Compost is a nutrient-rich soil that consists of decomposed organic material. It is fundamental to good gardening as it conditions and enhances soil quality. Compost can be made easily with plant and food waste.

If you have concerns that the compost pile will attract rats or give off pungent smells, Tan Siew Luang, organic farming project coordinator for the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (Cetdem), says this will not happen if composting is done correctly. “Making compost is not just dumping everything together and leaving it. You have to take care of it,” she says.

A guideline to follow is one part wet ingredients to three parts dry materials.
If the compost is too wet, there won’t be enough heat generated, which might contribute to the growth of maggots. If it’s too dry, the breakdown process will be extremely slow. What you should aim for is a compost pile that’s moist.

Here’s how you can start.

What you need:
•  Dried leaves
•  Dried grass
•  Fresh leaves
•  Any form of kitchen food waste (tea leaves, coffee grounds, eggshells, fruit peels, vegetable scraps, fish bones and scales, chicken bones and organs and so on)
•  A 57cm x 57cm plastic bin with lid, with the bottom base cut out and holes drilled all over the body to allow ventilation

Building a compost heap

1. With the bin turned upside down, start the first layer with about six inches to one foot of dried leaves. (You can gather dry leaves from a neighbourhood park or from the roadside.) Do not compress this pile as its purpose is to allow aeration and drainage.

2. Spread your kitchen food waste on the leaves. If you’re worried about it turning smelly, particularly with waste like animal organs, sprinkle some enzyme on it or throw in some yoghurt.

3. Cover with a layer of dried grass and fresh leaves. If your kitchen food waste has a lot of meat or animal parts in it, use more fresh leaves than dried grass. The enzyme and living cell in the fresh leaves will help generate more heat to break down the waste. Put the lid on. Repeat this process until the bin is full or over the next 1½ months, whichever comes first.

4. Your compost pile needs to be turned at this point to introduce more oxygen to it. Turning the compost helps improve the mixing of materials, allows for better aeration and speeds up the process. Remove the bin slowly by lifting it, then scoop the compost back into the bin. If you only have one bin and want to use it to start a new compost pile, scoop the compost into a 50kg or 70kg sugar bag and cover it. Turn the compost once every fortnightly.

5. Compost takes between two and four months to mature, depending on the ingredients put into it (the finer the materials used, the quicker the maturation process). Mature compost has a crumbly texture, earthy smell and is dark brown or black in colour. It’s all right if you find bones that have not fully broken down in the mixture; they will continue to decompose when mixed with soil.

Source : The Edge