How to Compost - Magnificent Garden Soil| Pretty Handy Girl
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How to Compost – Magnificent Garden Soil

How to Compost - Secret Gardening Formula | Pretty Handy Girl

Do you compost? Oh my gosh, if you don’t, why not?!!! It is easy, it’s great for the environment and it will result in amazing nutrient rich soil that surpasses anything you can buy from a store! Some of the additional benefits are that you will reduce the amount of trash you produce and keep things out of the landfill.

Keep reading to learn How to Compost and create your own magnificent garden soil!

Now, I totally understand if you are living in the big city in an apartment and really don’t have space for compost let alone potted plants (but if you do want to compost, read more about worm composting in a container.) However, f you have a yard, you really should be composting! It’s easy, it takes very little time, and my little wiggly BFFs (aka worms) do all the work for you.

How to Compost - Secret Gardening Formula | Pretty Handy Girl

That’s right, they eat up all your kitchen and yard waste and turn it into beautiful black soil. How do they do it? If I tell you, you have to promise that you won’t get grossed out. They poop it out. LOL. Yup, compost is decomposition and worm castings (a nicer word for worm poop.) Please don’t run away, find out how easy it is to create this magnificent garden soil.

Here’s the basics for how to compost and get top quality soil for your garden and landscaping for FREE!

How to Compost – Magnificent Garden Soil Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

  • Spading ForkHow to Compost
  • Sealed bucket or container to store kitchen scraps:

Attractive Compost Pails I wouldn't mind having in my kitchen!

Blue and White Floral Crock | Sea Blue Compost Crock | Green Stoneware Crock
 Copper Compost Bin  |  OXO Flip Lid Compost Container  |  Red Ceramic Crock
Green Metal Pail  | Bamboo Compost Pail  | Sprout Compost Container

 

What can be composted?

How to Compost - Secret Gardening Formula | Pretty Handy Girl

  • Kitchen scraps
    • raw fruits
    • vegetables
    • egg shells
  • Coffee grounds and the filter
  • Newspapers, non-glossy cardboard, paper towels
  • Leaves (brown for carbon and green for nitrogen rich)
  • Grass clippings
  • Plant & flower clippings
  • Yard waste

What can’t be composted?

  • Meats
  • Dairy products
  • Processed foods
  • Plastic
  • Man made substances
  • Metals

Okay, you get the picture. Only raw fruits and veggies (and egg shells), okay?

Location:

Your pile doesn’t have to be anything special. A simple a hole in the ground is fine. Find a partially shaded spot in your yard. A shady spot is ideal so the pile doesn’t get dried out in the hot sun. If you’ve had a dry spell for a while, go ahead and water the pile. If you have pets, put a little fencing around it to keep them from getting into the compost. (Eating decomposing food can make them sick.) Don’t worry too much about wild animals (unless you have a serious pest problem.) Animals will come sniffing around and may dig a scrap or two out of the pile, but they rarely take up residence in your yard. However, if you are concerned about pests, go ahead and purchase a closed bin for your yard.  Otherwise, save your money, a fancy tumbler or bin aren’t necessary for the compost to produce.

How to Compost:

Keep your compost bucket in your kitchen. (We keep our pail under the sink, but if you have a pretty container you can leave it on the countertop.)

How to Compost - Magnificent Garden Soil| Pretty Handy Girl

After cutting veggies or fruit, toss the scraps in the bucket. Coffee grounds can get thrown in, filter and all! Egg shells are also great for your compost.

When the bucket is full, take your scraps outside to the compost pile. Clear a hole in your pile, dump the scraps and cover them over with dirt or soil (this will prevent attracting too much wildlife to your pile.)

How to Compost - Secret Gardening Formula | Pretty Handy Girl

Occasionally throw in some torn up strips of newspaper to add some “carbon” source to the pile. The key to a healthy compost is to have a good mixture of green (nitrogen rich) vs. brown (carbon rich) materials. Don’t overload on grass clippings or yard waste.

How to Compost - Secret Gardening Formula | Pretty Handy Girl

Flip some fresh soil on top of the scraps and walk away! That’s it. What about my BFFs, the worms? If you start the pile, they will come. Trust me, they’ll find your pile. If you’re super antsy, you could buy some red wigglers from a fishing bait place, but honestly why bother? Soon you’ll have big fat overfed worms happily working for you for free. Go back in 2-3 weeks and check on the progress of your magnificent garden soil.

