Help your plants thrive by making the best compost in your own home garden!
As a gardener, you can keep your plants healthy, alive and beautiful by adding the necessary organic matter and nutrients to the soil. The most beneficial component that you could add to the soil would be compost. Compost helps in the healthy growth of the plants both indoors and outdoors. Now, it is easier to buy compost from a store and that saves a lot of time and effort undoubtedly. However, the best kind of compost is the one you could easily make at your home without spending a lot of money. Here are a few tips on how to make your own compost at home.
Make Sure To Keep The Ratios Right
The first step in making your own hot compost is to mix the green and brown materials that form the ingredients of the compost. Usually, you must create a pile of your green and brown materials and wait until the pile is at least 3 feet deep. The brown materials that would go in the compost pile would include the dry items like fallen leaves, barks and tree branches, cardboard, hay, straw, newspaper and even wood shavings. The brown items add the carbon into the compost. As for the green materials, they are the wet items such as animal manures, grass and fresh plant trimmings, coffee grounds and the other kitchen scraps. These will add the nitrogen to the compost. Make sure you have the brown and green materials in exactly 3:1 ratio for it to work well.
Regular Watering Of The Compost Pile Is Important
Once you have created your compost pile with the right ration of the brown to green materials, you must remember to water the pile regularly and without fail. Sprinkle water to the extent that the pile gets a consistency of a damp sponge. Any more watering would make your compost pile water logged resulting in it to rot. Monitor the temperature of the compost pile to make sure that decomposition process is occurring perfectly.
Stir The Compost Pile Well To Provide Oxygen
When the compost pile feels well and warm, stir it to make sure that it gets enough oxygen. This will make the compost pile decompose faster and keep the ingredients from being rotten or become matte. Aerate the compost pile at least once a week.
