If you decided to grow your own organic sustainable garden, what you need is compost. Compost is the result of the decomposition of organic material. Eventually all organic material will naturally decompose. Generally, by making compost we presume the process of speeding up the natural course of decomposition in order to get nutrient rich soil to add into our garden. There are different methods of making it; you can make it indoors or outdoors, it can be cold or hot, and the process aerobic or anaerobic. Besides being good for your garden, composting is an environmentally desirable behaviour since it is the way to return nutrients to the soil while at the same time reducing waste.

Since outdoor methods require more attention due to the fact that the compost pile is exposed to atmospheric conditions and also to rodents and other animals, especially if you put into it cooked food, meat and fish, for beginners it might be easier to start aerobic composting indoors and to base the compost on raw vegetable waste. Most supermarkets offer different kind of compost bins, but you don’t have to spend the money on it. It’s easy to make one at home, reusing for that purpose an old plastic bin with lid.

Do-your-self compost bin

To make your own compost bin, you also need a drilling tool and some dried twigs, cardboard, dried leaves or dried grass, all chopped to the size of an inch or smaller and a bit of compost if you have some. Instead of compost you can put a bit of the soil from your garden. The size of the bin will depend on how much raw material you have to put into the compost and on how much space you have.

Drill holes (4-6 millimetres in diameter) at the bottom of the bin and on the sides (or all around the bin) in order to create a net of holes. The holes can be approximately 10 cm distant from each other. Their purpose is to provide ventilation. At the bottom of the bin place dry twigs in form of a net. Cut the cardboard into smaller pieces and place it over the dry twigs. Put a layer of dried leaves or grass on it and make it 5 to 10 centimetres thick. If you are putting the grass make sure it doesn’t have a seed. Then put a layer of your garden soil or compost on it and your bin is ready. Do not use purchased soil for flowers and indoor plants as it is most probably sterile and cannot start the composting process.

Let’s make some compost!

Now you can start putting carbon-rich materials, or “browns,” and nitrogen-rich materials, or “greens”, layer by layer and in the proper ratio. Brown materials are dried leaves, straw, wood chips, sawdust, cardboard and similar. Nitrogen rich materials are leftovers of fresh fruits and vegetables (cut them to the size of a thumb), cut flowers, fresh grass or similar but also eggshells, coffee grounds and tea bags (juts the cellulose part). Then put a thin layer of sawdust or other biodegradable carbon material on top of the compost pile so that the pile does not attract flies. Cover the compost bin and do not stir the pile for 4 or 5 days, so that the decomposition process may begin. After 4 or 5 days you can start to stir the compost pile every 2 to 3 days. That’s how it gets ventilated. The air is required for the growth of organisms that decompose organic matter, thus preventing the appearance of odours and mould.

The ratio between “browns” and “greens” depend on the brown material you use; if you use the sawdust, it’s 1:1. If you use cardboard, it’s 1:2 and from the dried leaves it’s 1:4. Do not put cooked food into your compost bin. If you continue to make your compost according to these simple rules, there should not be any unpleasant odours so you can keep your bin in the kitchen or on the balcony, but make sure it’s not in direct sunlight. You can place in on a base such as two wooden slats for better ventilation. A month after you stopped adding new material into it, your compost should be ready to use.