Adding compost to your soil is one of the best ways to improve your garden. Make a compost pile from a mixture of organic matter, such as:
- Leaves
- Grass clippings
- Vegetable scraps
- Eggshells
- Coffee grounds
Turn the pile once a week with a pitchfork to introduce oxygen, and keep it covered with plastic to hold in moisture and heat. Adding red worms to the pile will speed up the process, since they digest and process their body weight in organic matter every day.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: Sometimes thinking green can be taken quite literally. For example, nothing can make your yard or garden greener naturally than by using compost. You want to use a good mix of “brown” materials, like dead leaves, and “greens” like grass clippings. But if you really want to speed up the process, here’s the secret: worms!
Red worms or wigglers are perfect because they will eat and process their own body weight every day. That may not sound very pleasant, but it will create some of the best compost in the neighborhood.
Add things like coffee grounds, tea bags and crushed egg shells; mix the pile once a week to introduce oxygen and cover it to help keep in the moisture and the heat. Within three months or so, you’ll not only have a rich compost pile to feed your garden…you’ll have some very healthy bait for the fishing hole!
Further Information
- What Can I Compost (article)
- How to Make Leaf Compost (video)
- How to Build a Compost Bin (article)
- Composting Cooked Foods, Meat, and Dairy (article)
