How To Compost In Your Backyard

Tea bags are a bit trickier but some can be composted.

How to compost in your backyard. The more frequently you turn the faster the organic material will break down. When feeding your compost bin try to maintain a balance of 50 greens and 50 browns by weight. Add brown and green materials as they are collected making sure larger pieces are chopped or shredded.

Since greens are typically heavier you should add 2 to 3 buckets of browns for every bucket of. Backyard composting select a dry shady spot near a water source for your compost pile or bin. To remove any large chunks sift the compost through a garden sieve or milk crate.

It s best to start your compost right on beer ground so that the microbes and insects in the soil have access to the decaying material. Water until moist but not soggy similar to the feel of a damp sponge. The chunks can be placed back in the pile for further decomposition.

The compost is finished when it is dark brown and has an earthy smell. Be sure that soil isn t sodden with water as this can result in an adobe effect when it dries which adversely affects the plants. Repeat the layering process and turn.

Moisten dry materials as they are added. Then on top of that place 2 to 3 inches of green material. This can be straw dry leaves or even shredded newspaper or cardboard.

Fill your backyard compost bin with a 6 inch layer of brown matter and a 2 to 3 inch layer of green matter. Over the course of a year or so the material will decompose. Tea leaves and tea bags loose tea leaves are an easy addition to a backyard compost bin and can be stored with other kitchen waste in a counter top compost keeper until you have enough to justify a trip to your compost pile.

One of the best kick off meals you can give your backyard compost pile is a good dose of nitrogen phosphorous potassium npk. While there are some great commercial brands out there mixing some good ol blackstrap molasses into a liter of warm water and pouring it deep into the center of your pile works great. Cold composting is as simple as collecting yard waste or taking out the organic materials in your trash such as fruit and vegetable peels coffee grounds and filters and eggshells and then corralling them in a pile or bin.