Composting 101

     Composting is one of the best things that you can do for the planet and your organic garden.  We have four composts right now.  The first one is a garbage can with holes in the sides and a lid.   The black plastic composter is one that I found in a yard sale for a small amount of money.  It has a lid that twists shut and a chute where the finished compost comes out. Our big wooden compost consists of four wooden pallets wired together on three sides.  The fourth side is the door. Pallets are easy to obtain and they are cheap.

We paid $5.00 each for a pallet.  The simplest compost we have is just a pile of grass clippings and leaves.

This is tilled up and will be my potting soil for next year.

Garbage Can With Holes Drilled

Plastic Composter

Composter Made from Four Pallets

Compost Made Out of Grass Clippings and Leaves

Tilling up the Grass and Leaf Compost

Feeding Your Compost

     A list of the things you can feed your compost is found at:  http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/composting/compost_1.php .  Essentially the rule is no cooked stuff and maintain a balance between greens and browns.  Some people put diluted urine on their composts, but I wouldn't do it, just because I find it gross.  I'd rather put a bunch of Comfrey leaves on it, because the Comfrey acts as a compost accelerator.  Even better is a mixture of Comfrey and water left to sit covered for a couple of weeks.  When you crack open the cover the stink that arises is awful. It is like sewage. However, it is very good for plant fertilizer and for your compost.  I sneak out to my garden and put the water and Comfrey solution on my plants before the neighbors can catch me.  Really, though once you put in on the compost and garden it isn't that bad.  Luckily, Comfrey grows like a weed and it makes an awesome salve that helps bones knit, soothes mosquito bites, and takes the ouch out of arthitis.

Compost ingredients

'Greens' or nitrogen rich ingredients

• Urine (diluted with water 20:1)
• Comfrey leaves
• Nettles
• Grass cuttings

Other green materials

• Raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen
• Tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds
• Young green weed growth � avoid weeds with seeds
• Soft green prunings
• Animal manure from herbivores eg cows and horses
• Poultry manure and bedding

'Browns' or carbon rich ingredients - slow to rot

• Cardboard eg. cereal packets and egg boxes
• Waste paper and junk mail, including shredded confidential waste
• Cardboard tubes
• Glossy magazines � although it is better for the environment to pass them on to your local doctors� or dentists' surgery or send them for recycling
• Newspaper � although it is better for the environment to send your newspapers for recycling
• Bedding from vegetarian pets eg rabbits, guinea pigs � hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings
• Tough hedge clippings
• Woody prunings
• Old bedding plants
• Bracken
• Sawdust
• Wood shavings
• Fallen leaves can be composted but the best use of them is to make leafmould

Other compostable items

• Wood ash, in moderation
• Hair, nail clippings
• Egg shells (crushed)
• Natural fibres eg. 100% wool or cotton

Do NOT compost

• Meat
• Fish
• Cooked food
• Coal & coke ash
• Cat litter
• Dog faeces
• Disposable nappies