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. Gymgirl
    Gymgirl says:

    Patrick Dolan (oneyardrevolution) over on YouTube has a great perspective on composting and vermicomposting. I’ve been following him for awhile now, and have just purchased my second Geobin Composter from Amazon. It is soooooo easy to set up! I fill it with alternating layers of FREE resource materials: leaves from the curbside, coffee grinds from Starbucks, and, my own veggie peels.

    When I grabbed some bags of leaves I had stored away for the second composter, I took a step back from what I thought looked like a small snake. On careful inspection, it was one of the the biggest, prettiest earthworms I have ever seen. YAAAAY! I have worms! And, I have frogs!!! And, I’m turning my veggie garden into one of the healthiest ecosystems in my neighborhood!

    And, like Brittany, I am no longer having to purchase potting mixes. My goal is to have enough compost going to fill all my raised beds and planters, whenever they need topping off. And, like Patrick, my other goal is to stop having to purchasing fertilizers and pesticides, too. All benefits of moving toward naturally composted materials for the garden!

    Brittany, yours is an excellent tutorial. BTW, what you do is called “hole composting.” When I run out of space in my two Geobins, I’m gonna start digging and filling holes around my yard, to enrich the soil “outside the boxes,” LOL!

    https://www.youtube.com/results?q=composting+one+yard+revolution

    Couple of Things:
    â–ºIf you dig your hole deep enough before you put your kitchen scraps in, and cover it well, animals generally won’t mess with it — they can’t smell what’s in it…

    â–ºIf your compost is smelly, it may be anaerobic – which means there’s not enough oxygen exchange taking place. Get yourself a good garden fork (I just bought the green handled one from Home Depot, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it) and TURN your pile to introduce some oxygen to it…

    â–ºWorms do not eat your garden waste. Tiny little microbes jump all over the organic material and begin breaking it down. The energy those microbes expend doing that is what causes the heat in your pile. You have heat, you have microbes working triple time, breaking down the organic matter. Your worms (earthworms or red wigglers), in turn, eat the microbes, that break down your garden material. Soldier fly maggots and/or pill bugs, and various other little creatures also do their part in breaking down the material.

    â–ºUsed coffee grinds is like a dinner bell to a worm. If all you ever do is dig a hole and put your used coffee filter in it, they will come! The grinds also serve as grit to help the worms digest.

    Ok. That’s all folks!

    Hugs!

    Reply
  2. Valerie
    Valerie says:

    Has anyone had issues with the smell? I have a small yard in a densely populated area. I’d love to compost, but I’m worried the neighbors will complain, and I won’t want to enjoy my yard. Thoughts?

    Reply
    • Brittany Bailey
      Brittany Bailey says:

      Valerie, our’s doesn’t smell like anything other than dirt. If you keep your scraps buried under dirt, it shouldn’t smell. Also be sure to add enough carbon items (newspapers, leaves, etc.) if your pile starts to get too wet.

      Reply
  3. Rose McLeish
    Rose McLeish says:

    Brittany,you are a good teacher…thanks for your interesting informative pin .Apart from the worm in my hand, I’ll be a good student.

    Reply
  4. Morgan
    Morgan says:

    I have been tossing the idea of composting since we moved and now have a house with a large yard. My biggest fear though is attracting mice. Any advice?

    Reply
    • Alessandra
      Alessandra says:

      I have the same fear, and doubt. I have two small children so I am afraid a compost pile might attract some unwanted animals such as mice and poisonous insects… Can you advise on that please?

      Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] it is so expensive. So, I decided to to try my hand at gardening. First, I started my compost with this handy guide (picture below is from this […]

  2. […] Source: https://prettyhandygirl.com/compost-gardenings-black-gold/ […]

  3. […] Source: https://prettyhandygirl.com/compost-gardenings-black-gold/ […]

  4. […] Here’s a great post by Pretty Handy Girl about composting- gorgeous pictures and helpful info. […]

  5. […] Composting is another great way to recycle newspaper, coffee grounds, grass clippings, fruits and vegetables, and more.  Pretty Handy Girl Brittany has a great post on composting {here}. […]

  6. […] How to Compost @ Pretty Handy Girl […]

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