Making a compost bin - Home composting

"It takes a hundred years to grow just one inch of topsoil, but we lose 25 billion tons of it worldwide each year."

Making your own compost is really easy and doesn't take very long either. It benefits your garden by providing it with nutrient super-rich compost that enriches and boosts your plants. And its free!

All you need is a bin, a drill and some garden waste( like leaves, grass cuttings etc ) or newspaper and/or some dirt.

1. Get a new or used bin to suit your family size. In my household between 3 of us we use a bin about 80cm high that you can just about wrap your arms around. It takes between a month and 2 months to fill up. For more than 3 people who eat alot of home cooking it might be worth investing in 2 bins or a bigger bin.

2. Drill a few small holes at the bottom of the bin for aeration, and a few along the sides of the bin no bigger than the one in the picture.



3. Line the bottom of your bin with a shredded newspaper or leaves. Fill it about one eighth full and add a bit of soil if you have.


4. Your compost bin is ready! Now simply add your food scraps and start composting! DO NOT EVER add meat, fish or any derivatives of these to your compost bin. ONLY add plant materials ( fruit/vegetables/nuts), egg shells are ok but no dairy products. NO synthetic foods either (sweets, cakes, biscuits etc)

5. Its always good to give your compost a good stir every few days to speed up the process. Keep your bin in the shade so as not to dry out the contents. Also be sure to add soil on top of food scraps to prevent hoards of flies hanging out at your bin. If you don't have soil, grass cuttings or garden waste helps. Mixing it in also helps. Spray a bit of water to moisten the heap. This doesn't need to be done every time.


Cool links relating to this topic:

www.50simplethings.com/compost
ecocycle.org