What to do to make a good compost?

Answer 1

You can make a compost bin from almost anything: cinder blocks, lumber, rubber garbage cans ...; to me the question is: "How large or small do you want it to be?" If you live in an area where you get a lot of rain, then you should keep it covered; also, by covering it, you will keep out the night-time critters.

As an example: you could make it 2 feet wide by 2 feet long by 3 feet high with 3 or 4 sides. It may be placed under cover out of the weather or fitted with some type of a lid.

The most important things about composting are:

1. Put only vegetables, peelings from the kitchen, cut-up newspapers, leaves, grass, coffee grounds, egg shells [no fish or whole eggs]; and keep the contents as wet as a sponge.
2. Turn it over at least once a week.

A:You could make a compost bin out of a rubber garbage can. The only problem is turning the material over: the smaller the container, the harder it is to turn the compost over - that is the hardest part of composting (besides keeping the material wet as it is breaking down). A:The simplest compost bin is a cylinder of Fencing, held together by pieces of wire at the top, middle, and bottom. You'll need 15-16' of fence for a 3-3 1/2 ft diameter compost bin. Use either 3' or 4' fence, depending on how much material you have to compost. 1 x 2" or 1 x 1" welded wire will keep rodents out. Wire cylinder compost bins contain the materials, and keep them from sprawling. They also build compost heat, because the materials above hold in heat generated below. And turning the pile is a lot easier than 3-bin designs. Just undo the wire ties, move the cylinder to the side, and fork the materials from the old pile to the new pile.

But you don't even have to make a bin to have good compost. You can just make a pile and get the same results.

Hope this will help you wikihow.com/Build-a-Compost-Bin

A:A compost bin can easily be made by taking an old barrel and placing it in an accessible part of your yard. Fill the barrel with your scraps and give several weeks to decompose. A:In order to make the compost bin you must follow several simple steps. You must get metal, scrap or bought, then put it together, basically like a recycle bin.

You can make a compost bin out of a variety of things, be creative! We have a surplus of old garbage cans around my house, so I am using one with has a snapping lid.

Answer 2

The bottom of your compost should be in contact with the soil, to encourage worms and microorganisms to invade and help convert the organic matter into valuable humus.

You can buy a bin made from recycled plastic from a hardware store. Maybe your local council runs workshops with free bins to participants. Check around.

Ideally, the bin should have an open base, be larger at the base than at the top, and have a lid to keep unwanted visitors out. My first compost bin was a plastic garbage bin with the bottom cut off, and turned upside down. The slightly conical shape makes it easy to lift off, put it down on a fresh piece of soil, and fork your old heap into the bin again (Turning the mix is vital for letting air in). Some bins have air holes in the side to allow air.

Now you need to build up layers of material in your bin. This material has to be a balance of carbon and nitrogen materials.

Carbon material is dry, brown, woody plant material, hay, dried leaves, torn newspaper, dry lawn clippings.

Nitrogen material is fresh, green, living plant material, lawn clippings, green leaves, vegetable scraps from the kitchen, animal manure.

Read a related question below; "What can you compost?"for a list of good and bad ingredients.

Now a diagram of your bin:

__________________

|__________________|

/Hessian bag or underlay\

/_____________________\

/XCarbon/ Dead / BrownX\

---10 cm--- /________________________\ --- 4 inches

/X Nitrogen/ Living / Green X\

---10 cm--- /___________________________\ --- 4 inches

/XXXX Carbon/ Dead / Brown XXX\

---10 cm--- /______________________________\ --- 4 inches

/XXXX Nitrogen/ Living / Green XXXX\

---10 cm--- /_________________________________\ --- 4 inches

/XX Aeration Layer - sticks and twigs XX\

---10 cm--- /____________________________________\ --- 4 inches

1. Build up the layers as in the diagram above.
2. Add moisture to the top (remove the hessian bag first) in the form of worm urine (if you have a worm farm), rainwater if possible, or else tap water so the whole pile is moist (human urine is also good).
3. Cover up again and leave for a week.
4. Stir to aerate it and continue to stir every 5 - 7 days.
5. When your compost is dark brown and 'earthy' it is ready to use.

Read the related question below: What is the ADAM principle in caring for your compost bin?

Answer 3

It is by alternating its layering with carbon-rich compostables and monitoring all layers for proper presence of air, heat, micro-organisms, and moisture in containers or piles outdoors or by containing it in worm-composting bins indoors that household waste can be made into compost. Either way, following proper procedure with appropriately sized compostables will yield dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich organic matter within the year.

Answer 4

Bacterial and fungal composting outdoors and worm composting indoors are ways to make compost out of household trash. Food leftovers and kitchen scraps can be composted by bacteria and fungi or by worms. Yard debris may be composted in bins, heaps, piles or pits through the cooperation of appropriate air, heat and moisture levels with consumption and excretion of carbon- and nitrogen-rich recyclables by macro-organisms such as earthworms, feather-winged, ground and rove beetles, millipedes, slugs, snails, sow-bugs and springtails and micro-organisms such as actinomycetes, mesophilic, psychrophilic and thermophilic bacteria and many- and single-celled bacteria.

Answer 5

To make good compost you have to get the right balance of 'greens' and 'browns'!! 'Greens' include grass, apple cores and vegetable peelings etc. 'Browns' include cardboard and egg boxes etc. :-)