How to Start a Compost Pile - Composting 101

I started a compost pile this past month. Here is what it looks like currently. Hubby built from wire and wood.

When composting, you should keep in mind the carbon (brown) to nitrogen (green) ratio which as a general rule is 25 to 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. Here is a chart that shows the C/N ratios of many composting materials:

Estimated Carbon-to-Nitrogen Ratios

Browns = High Carbon C:N
Cardboard, shredded 350:1
Corn stalks 75:1
Fruit waste 35:1
Leaves 60:1
Newspaper, shredded 175:1
Peanut shells 35:1
Pine needles 80:1
Sawdust 325:1
Straw 75:1
Wood chips 400:1

Greens = High Nitrogen C:N
Alfalfa 12:1
Clover 23:1
Coffee grounds 20:1
Food waste 20:1
Garden waste 30:1
Grass clippings 20:1
Hay 25:1
Manures 15:1
Seaweed 19:1
Vegetable scraps 25:1

Note: Many ingredients used for composting do not have the ideal ratio of 25-30:1 as shown above. As a result, most must be mixed to create “the perfect compost recipe.” High C:N ratios may be lowered by adding grass clippings or manures. Low C:N ratios may be raised by adding paper, dry leaves or wood chips.

To reiterate:
Common brown (carbon) materials are fall leaves, straw, pine needles, cardboard (shredded), corn stalks, wood chips, sawdust and newspaper strips (dry). Chop up larger materials for faster decomposition.

Common green (nitrogen) materials are grass clippings, food scraps (uncooked fruit and vegetables), coffee grounds, manure, filters, tea bags and egg shells.

Remember compost also needs Air + Water. Your compost bin should let air flow through and be able to drain water well. You will need to add water to your pile and turn frequently. Don't let rain wash it away, cover with a tarp if needed.

A well-constructed compost pile built with the proper dimensions and maintained correctly will heat up fast, decomposes uniformly and quickly, kills many diseases, insects, and weed seeds, doesn't smell and is easy to turn and maintain.

Make sure that whatever you are putting in your compost pile is free of chemicals and pesticides! I never put weeds or any kind of meat in my compost.

How to Make Compost Out of All Those Leaves

Pound per pound, leaf compost or mold as it is called, is the best soil additive you can use. Best of all, it is free and provided by nature! This article will describe in detail how to make your own leaf mold to help enrich your garden soil.

Gather fall leaves and rake them into a corner of your yard or other area where you can place a wire mesh fence around the area to prevent leaves from blowing away. You may also gather and place fall leaves in a plastic barrel. You may run the leaves through a shredder to make the decomposition time faster, but this is not necessary. Once you have gathered your pile, wet the leaves down. It is ideal to place the bin or barrel out in the elements so that you don't have to rely entirely upon your water hose to keep the leaves moist. Be patient, this process takes many months. Depending upon where you reside, this can take anywhere from 6 months to several years. Give the leaves a good stir from time to time to ensure even distribution of the moisture. If you are having trouble retaining moisture in your bin or barrel, you may remember to line the container with plastic the next time you collect leaves. You can also cover the container with a tarp. Another way to create leaf mold is to use plastic garbage bags or biodegradable leaf bags. Simply fill the bags with compressed leaves. If using plastic garbage bags, cut a few small slits in the bags to allow excess water drainage and allow air to come in. Wet the leaves down while in the bag. Close the bag up and shake bags from time to time to distribute the water. After your leaves have decomposed into a material that looks like soil, you are ready to use the leaf mold in your garden.

Now, How to Store Those Leaves to Use Later

Leaves are by far the best soil additive we can use. Leaves add bulk and nutrients to our soil. In addition, beneficial earth worms love shredded leaves. This article will outline some ways to store leaves for future use in your garden. God gave us these leaves to use, lets use them wisely.

One way to store leaves is to rake all your leaves into your garden or flower beds. Proceed to wet all the leaves down to prevent them from blowing away easily. Remember to keep the leaves wet until you plan to use them. You can place mesh fencing around your garden to prevent flyaways.

Another way to store leaves is to place the leaves in biodegradable leaf bags. You can either: (1) choose to leave these bags full of leaves out in the weather so that you will have a composted mixture to use in your garden or (2) you may fill the bags and store in a dry area. These bags will also decompose into leaf compost over time if left out in the elements.
Create a compost bin with heavy wire mesh in a corner of your yard. Dump leaves into the bin and keep wet. Over time, a super rich soil additive will be created by natural decompostion processes. This is called leaf mold. Leaf mold is the best natural fertilizer you can find, by far.
You may also create a compost bin using large plastic barrels. Be sure to wet the leaves down every so often. Purchase or rent a leaf shredder and shred the leaves into fine pieces and store in garbage bags. Place in a dry area. Shredding the leaves will greatly reduce the volume so that you can store more leaves with less bags.

Don't Burn Those Freakin Leaves!!!!

Now that fall is on full swing upon us, you may be wondering just what to do with all those leaves. As you know more and more people are finding it necessary to "go green" and thinking more about organic foods. Fall leaves can be used for many things, one of which is as a mulch or soil enhancer in your garden. Leaves are naturally full of nutrients and are also food for many beneficial garden bugs. So lets stop throwing away our leaves and piling up plastic gargage bags full of them next to our curb on trash pick up day. Put them to good use in your garden.

We have repeated the following steps for the last couple of years. The results have been very noticable in our garden. Our soil was once very hard dirt and is now a rich loamy texture - great for vegetable growing.

Put on your gloves and workboots. I recommend shielding your face from the sun with a wide brimmed hat. To burn optimal calories, I recommend making this a manual process. No heavy machinery involved until we get to the tilling part. NO cheating by using lawn mowers or ATV's with trailers to haul the leaves. If burning calories is not something you are concerned with, go ahead, use a leaf blower to direct the leaves into your garden. Using your rake, begin to pile your wheelbarrow full of fall leaves. Make several trips to your garden with your wheelbarrow full of leaves. Dump the leaves randomly throughout your garden. You should have between three to six inches of leaves spread evenly across your garden before tilling. Using your garden tiller, begin to till the leaves into the soil. Work the leaves into the top six inches of soil.
As the leaves begin to decompose into the soil, the nutrients will be released. The beneficial garden bugs will be happy as will your vegetables! There are several ways to store the leaves for later use if you don't want to use the leaves immediately. I will discuss this in the next article.