Cathy Cromell

By composting food scraps, yard waste, and other ingredients, you create nutrient-rich compost to add to your garden and landscape, and you minimize the waste sent to landfills. Home composting is a great way to be greener and do something good for the environment while seeing major benefits right at home.The benefits of adding compost to your gardenComposting provides you with rich organic matter that does wonders to improve the quality of your garden soil.

Different types of compost bins are available, including tumblers, bins, and kitchen composters. There are numerous options to suit different situations. Choosing the right bin for your composting needs can be confusing. But if you want to start container composting, here's a run-down of the available container types.

If you live in a place where digging holes in the ground is no big deal, you can make a pit compost. The following info helps you add anaerobic composting to your repertoire. Good choices for your pit compost include areas where you want to add a future garden bed or between rows of existing garden beds. Avoid marshy areas or low spots with wet soil or poor drainage.

One inexpensive option for making your own compost container is to use a large, recycled garbage can. Contact the department responsible for trash pickup (it may be called solid waste disposal) in your area, whether it be a town, city, county, or other office. Many communities recycle their no-longer-useable garbage cans as compost containers to residents, either free or for a nominal fee.

Wood shipping pallets are a great option for creating highly effective composting systems, especially when you have a lot of organic matter to process. You can build a compost bin from wood pallets in a few easy steps. The whole process is described here, but first take a look at the pros and cons of using pallets to make your bins: Advantages: They're free and the perfect size!

Composting provides you with rich organic matter that does wonders to improve the quality of your garden soil. Whether you sprinkle compost on the surface of the soil or work it in, your garden plants and landscape will grow healthier and stronger thanks to the addition. Your garden benefits from compost in t

Organic matter high in carbon — what composters commonly call browns — provides energy for decomposer organisms as they consume and break down the contents of your compost pile. Organic matter high in nitrogen — called greens — supplies the decomposers with protein. Maintain well-fed composting organisms with these varied ingredients.

A great thing about composting is that it can take as much or as little time as you want or need it to. If your time is limited and you want to speed up the process to get compost fast, follow these tips: Increase the surface area of your ingredients. Before adding it to your compost, chop, shred, crack, whack, and smack organic matter into small pieces.

Your compost pile isn’t a trash can. Some materials definitely don’t qualify as compost ingredients because they contain pathogens, attract pests, or cause other problems. You must take care to add only the right organic ingredients to feed the decomposition process. Leave out the following items: Ashes from charcoal barbecues: Dispose of this residue in the trash, not your compost pile or bin.