How To Prepare Your Own Compost At Home

In a modern city set up, the closest you can be to nature is in your very own garden. If you are the one whose garden is more important than the actual house and you maintain quite an impressive veggie patch in your garden, then this article is definitely for you.

With all the buzz surrounding organic farming, you must wonder how organic compost can be helpful to keep your plants lively and healthy. Organic products are also said to greatly benefit human health as well. But are you aware of what exactly is organic farming?

Organic farming is where the produce is grown through natural methods, without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This leaves you wondering how to provide the growing plants with all the essential nutrients that it requires. Well, the source of their health is freely provided by nature itself in the form of compost.

Organic compost is said to be the best fertiliser for plants as it provides the right kind of nutrients required for their growth.

Below are a few benefits of using organic compost instead of fertilizers laden with chemicals -

1) It improves soil structure and helps it holds just the right amount of moisture for the plants to grow.

2) It helps control weed growth and ensures all the nutrients of the soil reach the plant.

3) Organic compost contains the right amount of nitrates to improve soil fertility.

But store-bought compost may not be that organic after all, as advertised. The best way to ensure that you give your plants pure organic compost is to make some yourself. That's right!

Making compost is a very easy process, although a bit time taking. But all the waiting will surely be worth in the long run. Also, it only requires your kitchen and garden scraps to be converted into a rich fertiliser for your plants.

Here is a step by step procedure to make your very own garden compost at home -

1) Choose A Suitable Place-

This may be the trickiest part of the procedure. Choosing a good location to make your compost is essential. The ideal location needs to be away from your main house, if it gets too smelly. Also, the place shouldn't be too sunny or shady with easy access to water and air. You can either dig a pit for the purpose or use a bin.

2) Start Adding Your Materials-

All vegetable scraps can go into the composting pit. Egg shells can be added as well. Waste from your garden such as leaves or grass clippings can make for good composting material. Interestingly, newspapers too can be added. Manure is essential in the mix but make sure it is only from grass-fed animals as the waste of carnivorous animals contains harmful microbes.

Wood chips also make for a great addition. It is important to have brown and green matter in equal proportions along with sufficient water to start the breeding of good bacteria.

3) Keep A Close Watch-

Now that you have started the process, it is important to maintain it. The compost has to be turned around every week to aerate the mixture and give room for the growing bacteria. Keep adding water as well. Just make sure that the mixture is not too soaking wet or dry.

In the next 2-3 months, you may have your compost ready when it is semi-dry and has a pleasant earthy smell to it. You can mix the nutrient-rich compost with the soil and give your plants the perfect boost of nutrients.

These are the things that you should remember -

It is common to make errors while making a compost. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind during the process-

1) You may note that your composting mixture becomes less in volume as the time passes. Just keep yourself away from adding more materials to the compost.
2) It is important to maintain the right temperature of your composting pit as it allows for easy multiplication of the good bacteria.
3) You can add some well-matured cow dung to help kick start your de-composting process as the nitrogen in the dung will break down the matter sooner.
4) It may be wise to shred everything you add into the composting into smaller pieces as the smaller the pieces, the faster they will break up.
5) If you find that the composing matter is too wet, you can add some dry brown material to it.
6) If it is too hot, try to add some green material to turn down the temperature.
Making your own compost is definitely a good way to reuse your scraps and stay away from unwanted chemicals.