Vegetable Gardening:Garden Tips- Composting # 1

Black Gold Compost

Hi there, Do you Compost ? Well you should. Compost is broken down organic materials of the soil by microorganisms that give the sweet smelling rich, light, dark soil that feeds your soil. Have you heard the term (Black Gold) ? ]
Compost consists of two type of materials brown and green. The brown carbon rich matter are things such as dead leaves, straw, sawdust, paper and hay. Green nitrogen rich materials include grass clippings, manure, coffee grounds, and fruit and vegetable peels. You want to aim for a balance of brown and green material.

To Make a hot compost pile you can start with a area 3 ft. by 3ft. so that you are able to stick a pitch fork or shovel in and turn your pile over. Start layering the pile with the browns and green materials.( ie  one layer of brown material then on top of that another layer of green and the brown and so on.....) You want to add moisture between layers.

You will want to turn your compost pile every 3 days. You should also purchase a compost thermometer to check the temperature. It should start around 120 degrees and go up from there. If you stay up with your pile turning and adding more materials you will have rich compost in approximately 2-8 weeks !