Compost is a dark, crumbly, organic product that you can make yourself by using organic material you have around your house or can obtain from the outside. Compost is similar to the organic matter found in high quality soil and improves the quality of your soil when it is added. If you have sandy soil, it allows the soil to hold more moisture and supplies missing nutrients. If your soil is clay, it makes it more workable.

Hands holding finished compost

Making compost is not difficult. There are many different methods, such as compost bins, compost crocks, compost tumblers , and the pile in the corner of your garden. There are also many accessories you can buy to insure the success of your compost, as well as books on how to compost.  But a pile, the right mixture of ingredients, and a pitchfork are all you really need.

Compost bins, and compost tumblers can be made out of chicken wire, wood stakes, wooden pallets, food grade drums, wire mesh, black plastic sacks, and other materials.   You can also buy kitchen composters, such as a compost crock or pail made out of ceramic or stoneware,  that you keep in your kitchen until you can add it to your compost. If you are handy, there are patterns and instructions you can use to make your own compost bins or compost tumblers. You can even have a wormery (worm compost bin) and let earthworms do all the work!

Your method of compost making depends on several choices you must make.

1. Do you like working in your garden regularly and get a wonderful feeling when you turn the compost pile with your pitch fork and see it working?
2. Do you live in an urban area with limted space and your compost is important to conceal? Would a back porch compost tumbler be better for you?
3. Do you only get out to your compost pile infrequently and need something in your home to stockpile the raw materials?  Maybe a kitchen compost crock?
4. Do you get satisfaction from building things and would like to tackle building a compost bin or compost tumbler?
5. How much raw material do you generate each day?
6. What’s the weather like where you live? Will the earth freeze in the winter and your compost-in-the-making be covered with snow?
7. Do you want to get a jump start on your compost over the winter and have a good stock pile for Spring when you start your garden?

You need to analyze your particular situation and then do some research on your chosen method.

The next thing to pay attention to is the composition of the materials you put into your compost pile, whatever system you use. Here is a list of allowable things:

• Coffee grounds and organic coffee filters
• Tea bags
• Egg shells, but wash them first
• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Herbacide free grass clippings
• Hay
• Shredded leaves
• Manure (not dog or cat)
• Peanut shells, but they are slow to decompose
• Pine needles – very acid
• Wood shavings, sawdust – slow to decompose
• Stable bedding – better than pure manure
• Weeds – cut them up first, very slow to decompose
• Wheat or oat straw – slow to decompose
• Wood ash – Don’t use a lot and don’t use ashes from charcoal fires or from wood that was painted

Here is a list of things you shouldn’t put in your compost:

• Anything fatty, such as butter, cheese, lard, vegetable oil, mayonnaise, sour cream, salad dressing, peanut butter, milk
• Chicken or any kind of meat
• Dog and Cat Manure
• Fish – too smelly
• Disposable diapers
• Diseased organic materials

To make successful compost, you need to make sure you have a good mix of several things, such as the good organic materials mentioned above, oxygen, moisture, micro-organisms, and heat.

Aerobic (with oxygen) compost making is what you strive for. This means your pile must be aerated regularly and not allowed to become compacted. Then it’s considered anaerobic (without oxygen) and can cause problems with odor. An anaerobic pile will still compost, and is very little work, but the process takes a long time.

When making compost with a pile or bin, you aerate the material with a pitchfork, or something similar, to turn the pile. With compost tumblers, you turn a crank or handle, which rotates your ingredients, or roll a ball filled with your material around your yard.

If you chose to have a compost pile, size is also important. If your pile is too small, it won’t heat up enough. If it is too large, it will heat up, but be difficult to manage. A good rule of thumb for a “pile” compost heap is about 3′ x 3′ x 3′. The best pile temperature is between 110 degrees F and 150 degrees F. You can purchase a compost thermometer to measure the heat in your pile.

When the heat in your compost pile, by whichever method you have chosen, has returned to normal, your finished organic garden compost should be clean-smelling, dark,  crumbly,  and ready for your garden.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Compost Guide is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

This fermented product is then either buried in the garden or mixed into your normal composting making system, such as compost tumblers, compost bins, or a compost pile, where the decomposition process finishes, thus improving the microbial diversity of the finished compost and the soils and plants in which it is used.

