What are Compost Piles?
(http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-compost-piles.htm) Brief and Straightforward Guide: What are Compost Piles? How to Build a Compost Pile from Basic Steps to Advanced (http://www.mastercomposter.com/pile/) The following topics are available to teach you how to build a backyard compost pile and use the compost that you produce. How To Build a Compost Bin (http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayP ub.aspx?P=G6957) Keep your compost pile moist, but not wet. If flies are a problem, place more bedding material over the wastes, or place a sheet of plastic over the bedding How to build a compost pile (http://compostinstructions.com/how-to-build-a-compo st-pile/) A compost pile is easy to make and doesn’t require much space. In order to reach optimal temperatures, the pile should be at least 3 feet wide, Composting – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting) A 38 cm (15 in) squirrel-cage blower with 2.2 kW (3 hp) motor is used to force air through 10
A compost pile is a pile of organic wastes, animal wastes or fertilizers, and soil meant to decompose at an accelerated rate. At a mature stage, the compost decomposes into a dark brown or black substance called humus that is well used as a soil conditioner and fertilizer. Adding compost to soil can help soil to drain or retain water, enrich the soil with nutrients, and introduce beneficial microorganisms. Composting also reduces the solid waste stream. Compost piles accelerate the natural rate of decomposition of organic materials by manipulating the waste to be especially conducive to consumption by microorganisms. This revolves around finding the proper ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the compost pile. Microbes need carbon from wastes such as leaves or wood for energy and nitrogen from green wastes for protein in order to thrive and grow. These microorganisms also need proper amounts of oxygen and water, so wastes added to the compost pile ought to be moist but not so wet as to block
There is nothing complicated or fancy about compost piles, they are in fact nothing more that a collection of organic refuse collected from inside and outside of your house that is then piled up in a large mound somewhere on your property. This pile is then left alone and allowed to decompose and rot. What do compost piles do? A compost pile takes all that organic refuse which includes vegetable remnants, pieces of fruit, rinds, ash from a fire place, white paper, cotton, grass clippings, leaves, dead plants, weeds, sawdust and practically any other leafy plant material, excluding wood. Compost piles take all of that material and provide a way for it all to decompose through a process called composting which after a period of time will result in a left over byproduct known as compost. The leftovers from compost piles are a mulch like brown substance with a strong earth smell. This compost is known the world over as one of the most nutrient rich and effective soil additives ever created
