How to Make Superior Compost

Making compost at home is relatively easy. You just need to follow the right step to achieve the right compost potency. Through composting, you get to add nutrient-rich humus in your garden to fuel plant growth and restore soil vitality. Moreover, it is a natural alternative to using chemical fertilizers. Below are different ways of making compost at home.

Using closed compost bins

Closed compost bins are available in square or cylindrical shapes and are made from recycled materials. All shape options have lids, and are ideal for cold urban or suburban composting. Since they are closed, they cannot maintain the required temperature for hot composting. They are ideal for limited spaces and have no bottom and are kept underground with the opening being 1 foot above soil levels. You simply throw in all your kitchen and garden organic waste and close the bin. Use a fork to turn the compost often until it is all ready for use. Alternatively, you can allow the compost to decompose and after sometime use a fork to harvest what has decomposed at the bottom leaving the top compost to decompose.

Pit composting

Pit composting is quite easy as compared to closed composting. You simply dig trenches or holes where you will bury your waste to decompose. The buried organic materials take about six months to one year to breakdown. Thus, it is an ideal method for people who want an out of sight decomposing method. Trenches are ideal for burying weedy plants but deep enough to avoid re-sprouting. The pit composting method is hard to harvest. Therefore it is ideal for use in an area you intend to plant. However, if you must harvest, simply dig the top soil to get to the rich compost. Dig it out as well and distribute it in areas you intend to plant. This method is preferred by many gardeners because it requires no turning, no monetary investment and holds as much organic matter as one may have.

Open composting bins

Open bins are ideal for both hot and cold composting. They are made from wood or wire fencing to create a neat and well-structured area to pile your organic matter. Since the bins are open, turning and harvesting of materials are quite easy. Moreover, they allow air to enter and circulate which speeds up the decomposing process. Multiple bins are ideal for hot composting because you are able to transfer materials from one open bin to another. They are easy to construct, hold large organic matter, and it’s easy to monitor compost since they are open.

Composting organic matter is ideal for making your garden more fertile naturally. Though it takes time, effort and money in some instances, it is better as compared to chemical fertilization. However, you should consider your available space and time when choosing the composting method to use. Closed bin composting is ideal if you have limited space and time. While open and pit composting are ideal for people who have time and enough garden space to spare.