Getting Started with Composting

By spending a few minutes each week and following a few easy steps, you can create your own compost to use as fertilizer and mulch on your plants or lawn. To create your own compost for fertilizing your lawn or garden, you can purshase or make a compost bin. Metro sales the Earth Machine for $40. If you don't want to use a bin, just follow these simple steps for backyard composting.

1. Find an area of your yard that gets at least five hours of sunlight per day.
2. Dig a pit or purchase a composting bin to place in your chosen area.
3. Find a container with a tight-sealing lid to store your kitchen waste.
4. Fill the container with your kitchen waste.
5. Accumulate a large pile of brown leaves to put in your composting pit or bin.
6. Moisten the leaves to the consistency of a wrung-out sponge.
7. Periodically, stir the contents of your kitchen-waste container into the pile of leaves.
8. After about one month, check the bottom of the pile to look for finished compost -- it will look like mulch.

You can use this compost material to mulch around plants and to mix with garden soil. You can also use it on your lawn to rejuvenate your yards soil. For increased rejuvenation, spread the compost after areating your lawn. This will mix the soil and compost quicker, giving your lawn the nutrients it needs to grow "organically" into a beautiful, healthy masterpiece of green art :-)