How To Take Care Of A Compost Pile – 4 Secrets To Make Great Compost! - Birthday Stock (2024)

How To Take Care Of A Compost Pile – 4 Secrets To Make Great Compost!:- Taking care of your compost pile is the first step to generating beautiful compost for your garden and flowerbeds. The good news is it’s simple. An great compost pile only needs four simple necessities! Organic compounds decompose over time to form compost. The dense, black substance is full of nutrients and organic stuff.

How To Take Care Of A Compost Pile – 4 Secrets To Make Great Compost!

Use compost practically anywhere you grow plants. When planting, add it to deficient soils to boost seed germination and transplant growth. Compost can also make an organic, all-purpose liquid fertilizer and improve densely-packed soils.

1. The Proper Size– Secrets Of Taking Care Of A Compost Pile

There are a variety of materials that can be used to make compost pile containers for homes. You can build a compost pile virtually anything, from simple bricks to reused pallets to basic planks. They should function perfectly as long as you avoid using anything that can leak chemicals or other harmful materials into your compost and they are weatherproof.

Though there aren’t many guidelines about the materials to be utilized, there are certain recommendations regarding the setup’s dimensions. Make sure the container is the proper size before you even begin to add things to your pile. The pile should be big enough to properly heat up and begin to break down, but not so big that it becomes difficult to deal with. Conversely, you also don’t want an excessively small pile.

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The Best Size To Use

Three feet wide by three feet deep by three feet tall is the perfect dimensions for a home compost pile. This size makes it easy to turn while enabling the pile to generate enough thermal heat. Up to five feet wide by five feet deep by three feet high is the maximum that you can go. But attempt to stay away from anything bigger than this.

Think about utilizing a multi-bin system as well. With this configuration, you can have a bin for finished compost and at least another for fresh ingredients. You may ensure that you always have completed compost available by installing a two- or three-bin system.

2. MakeupOf Your Materials

Being mindful of the things you add to your compost pile is the next crucial part of maintaining one. You want to strive for the correct ratio of brown and green components for the best outcomes. Try to add about one part green ingredients for every four parts brown materials, to be more precise.

Because of their high nitrogen content, green materials aid in warming up compost piles. Conversely, carbon found in brown materials aids in the addition of oxygen and the breakdown of materials. For household compost piles to aid in the fast and effective breakdown of materials, both must be present.

Good green materials include things like kitchen trash, farm animal dung, eggshells, green grass clippings, healthy plant materials, and even coffee grounds. Brown materials include things like straw, cardboard, sawdust, dry grass clippings, dead leaves, and torn newspapers.

Size Of The Materials

Not just the kind of materials matters, though. To speed up the compost pile’s breakdown, the size of the items you add counts. The materials will break down more quickly in smaller parts. Don’t just toss a whole watermelon rind into the compost pile, for instance. Rather, cut it into small pieces. The compost can be put to use sooner because the smaller bits can decompose more quickly.

When it comes to shredding yard waste, your mower can be your greatest ally. Make a couple passes over the leaves and straw with your mower to help break them up into smaller pieces before adding them to the mound.

3. Sufficient Air

Oxygen is a crucial component in compost pile maintenance. A home compost pile requires oxygen to stay hot, much like a fire needs oxygen to continue burning. Frequently turning the materials in your pile is the best approach to introduce oxygen. Turning is essentially the process of combining the ingredients to assist in bringing each item’s internal temperature down to the ideal range of 110 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Compost piles warm up radiating away from the center. The components on the exterior of your compost pile will be colder than those in the middle, which will be the hottest. By turning the pile, the material can heat up uniformly and decompose more rapidly. You can simply turn materials in pre-built commercial composters thanks to certain features, but you can also turn materials in DIY compost bins.

To flip the materials from the outside to the middle and vice versa, just use a pitchfork or shovel. Try to turn your pile at least once a week, preferably more frequently in the summer. The major reason you don’t want to develop a too huge compost pile is that turning compost components usually requires some energy and effort. It will be challenging to turn and supply much-needed oxygen to a massive mound.

4. Proper Moisture Content– Secrets Of Taking Care Of A Compost Pile

Not to mention, water is necessary to produce fantastic final compost. As strange as it may seem, moisture is necessary for compost piles to stay heated and keep decomposing things. A healthy compost pile should have some moisture in the middle. While some drying out around the borders is usual, the interior should still be moist. The contents should feel more like a little damp sponge than something you can wring out.

Simply add water if you discover that the middle of your compost material is dry when you go to turn it. To moisten it, empty a couple buckets of water or mist it with a garden hose. Just be careful not to soak the pile all the way through.

You will need to water your compost pile on occasion if it is located in an area where rainwater cannot reach it. During the summer, a little soak once a week or so should be acceptable. To assist keep moisture during dry spells, you can even place a damp burlap bag or a thick layer of trash on top.