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How to Make Compost
to Gladden the Hearts of a Worm#
2 - Practicalities
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(# worms have 5 pairs of hearts I
like worms)
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In a Nutshell
 | It is better if you can make a large heap of compost in
one go |
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| Shred the material that you add to the heap,
this is one of the best things you can do make quality compost. |
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| Make sure you mix brown and green material together,
the exact proportions are can vary quite a bit, just make sure that there's
always some of each and always more brown than green. |
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| Put some kind of lid on the compost heap to keep the
rain off and for insulation. Even if you make the compost in a proprietary
"bin" with its own lid, cover the top of the compost (inside the
bin) with a piece of old carpet or polystyrene to
help with insulation. |
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| Water very well initially and keep moist afterwards,
but protect from rain. |
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| Turn the heap over once complete, say
after 1, 6 and 12 months. If you can manage it more than this, then all the
better, this is the principle behind compost "tumblers" that are
used to turn compost in a bin or barrel on a daily basis. |
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| To make compost in the best possible way you really need
two identically sized heaps, one next to the other. One that you are adding
to and one that is rotting down gently after the initial heating phase is
over. |
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Running
two heaps next to each other is very effective. One can be
"completed" and be rotting slowly while the other is used to add
new material
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Shredding the
plant material is probably the most effective thing that you can do to
improve your garden compost. When buying a shredder, buy the most
powerful machine that you can afford. Even if you don't have many branches
as thick as its maximum size. A larger shredder will cope more easily with
any material you put through it. |
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Any lid on the heap
is better than no lid. Here two pieces of old chipboard have been
pressed into service. Old carpet (preferably foam backed) , vinyl
flooring, or even a couple of bin-bags weighted down with bricks are also effective. |
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| Once the heap has been rotting away for some
time, an extra oxygen supply by pushing
in a broom handle or similar and wiggling it around will help to continue
the rotting process. |
Compost 3 FAQ's |
