nutrients in the compost and help keep it smelling like a bed full of, well… good earth.

Next: Six easy steps to perfect compost

Image: posterize / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1 of 5

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Sarah M.

3:06PM PST on Nov 12, 2011

thanks so much

November 12
send a green star

Kerensa M.

3:41PM PDT on Nov 4, 2011

useful :)

November 4
send a green star

Lynn T.

10:58AM PDT on Nov 4, 2011

Great article! I live in a trailer park so I put my compost in those super large planter pots. They work great as long as the carbon-nitrogen ratio is balanced and you TURN the pile and keep the moisture content right. Plants love it.

Rose N.

11:26PM PDT on Nov 3, 2011

I also ad old news papers to mine

November 3
send a green star

Carolyn D.

2:55PM PDT on Nov 3, 2011

Thanks, this is good information. I need to go out and buy a second compost bin as I dont think my current one will ever be ready if I keep adding to it.

Jo A.

2:57AM PDT on Nov 3, 2011

Thanks for these lessons in composting.

Alex K.

2:28PM PDT on Nov 2, 2011

When I have a place of my own I am going to have a big garden to grow some of my own food as well as a compost bin or bins. Thanks for the info!

November 2
send a green star

Amanda M.

6:07AM PDT on Nov 1, 2011

I grew up composting-my parents had a series of three fenced piles in their backyard and would rotate from one to the other as needed. Now I do it as well; my husband and I lucked out with the house we're living in. Not only did it come with a HUGE (20' x 75', I think) vegetable garden, it also came with one fenced-in compost pile. We added a second fenced-in pile last year so we could "flip" from one to the other instead of shoveling off the "fresh" compost to get to the black gold at the bottom, and every fall we spread it on the vegetable garden to overwinter before the spring tilling. The result? Abundant crops for the table and freezer, and less waste in the garbage! Between composting and recycling everything we can, we only generate maybe two or three kitchen-size bags of trash to be taken to the curb per MONTH! That's pretty darn good for a family of four!

November 1
send a green star

Roxana C.

5:52AM PDT on Nov 1, 2011

I have three composting boxes which I rotate, using each of them for approx. four months, while the two others rest. In this way, every 4 months I have new rich compost ready to use.

Past Member .

4:01AM PDT on Nov 1, 2011

thanks