What does “Bokashi” Mean?

Bokashi is a Japanese term that means “fermented organic matter.” It is a byproduct of EM and is used as a compost accelerator. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter.

Kitchen scraps fermented in this manner will be ready to bury in your garden within two weeks. When you use the bokashi method, your kitchen scraps do not decompose as in traditional composting methods.They ferment, like pickles or wine. Therefore, the finished product does not resemble compost, but, like finished pickles, it looks about the same as when you started, just pickled.

When the fermenting process is finished, the next step is to bury the resulting product in your garden, about a foot deep,  or mix it into your regular compost making system and let it finish breaking down into compost.

How to Use the Liquid from Bokashi

The liquid that results from the bokashi method is very beneficial to your plants, but should be diluted 100 parts water to 1 part of the bokashi liquid.  If you have a septic system, you can pour the liquid down the drain and it will keep your septic system healthy.  Other drains in your home that are blocked and sluggish will also be “cleaned out” by the addition of this liquid.

How to Use the Bokashi System

To use the bokashi system in your kitchen for kitchen waste, you will initially need a supply of the bokashi EM mix, which consists of bran, molasses and the microorganisms, and two buckets with tight fitting lids, as the bokashi system is anerobic (without oxygen).

You would add a layer of shredded newspapers on the bottom of the bucket with a layer of the bran mixture. Then start adding layers of refuse, about 2 inches thick, each sprinkled with a handful of the bran mixture.

Keep the layers compacted so there are no pockets of air. Keep layering until the bucket is full, being careful to keep the air-tight lid on the bucket at all times except when you are adding your kitchen refuse.

When the first bucket is full, set it aside and start with the second bucket.

The first bucket should continue to process for about two weeks and can then be buried in your garden or put into your regular compost making system. By this time, the second bucket should be full so you can set it aside and start over with the first bucket.

The Advantages

The advantages of the bokashi system are many:

• ALL kitchen refuse can be put into the bokashi system, even fish, meat, cheese, and bones.
• There is no odor as there is no oxygen to react with the scraps and the lid on the bucket is air-tight.
• Since you are not putting the raw kitchen refuse into a compost making system outdoors, you don’t have to worry about bugs, or animals digging up the refuse.  The finished product that you ultimately put into your garden or compost mixture is already pickled so it doesn’t attract bugs or animals.
• The bokashi method is much faster.  The resulting product is ready within two weeks of when you finish filling the bucket.
• The liquid resulting from the process is excellent for your plants when mixed with water in a 100:1 ratio.
• You reduce the amount of refuse you put in the local landfills.  This not only helps the landfills, but it can save you money.
• As with a wormery, you can use the bokashi mix to ferment dog feces, but you must first mix the feces with other organic matter.  Do this separately from the bokashi you will be using for your vegetable garden. After it has fermented, bury it under about 8 inches of soil in your ornamental garden.
• If you have a cat litter box, the addition of a little of the bokashi  mixture to the cat litter each week will reduce the odors and is not harmful to the cats.  The resulting litter can be processed the same way as dog feces and, after it is fermented, it can be buried in your ornamental garden.
• Your bokashi mixture will last for many years if kept in a dry place out of direct sunlight.

An Earth Saving Revolution

Use the Bokashi System to Extend YOUR Compost Making Season

• Continue putting your kitchen refuse into the first of your two bokashi compost buckets, sprinkling them with the wheat bran medium inoculated with the microorganisms developed by Professor Higa.
• When the 1st bucket is full, set it aside for 10 days to 2 weeks to finish the ‘pickling’ process and start putting your kitchen waste into the 2nd bucket.

STEP 2:

• When the contents of the first bucket are finished pickling, put them into a back porch compost tumbler.
• These compact compost tumblers weigh just 40 pounds, stand 37″ high x 31″ wide x 26″ deep, and sit on 6″ wheels which makes them really easy to move around.
• Make sure your compost tumbler already has a small amount of compost inside, composed of green and brown organic materials and a little soil.  This gives the kitchen scrapes what they need to interact with to finish the compost making process.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Compost Using the Bokashi Method is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting