How To Compost Your Yard Trimmings

How To Compost Your Yard Trimmings And Reduce The Amount Of Clutter On Your Yard

A big yard yields a lot more waste than your regular recycling bin can accommodate. Grass grows tremendously especially during the spring and the summer months so you can just imagine the amount of yard trimmings you will have. Fortunately, you need not worry about how to compost such amount of yard trimmings. Fortunately, yard trimmings like grass clippings can be composted without the use of a composting bin. To recycle your grass clippings, you simply leave the clippings on your lawn and let nature take care of it.

The process of simply leaving your grass clippings on your lawn, often referred to by experts as grassycling, has become quite fashionable. This process is popularly known today as grasscycling. You do not need to use a recycling bin when you recycle your grass clippings. To practice grasscycling at home, you simply spread the grass clippings on your lawn evenly. The grass clippings will serve as mulch to your lawn.

Will the grass clippings not harm or smother the grass underneath? Many gardeners agree that a thin layer of grass clippings will not harm the fresh grass under it. Note that grass clippings contain 80% water and 20% solid biodegradable substance so there is little chance that the grass underneath it will get smothered and die. Besides, as long as the grass underneath the pile still has some breathing space, it will not get smothered and die out.

While thin layers of grass clippings will not harm your lawn, think piles of trimmings may ruin your grass. You see, a thick pile of clippings can be quite heavy and it can smother the grass underneath it.

While grass clippings may be left lying around on your lawn for a few days without your yard looking really dirty, larger yard trimmings like leaves, twigs and plant debris can make your lawn look really messy. To compost leaves, twigs and plant debris, dig a pit on the side of your yard and put the yard trimmings in it. To facilitate faster composting, put the coarse brown materials at the bottom of the pit and put the lighter materials on top. You may also turn the pile of yard trimmings every two weeks to help it decompose faster.

Composting Bin

Build your Own Outdoor Composting Bin

Composting is an excellent method to recycle organic waste and nutrients into soil and this method also cut down large collection of garbage. There are two ways of composting: indoor composting and outdoor composting and for those having backyards and garden, outdoor composting suits the best. For the outdoor composting, compost bin is very important and there are many cost effective way to create the bin. Before making the bin, it is highly important to find the right place to install the bin and the most recommended place is close to the garden.

The required materials to make the compost bin are welded wire fencing, ties or nylon string, branches, twigs, organic waste such as food scraps, weeds, fresh grass clippings, dried leaves, shredded paper, and coffee grounds. The required wire fencing should be at least 36 inches tall and the corner of the fences should be clearly filed and cut to cut down the sharp points, and it is better to duct tape the edges. Now, the fence can be wrapped in the form of cylinder and should be placed in the area, which is convenient, shady, properly leveled, and has good drainage facility. After this, a layer of twigs and leaves should be arranged at the bottom of the bin so that the air movement is not blocked in the bin.

After this, 6 inches of shredded paper, dried leaves, or saw dust should be laid and above this the left over organic waste material should be laid. Then, another layer of dried leaves or saw dust should be placed over the organic wastes, and always the kitchen wastes should be buried under the dried leaves or shredded paper. This layering should be done until the compost bin is fully stuffed with this item and always while adding these materials, proper air flow should be taken care of by fluffing. If the materials are very dry, little water should be added over the materials to make it damp, and the materials should not be made soggy.

The time for composting can be increased by making the bin upside down once in a while and this can be repeated often. By turning the bin once in fall and once in spring should finish the composting process within a year. The compost becomes ready to harvest when it becomes rich, brown color soil and harvesting can be done by just removing the fence. The fence can be once again arranged to do composting another time.