Organic Gardening Compost Is Easy To Make

Although it is popularly believed that you need a compost bin to produce compost, this is not really true. While a compost bin is useful, it is not essential and any small clean unpolluted patch of land will serve the purpose. All that is need is that the organic gardening compost pile should be in contact with soil so that soil organisms can mix with it (essential for the creation of good compost) but if the if the pile is on some kind of platform, mixing a small amount of soil into the pile at regular intervals will suffice.

Since composting takes some length of time, having 3 or 4 compost piles in various stages of development will ensure that you always have enough compost available for your gardening needs. Organic gardening compost is made up of two main components - materials that have a high carbon content and materials that are rich in nitrogen. The carbon and nitrogen material should be mixed in equal proportion to produce the best results. High nitrogen materials that are great components of organic gardening compost are things like manure, soya bean and cotton seed meal, table scraps, cut grass and so on. High carbon materials to be added to organic gardening compost are those that are dry and bulky like pine needles, straw, hay, leaves, etc. Top soil, although it feels solid to touch, is 50% water and air and good organic gardening compost should also be the same - too dense and it will not mix with the soil.

Grinding up the materials you add to the compost pile in small - but not too fine - particles is the best way to keep the compost from becoming to dense and maintaining the consistency that allows it to mix easily into the soil. In case grinding the materials going into the compost is not possible, do not let it worry you - the final product will still be usable. Keeping the compost pile moist - but not wet - is another vital part of preparing good organic gardening compost. It is best to leave the compost pile alone while the decay and fermenting are happening, except of, course for maintaining the dampness.

You will find a lot of heat coming from your organic gardening compost pile - the core temperature can often reach in excess of 160 degrees F - but this is a normal part of the decay process and not a cause for concern. Some organic gardening guides advise that the compost pile should be turned over at regular intervals to ensure that the development is uniform but this can also slow down the natural fermenting process and it is better not to touch the pile unless you are sure it is required. The best thing about organic gardening compost is that it is a completely natural process and with a little care, nothing can really go wrong and the result will always be usable compost.