How to make your own compost

30 Jan 2016

Want to give your garden some extra tender loving care this season? Creating your own compost is not only beneficial for your garden, it’s also good for the environment. Here’s how to do it.

According to Planet Ark, Australians throw away around $5.2 billion of food each year, much of which is uneaten leftovers or spoiled fruit, vegetables or food products that have passed their expiry date. 

However, these scraps make for great compost, which can then be used in your garden. Compost is a wonderful soil conditioner that improves soil fertility and plant growth. It’s also an alternate solution to using chemical fertilisers and it’s beneficial to the environment, as it reduces the amount of methane produced and reduces landfill waste.

The right ingredients

The perfect compost is a combination of two kinds of things – ‘brown’ ingredients (carbons) and ‘green’ ingredients (nitrogen). Before you start, get a compost bin and create a base of dried leaves and twigs at the bottom, then add in your brown and green ingredients. Here is a list of the kinds of things you can put into each pile to make up your compost. 

1. Carbons: Dead leaves, lucerne hay, moistened cardboard, sugar-cane mulch, egg cartons, pizza bases and shredded newspaper (but not glossy magazines). 

2. Nitrogen: Lawn clippings, garden pruning, leaves, food scraps, citrus peelings, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grindings. Avoid adding meat scraps, or your compost will start smelling rather unpleasant. 

On top of it all, give it a good spray of water and add some healthy garden soil, chicken poo or pellets to get things kicking along.

Your compost should be fine and light when mixed together. If it’s too wet, it won’t break down properly, so mix in dry ingredients like shredded paper or cardboard. If it’s too dry, add in more green ingredients and a bit of water.

How to care for your compost

Keep your compost bin well-aerated by turning the mixture around every week or so, to help it break down. Some people like to add sticks and branches to create pockets of airflow. Also, make sure you don’t overwater your compost. If insufficient air makes its way through your compost, it will start to stink.