Turn those weeds into food!

Turn your weeds into something great! 

At it's simplest, composting requires very little - put your weeds, kitchen scraps, straw, dead leaves, and whatever else you have around your yard into a pile. Make sure it's somewhat wet. Turn it with a pitchfork once in a while. And eventually, it turns into the perfect fertilizer! If you want the process to go a little faster, here are some tips: 

1) Put it somewhere hot. I've made the mistake (twice) of putting my composted in a far corner of the yard so it didn't look hideous. Since those corners were shady, I didn't get much for compost. Now that I have my rotating composter, it's small enough to easily fit on my deck which is the hottest spot in the yard. I can get decent compost in a couple weeks now, instead of a couple years! 

2) Turn it, but not too often. The hotter your compost pile gets, the quicker it will break down. So you want it to get nice and toasty instead. You also want to make sure that your ingredients are all composting together, so you have to mix it once in a while. But when you mix it, the pile has to heat up all over again. So when you remember, give it a mix. Once every couple weeks should do it!

So here is my patented (or not) 4-step process to composting:

STEP 1: Insert weeds and a little water.

STEP 2: Rotate or turn when you remember. 

STEP 3: Dig your compost out with your bare hands.  Gloves shmoves.

STEP 4: Admire your lovely compost, then put it in the garden!