The Backyard Homestead Survivalist Super Set: FREEDOM! Amazing Beginners Guide To Backyard Homesteading, Saving You and Your Family Time and Money When You'll Need it Most by James Givens

Author:James Givens [Givens, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Building a Compost Box

A compost box can be made, bought or built, and the design is so easy that it can be accommodated to suit almost any garden size. They can be brought from any garden center, and are sometimes even supplied by your local civic authority/council to homes.

Compost boxes can be any container that is solid, stands at least at waist height or higher, with no bottom and a lid on the top. It should be at least about a foot and a half in diameter, and the bigger the size the more it will be able to handle. From any reputable store you should be able to pick up the plastic ‘cone’ compost bins for hardly any cost. If you are feeling handy then they can be made out of old pallets or wooden frames, with just a bit of old carpet, tin or bin lid for a cover/lid.

Steps to Making Compost:

Add each layer of fresh material to your compost box in an even pattern, trying not to disturb the lower levels. For each layer of material, always try to mix it up and add something a little different next time. If you have added a lot of grass clippings, then next time add vegetable scraps, weeds, shredded paper.

Never add anything toxic or hazardous, such as bleach, washing up liquid or cosmetic materials as these will kill the healthy bacteria at work in the heap.

After a while (a week or two) you should be able to feel a level of heat being given off by your compost. If you have a really good heap, then it will even start to resist frost and melt any snow that lands on it!

Despite the amount that you put on it, the compost will still naturally reduce in size, as the good bacteria transforms the nutrients into soil.

After between 4-6 months, you should turn the compost, which means taking some material from the bottom and returning it to the top. This helps air to get into the pile and speeds up the composting process.

After between 6-8 months, the bottom layers of your compost should be ready! The bottom layers should not smell foul or be too wet; instead, they should be rich and brown, with a fine crumble to the hand. This can be added straight onto the soil, although it breaks down easier if lightly dug in and turned into the soil.

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