How to Make Your Own High-Quality Compost

Cook up your own FAST, high-quality compost and either use it immediately in your garden, or use it to brew a great compost tea. Want to make fast compost to enrich the soil in your garden? Our video shows you how to do that in easy steps.

What is Composting?

Composting is the natural process of recycling organic waste, such as food scraps, grass clippings, and yard waste, into a valuable soil amendment known as finished compost. This composting process involves combining nitrogen-rich materials like fruit and vegetable scraps with carbon-rich materials like shredded paper and wood shavings in a compost pile or bin.

Historically, composting has been practiced for thousands of years, as ancient civilizations recognized the benefits of using decomposed organic matter to improve soil fertility and plant growth.

By regularly maintaining moisture and turning compost piles with a garden fork, beneficial organisms help break down the organic materials, resulting in nutrient-rich compost that enhances soil structure and supports healthy garden beds.

Why Make Your Own Compost?

Making your own compost offers numerous benefits, both environmentally and economically. By utilizing a compost pile or bin to process organic materials like fruit and vegetable scraps, grass clippings, and coffee grounds, you contribute to reducing organic waste and decreasing landfill use.

Homemade compost enriches garden beds with essential nutrients, improves soil structure, and supports healthy plant growth while saving on the cost of commercial soil amendments.

Additionally, the composting process fosters beneficial organisms and helps build healthy soil, enhancing soil fertility and aiding in the retention of moisture.

What is high quality compost?

High quality compost comes from a carefully tended compost pile with the right mixture of brown and green matter, water, and oxygen. When all is working optimally in a pile it will reach high temperatures of 120-150°F. The high heat will kill most pathogens and weed seeds, but the beneficial mycorrizhae will survive. There is a natural “cooling off” period and then the compost is “finished compost” or “humus” and can be put to use.

Understanding the Basics of Composting

How Does Composting Work?

Composting works through the natural decomposition of organic matter, facilitated by a mix of microorganisms and environmental factors. To make organic compost, you need to create a compost pile or bin using a balanced mix of carbon-rich materials like fallen leaves and shredded paper, and nitrogen-rich materials such as grass clippings and coffee grounds.

As these composting materials break down, beneficial organisms and soil microbes transform them into nutrient-rich compost that improves soil structure and fertility.

Regularly turning the compost pile and maintaining moisture helps speed up the composting process, resulting in finished compost that can be used as a soil amendment to boost plant growth and support healthy garden beds.

Key Ingredients for Quality Compost

To create quality compost, it’s essential to balance greens and browns in your compost pile. Greens, like grass clippings and food scraps, provide nitrogen-rich materials, while browns, such as fallen leaves and shredded paper, offer carbon-rich materials.

Maintaining the right carbon-nitrogen ratio and ensuring adequate moisture and oxygen are crucial for the composting process, as these factors help beneficial organisms and soil microbes break down organic materials efficiently.

Regularly turning the compost bin and retaining moisture supports healthy decomposition, resulting in nutrient-rich finished compost that enhances soil fertility and structure.

Choosing the Right Composting Method

Cold Composting vs. Hot Composting

Cold composting and hot composting represent two distinct methods for how to make organic compost. Cold composting involves adding organic materials, such as yard waste and kitchen scraps, to a compost pile or bin without frequent turning or monitoring, leading to a slower decomposition process and finished compost in several months to years.

In contrast, hot composting accelerates decomposition through frequent turning and a carefully managed carbon-nitrogen ratio, resulting in compost ready in weeks to a few months but requiring more effort to maintain moisture and temperature.

Each method has its pros and cons: cold composting is less labor-intensive and good for larger volumes of organic waste, while hot composting is faster and produces higher-quality compost but demands more active management.

Types of Composting Systems

There are several effective types of composting systems for how to make organic compost, each suited to different needs and spaces. Traditional compost piles involve layering organic materials, such as grass clippings and fruit and vegetable scraps, which decompose over time to produce finished compost.

Compost bins and tumblers streamline the composting process by containing composting materials and allowing for easier turning and aeration. Vermicomposting uses worms to break down food waste and organic matter, producing rich, nutrient-dense compost quickly.

Bokashi composting, an anaerobic method, involves fermenting food scraps with specific microorganisms, offering a fast and odorless way to process kitchen waste, though it requires careful handling to avoid issues with unwanted animals and pests.

How to make high quality compost

Find basic information about life in the compost pile, and how to make compost in our Composting 101 video and articles. To make the best compost you should create a fast, hot compost pile (in a bin or on the ground) and add all the composting ingredients at once. If you manage your compost pile well, you can have finished compost in 2-8 weeks.

