Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Making a compost pile that works is easy! Now is the time of year you want to make sure you have your compost set up right.

To make a healthy compost pile you need:

• • leaves, grass, manure, or food waste.

Raw materials:

• • at least 3 feet across and three feet tall

The space for two piles

• • to turn the pile (a fork is easier).

A shovel or a fork

• • A compost bin, with good air circulation to increase efficiency

Optional:

Water

Step 1

Gather the raw materials

40%
• Brown colored, carbon rich materials such as straw, leaves, pine needles, or saw dust

30%
• Fresh green material such as lawn clippings, or grass hay.

30%
• Nitrogen rich material such as alfalfa, animal manure, or food waste.

Step 2

Assemble the pile

Put a layer of the brown material first, then the fresh green, and finally the nitrogen-rich materials. Keep layering until the materials are used up. The pile must be at least 1 square yard to have enough biomass to work properly.

Step 3

Aerating

After the pile is assembled, get it moist all the way through (without getting it too wet), and cover it with a tarp or plastic to keep the moisture in. This is the time to employ a compost inoculant if you choose. These specially cultured bacteria, fungi and enzyme strains speed the composting process and significantly improve the quality of the finished product. Just add to water, wait for it to activate (follow the instructions) and spray it on.

Keep a close eye on the temperature. When it reaches 140 degrees F, It’s time to aerate the pile. Do this by shoveling the pile into the empty space next to the original pile, and creating a new pile with the materials all mixed up. Make sure that the new pile is moist and cover it again. It can be really handy to use a compost bin, you can simply lift it off of one pile, and slide it over your second pile. Your temperatures will rise more quickly due to their open design as well.

After a few days the temperature will again reach 140 degrees F. When it does, shovel the pile back to the original spot, moisten and cover. Every time the temperature reaches 140 degrees shovel it over into a new pile. Eventually the pile will stop reaching those high temperatures, it will be black in color, reduced in volume and smell sweet. If it smells bad, try adding more brown material, and aerating more.