By Farmer Ross
Do you know the easiest and most sustainable way to create a healthier soil for your plants? COMPOST! There are countless ways to compost, and for your home gardens, I recommend beginning with these easy steps:
- Designate a small area in your backyard to house the compost. This can be as simple as a pile, or a large plastic tub, or building a bin with wood and chicken wire. Google compost boxes for more fun ideas!
- Begin saving vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, and egg shells. Virtually anything is compostable, but for our purposes, I highly recommend sticking with these ingredients.
- Collect "Brown Material" such as dried leaves or hay or grass clippings. Any former green plant matter that has turned brown will qualify.
Simple so far right?! Now the only 'secret' to creating quality compost from the above mentioned ingredients is the ratio you mix them in. This can vary...
I recommend for beginners using 1 part green material (from step #2) to 9 parts brown material (from step #3). Simply layer the ingredients in the pile to those ratios.
For example, add 1 inch green material then 9 inches of the brown on top. Continue to do this for as much ingredients as you have available. Make sure to always have the brown dried material ON TOP of the green material. Also, make sure this pile receives watering (via rain or a garden house) at least once a week as this will expedite the compost process.
So, that's a very brief intro to get you started in making a great compost pile that will be ready for some fall planting!
We will continue to go more in-depth with this topic in future workshops and blog posts....so stay tuned!
~Onward & upward!