<p>Composting might be an incredible thing you can do for your garden! Learning to compost effectively will let you get more from your composting endeavours, yield better fertilizer in a shorter time frame, and help you reap more advantages from your composting efforts. Here are some <a href="http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/category/composting-supplies" target="_blank">composting tips</a> to help you get best compost possible.<br /> <br /> <strong>4 Steps to Successful Composting</strong><br /> <br /> 1. Keep it organic! Only compost organic items. Don&#39;t include animal products, dairy items, or man-made materials (like plastic or Styrofoam) in your composting pile. Leaves, hay, straw, wood chips, sawdust, grass clippings, shrub cuttings, coffee grounds, tea bags, pine needles, eggshells, paper, cardboard (non-laminated), garden weeds, and fruit and vegetable scraps all make terrific composting material. Do not include milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, bones, meat, animal carcasses, or hair in your composting pile. Alternate dry (brown) material with wet (green) material in 6 inch layers to get the best results.<br /> <br /> 2. Smaller is way better. Small composting material breaks down much more swiftly than massive material. Chop up your yard waste, put veggie scraps in the mixer, and run small branches through a wood chipper prior to composting. If you can, this will help you reduce your decomposition time and will help you get better overall results.<br /> <br /> 3. Even heating cooks far better compost. In order to evenly heat your compost pile, you need to turn the pile with a pitchfork (or a handle if using a closed-barrel type composting bin) every 10-14 days. Change things up well and add straw to help achieve the best composting mix. This also adds air to the mixture, which is a vital part of producing good compost. Water your pile well for best results. Cover your compost pile with straw to help raise the internal temperature of the compost pile and induce better breakdown of the natural materials. Just get rid of the straw to turn the heap or water your compost.<br /> <br /> 4. Obtain worms! Worms are like natural gold-mines in the world of compost. Worm droppings, called castings are abundant with material suitable for fertilizing garden plants. In fact, some greenhouse gardeners use worm boxes to produce worm castings for use directly in the greenhouse. The more worms you add, the better your compost will be. You can buy red worms from a <a href="http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/category/gardening-supplies" target="_blank">garden supply store</a>, or you can dig your own the old-fashioned way in the backyard.<br /> <br /> These composting tips will help you create black gold fertilizer for your garden from materials you would normally throw away.<br /> <br /> About the Author: Michelle Torres has nearly 20 years experience using and designing <a href="http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/category/mini-greenhouses-and-season-extenders" target="_blank">mini greenhouses</a> and is an avid gardener. You can find additional useful information about greenhouse <a href="http://www.greenhousecatalog.com/" target="_blank">gardening supplies</a> and greenhouse supplies at The Greenhouse Catalog.</p><p><strong>About the Author</strong></p><p>(CityNext.Content #46)</p><p>Article Source: <a href="http://citynext.com/">http://citynext.com/</a> - <a href="http://citynext.com/home-improvement/gardening-articles/easy-methods-compost-correctly">Easy Methods To Compost Correctly</a></p>