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How to Compost Successfully & Safely  
HOW TO 

Tags: Compost, Composter, Successfull and Safe Composting, Better Gardening, Soil

Good composting isn't only about building a good bin and correctly mixing the compost. It's also about what you add to the compost. This article will provide a simple outline of what you can and can't compost.

1.	Consider the compost materials that will activate the heat process in your compost. Perfect heat-generating materials include: young weeds (before they develop seeds); comfrey leaves; yarrow; chicken or pigeon manure; grass cuttings; old potting soil etc.
2.	Items that will compost well include: fruit and vegetables; fruit and vegetable scraps; coffee grounds and tea leaves (including tea bags - remove staple if you can be bothered); vegetable plant remains; plants; cardboard & cardboard tubes (from foil wraps etc); old flowers (including dried floral displays, minus plastic/foam attachments); old straw and hay; fall (autumn) leaves; rabbit, gerbil and hamster bedding; egg shells; dead plants and weeds; hair (human, dog, cat etc.).
3.	Consider other items that can be composted but you may not have thought of before: paper towels; paper bags; sawdust; cotton clothing (torn up).
4.	Turn your pile regularly, once a week or every two weeks. Clear a patch next to the pile. Then use a pitchfork and move the entire pile to the clear spot. When it is time to turn the pile again, move it back to the original spot, or back into the bin. Mixing the pile in this way helps to keep air flowing inside the pile, which kills the anaerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria smell very stinky and they decompose very slowly compared to aerobic bacteria. Turning the pile helps to encourage the growth of the right kind of bacteria and makes for a nice, sweet-smelling pile which will decompose in a shorter period of time.
5.	If you live in a colder climate that has a shorter composting season, be careful of adding slow rotting items such as: tough branches, twigs and hedge clippings; wood ash; wood shavings and wood prunings. They can be composted but you may want to compost them separately due to their longer break-down time.
6.	Preferably avoid composting: bread, pasta, nuts, cooked food, newspaper. They don't break down as easily and become quite slimy and can hold up the heating, rotting-down process. (Old nuts left in the garden will disappear quickly if you have squirrels or monkeys around!!)
7.	Never compost the following items for reasons of health, hygiene and inability to break down: meat and meat scraps; bones; fish and fish bones; plastic or synthetic fibres; oil or fat; pet faeces; weeds that have gone to seed; diseased plants; disposable diapers (nappies); glossy magazines; coal and coke ash; cat litter. These items should be removed in the normal garbage collection.
8.	Follow the reduce, reuse and recycle way of life to reduce the amount of things you have to end up throwing away.

Lister: ListAfterList Wiki Contributors
Source: WikiHow – All text in this list shared under a Creative Commons License

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