Composting Tips & Techniques
Organic material will naturally decompose on its own, without you having to do anything.
You can help the decomposition happen faster however, when you know the different steps and techniques involved.
Organic material decomposing is all composting is.
You're just doing it on purpose instead of leaving nature to take it's course in the wild.
Making compost yourself can be as simple or difficult as you'd like for it to be.
Some people purposely try and do things a certain way, or in exact ways, and they make much more work for themselves than is needed.
Since composting is a natural process of organic materials breaking down, you don't actually have to do much of anything if you don't want to.
There are two primary approaches to composting on purpose though, and these are often referred to as hot and cold composting.
Sometimes the "cold" variation is also called "no turn" composting, because all you do is add organic materials to your compost pile and leave it be.
Nature will take its course and the materials will start rotting all on their own, without you having to do anything else.
Cold composting, or no turn composting, usually takes longer to get usable compost materials from because the organic matter you add to your pile takes longer to fully decompose.
Many people like to use a hot composting technique because it creates usable compost much faster.
With hot composting, you will find different opinions on the steps to take as well as the materials to add to your compost pile.
Essentially you want enough green materials to generate heat in the pile, and quicken the rate of decomposition for everything.
Green compost materials include kitchen scraps like fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells, wilted lettuce and greens, or rotting vegetables and fruits.
The more green material you add to your compost bin, the hotter it will be and thus the faster it will break down all the materials into usable compost for you.
Green composting materials create smells though, so a hot compost pile may stink if you're not careful.
You can neutralize the smell by adding more brown materials such as dry leaves, straw, hay and sawdust, however these brown materials may cause your compost pile activity to slow down some.
Keeping your compost pile moist will also help it to stay active, as will turning and mixing the compost pile once or twice each week.
A hot, active compost pile will usually yield usable compost within about three months, while a cold pile may take as long as 9 or 12 months to get compost from.
You can help the decomposition happen faster however, when you know the different steps and techniques involved.
Organic material decomposing is all composting is.
You're just doing it on purpose instead of leaving nature to take it's course in the wild.
Making compost yourself can be as simple or difficult as you'd like for it to be.
Some people purposely try and do things a certain way, or in exact ways, and they make much more work for themselves than is needed.
Since composting is a natural process of organic materials breaking down, you don't actually have to do much of anything if you don't want to.
There are two primary approaches to composting on purpose though, and these are often referred to as hot and cold composting.
Sometimes the "cold" variation is also called "no turn" composting, because all you do is add organic materials to your compost pile and leave it be.
Nature will take its course and the materials will start rotting all on their own, without you having to do anything else.
Cold composting, or no turn composting, usually takes longer to get usable compost materials from because the organic matter you add to your pile takes longer to fully decompose.
Many people like to use a hot composting technique because it creates usable compost much faster.
With hot composting, you will find different opinions on the steps to take as well as the materials to add to your compost pile.
Essentially you want enough green materials to generate heat in the pile, and quicken the rate of decomposition for everything.
Green compost materials include kitchen scraps like fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells, wilted lettuce and greens, or rotting vegetables and fruits.
The more green material you add to your compost bin, the hotter it will be and thus the faster it will break down all the materials into usable compost for you.
Green composting materials create smells though, so a hot compost pile may stink if you're not careful.
You can neutralize the smell by adding more brown materials such as dry leaves, straw, hay and sawdust, however these brown materials may cause your compost pile activity to slow down some.
Keeping your compost pile moist will also help it to stay active, as will turning and mixing the compost pile once or twice each week.
A hot, active compost pile will usually yield usable compost within about three months, while a cold pile may take as long as 9 or 12 months to get compost from.
