Gardening Tips: Creating a Compost Pile
Why just throw the food in the trash when you can recycle it by creating a compost pile. This is one of many gardening tips recommended by experienced gardeners. This will help save the trash from going to landfills and creating more of a problem as well as create extremely rich soil to use in your garden next year. In order to do this you will need a place to keep the compost, the knowledge of what to use and what not to use and how to maintain it.
You can actually purchase a pre-made compost bin that is designed to help eliminate odors which helps keep pests away. There are a variety of styles and sizes to choose from so find one that works for you. If you would rather make your own then find some old fencing, wood pallets, or other type of wire mesh. If you create one then make sure it’s away from the house because it can stink. Because it’s in the open it will attract animals and/or bugs.
The items in it should alternate with a layer of brown and then a layer of green and so forth. The brown is going to be like leaves, pine straw, or even brown paper. The green is left over food, grass, other yard clippings, or coffee grounds. Do NOT put any limes, meat or fish, cat litter, plastic/laminated paper, rotting plants, big roots, treated lumber, bones, grease, or fat.
Maintaining the pile means turning the compost 1-2 times a week so that the cooler interior is moved to the top. Keep it damp and never let the center dry out. If there is too much rain then cover with a tarp. Keep it in the sun. It needs to be 150 degrees in the pile. This process takes about a year. Not only will you be saving yourself money, by saving on landfill rubbish you will be helping to save the earth too. For more great tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint, check out The Enigin blog!
Comments are closed!