How to Compost - Secret Gardening Formula | Pretty Handy Girl

I usually grab my magnificent soil from the bottom when I need it. But, you can split your pile in two. Use one side to add scraps to and let the other side “marinade” to perfection. Then switch sides. Frankly my little worm army works pretty fast. Within a month they have produced enough compost to fill some potted plants and more. I rarely buy soil anymore unless I need a huge amount.

What about composting in the winter? If you aren’t under a dumping of snow, your pile can still work in the winter. In fact, you’ll be surprised to see the warm steam rising from the pile when you dig into the center.

Compost Tea:

Now that you have a rockin’ compost pile you may want to learn how to make a compost tea to further nourish your plants and help them be healthier and heartier! I haven’t tried it yet, but you better believe I’ll be brewing some compost tea this year.

Share this article with your friends and do something environmentally friendly! Pin this graphic to refer to later:

How to Compost - Magnificent Garden Soil| Pretty Handy Girl

Now that you have compost to use, learn how to create a rot resistant planter bed:

How to Build a Rot-Resistant Raised Planter Bed | Pretty Handy Girl

And maybe you want to dip your toes in the Square Foot Gardening craze!

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91 replies
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  1. Cindy
    Cindy says:

    I read a whole book on worms once and the author stated that worms do NOT grow into two if they are cut in half. She said they die. I never get anything going on in my compost bin but have had great luck in my manure piles, except too many weeds grow on the top. Its way too big to turn over much.

    Reply
  2. Michael Dadourian
    Michael Dadourian says:

    I learned a lot about composting years ago while living in South Korea. I know think the bucket in the kitchen is life changing for the benefits of what it can do for one’s own back yard and so much more for the Earth. Great share, I may have to share this post with my Whole Food Raw Foodism Google+ community!

    Reply
  3. Julia
    Julia says:

    Afraid so. Worms are not really so different from other animals, they have organs that they need to survive, and most of those are right up near the mouth end.

    Reply
  4. Julia
    Julia says:

    This is definitely not true. You may get lucky, and the head may be able to regenerate, if you left enough body with the head, but usually, if you cut a worm in half, you get two pieces of dead worm.

    However, if you are worried about your wormy babies, intensive vermicomposting systems are raised, adding new material to the top and collecting from the bottom. The worms will move toward the newer food source and the chances of running into one is much lower. The other option (easier for home gardeners) is a split composter. Put a board halfway through your compost heap, add to one side and allow the worms to work while you add to the other. Once one side is good and composted, raise the board, give the worms a few days to move, put the board back down, and collect your worm free composted material from the other side.

    Reply
  5. Barbara
    Barbara says:

    I’ve had a problem with food getting mold on it before it gets outside. I will say that I don’t have it in a closed container. I have been throwing the moldy stuff out…. right?

    Reply
  6. Teresa S
    Teresa S says:

    I have been composting for years. We have 2 different methods going. 1 is a square bin bought from home depot and we also have 2 garbage cans with holes drilled in them so you can fill it up and roll it around. I just started the second method recently so I don’t have any results yet, but so far it seems to be a good idea. Composting is a gardener’s dream and I agree if you have a yard you really should take advantage, even if its just to reduce your trash. Great article!

    Reply
  7. Lynne
    Lynne says:

    I have a large compost box that was built by the previous owners, and I use it for yard debris but I have been leery of adding food scraps because we live near water and occasionally find evidence of water rats (some neighbors have seen them). Do you think that if I just dug a hole in the pile, filled it, then covered it with branches it would go unnoticed by our unwanted friends?

    Reply
    • Brittany Bailey
      Brittany Bailey says:

      Lynne, if you cover the scraps really well with dirt, you should be okay. But, if there aren’t any other food sources around the rats may find your compost pile regardless of what you do.

      Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] Fantastic Compost Lesson: I’m kind of obsessed with composting lately. I think it’s because I skimped on it this summer and am wanting to get back into the rhythm.  There are some areas in our garden we’ll be adding what’s left of our compost to in hopes it will kill the ill that the former owners left in their garden.  Fingers crossed. […]

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