1. Fill your compost bin, or build the pile by layering equal amounts of brown and green ingredients. The pile should not be bigger than a 3-foot cube, since you will need to be able to turn it often. If you are composting outside a bin, in a windy area, you should go up to a 4-foot cube size, to retain the heat better. With this fast process you will need to watch the balance of brown and green ingredients as the composting goes along, and be prepared to supplement with more brown or green if the pile develops problems.
2. Speed up decomposition by using small pieces of ingredients (shredded leaves, not whole leaves, for instance). Don’t use branches in a fast compost pile, because they take longer to break down.
3. Spray water on each layer. Keep the pile as moist as a wrung-out sponge at all times. Be careful when you touch the pile because it will be HOT using this composting technique.
4. Kick up the speed in the pile by adding compost inoculants to the water you spray on the pile.
5. Turn the pile every 3 days with a digging fork or compost aerator tool.
6. Monitor the temperature of a fast compost pile. Your friends who are new to gardening will squawk when they hear you own a compost thermometer, but you’ll have the last laugh when you produce superb compost in a few weeks. A speedy pile may go up to 120°F in the first 2 days, and up to 130°F in 3 to 4 days. When the temperature drops to 110°F the compost may be close to finished, if your pile has been performing at the fastest rate — or it may need a boost of additional turning and water to heat up again.
7. Compost is “finished” when it is dark, crumbly, and sweet-smelling. You should not be able to identify the original pieces of the ingredients. Let it sit for a few days, then spread it an inch thick in your garden, or use it to make your compost tea!

Speeding Up the Composting Process

Tips for Fast-Tracking Decomposition

To fast-track decomposition in your compost pile, use compost accelerators and starters to boost the composting process. Adding a mix of nitrogen-rich materials, like coffee grounds and food scraps, along with carbon-rich materials, such as shredded paper and fallen leaves, helps maintain the ideal carbon-nitrogen ratio.

Regularly turning the compost bin or heap and maintaining proper moisture levels ensure that soil microbes and beneficial organisms can work efficiently. Following these best practices for quick composting, such as avoiding composting perennial weeds and pest-infested plants, will help you make compost faster and produce nutrient-rich finished compost for your garden beds.

Turning and Flipping: When and How

Turning and flipping your compost pile is essential for optimizing the composting process. It’s generally recommended to turn your compost every 1 to 2 weeks to introduce oxygen and help mix organic materials, such as grass clippings and kitchen scraps, which speeds up decomposition.

Regular turning benefits the compost pile by enhancing microbial activity, reducing odors, and ensuring a more even breakdown of carbon-rich materials like shredded paper and nitrogen-rich materials like coffee grounds. By maintaining proper moisture and frequently turning the pile, you’ll produce finished compost more quickly, which is a valuable soil amendment for garden beds and container plants.

Enhancing Compost Quality

Adding Nutrients: Manure and Fertilizer Supplements

Adding nutrients to your compost pile, such as manure and fertilizer supplements, can significantly enhance the composting process. Incorporating well-aged manure into your compost bin provides a rich source of nitrogen-rich materials, which accelerates decomposition and boosts the nutrient content of the finished compost.

Organic supplements like bone meal and seaweed extract improve soil fertility and plant growth, while inorganic options, such as chemical fertilizers, can also be used but should be applied with caution to avoid disrupting the balance of composting materials.

By enriching your compost with these supplements, you can create a more effective soil amendment that improves soil structure and plant nutrients for garden beds and container plants.

Specialized Compost: Making Compost Tea

Compost tea is a liquid fertilizer made by brewing finished compost in water, allowing beneficial organisms and plant nutrients to be extracted. To brew compost tea, place a bag of composting materials, such as grass clippings and food scraps, into a container of water and let it steep for several days, occasionally stirring to aerate the mixture.

Once brewed, strain the tea and apply it to the soil surface or as a foliar spray on plants to enhance soil fertility and boost plant growth. This nutrient-rich liquid helps build healthy soil and supports plant development by enriching garden beds and container plants with beneficial microbes and essential nutrients.

Products to help you compost

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The Rodale Book of Composting

Conclusion

In conclusion, making your own high-quality compost is a rewarding process that enriches your garden while managing organic waste. By utilizing compost bins and carefully balancing green materials, such as food scraps and yard waste, with brown materials like shredded paper and wood ashes, you can produce nutrient-rich compost efficiently.

Regularly turning your compost pile with a garden fork, adding compost activators, and maintaining moisture will help accelerate decomposition and create a valuable soil amendment. Avoiding composting diseased plants, meat scraps, and invasive weeds ensures a healthier composting process and better plant growth, ultimately supporting your garden’s soil structure and fertility.

FAQs about How to Make Your Own High-Quality Compost

• 1. What types of materials can I add to my compost bin?

  • You can add a mix of green materials (such as food scraps, kitchen waste, and plant clippings) and brown materials (like shredded paper, untreated wood, and peat moss) to your compost bin. Green materials provide nitrogen, while brown materials are rich in carbon, both of which are essential for the composting process.

• 2. How often should I turn my compost pile?

• 3. Are there any materials I should avoid adding to my compost?

  • Avoid adding meat scraps, pet waste, diseased plants, and invasive weeds to your compost bin, as these can attract pests or introduce harmful plant pathogens and soil-borne diseases. It’s also best to avoid composting weed seeds, which could spread unwanted plants throughout your garden.

• 4. How do I maintain the moisture in my compost pile?

  • Maintaining moisture is crucial for effective composting. Your compost pile should be as damp as a wrung-out sponge. If it becomes too dry, add green materials like vegetable peelings or water it lightly. If it’s too wet, add more brown materials like dry leaves or wood ashes to help absorb the excess moisture.

• 5. What can I do to speed up the composting process?

  • Using a compost activator, adding carbon-rich materials and green materials in balanced proportions, and turning the pile regularly will help speed up decomposition. Ensuring a good mix of raw materials and maintaining optimal moisture and aeration will also encourage the growth of beneficial microbes and result in high-quality compost.