If you like to garden and plant things, then most likely you also love being outdoors for just about any reason. Composting is a great reason for being outdoors. Composting can be fun, mostly because you get to do something outdoors that is productive and good for the environment. If you love plants, love to see things grow, want to save money and get great plants, then composting is the way to go. Composting allows you to nurture your plants, and keep them healthy all through your own efforts. This can be rewarding in more than just a financial way, the pride of knowing that your plants are feeding on your own home-made compost.

Now think of all the vegetable trimmings, vegetable scraps from the table, fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, herbal tea leaves, egg shells and more, that your household generates each week. To you it's garbage, but to your garden, and all the plant life in it, it is nutrient-rich food and best of all, it's free.http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-compost.htm

Why Compost?

Composting household compostable material in addition to being great free plant food also helps your garden have less weeds, acts as a moisture retainer thereby reducing the need to water and provides a healthy bed for your plants to grow in. Composting also redirects what might have gone into the garbage and a landfill site to your garden where it returns to the earth naturally. This saves you money, instead of having to buy compost from a garden center or store, you make your own from garbage!http://www.ec.gc.ca/education/default.asp?lang=en&n=BAE2878A-1

The tools and materials required to compost are quite simple and at the most basic come down to the following. .http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-compost.htm

• - Area to compost – can be a composer bin, or simply a small area of land
• - Compostable garbage
• - Shovel
• - Composting Agitator, or a pitch fork, optional as the shovel can be used
• - Water – just enough to keep it moist

Composting is easy! Composting is as simple as dumping your compostable garbage into a bin or an area of land, turning it around or agitating it from time to time to expose your garbage to air, bacteria and fungi that goes to work to make it compost. It’s as easy as the four following steps: .http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-compost.htm

1. Assemble your composting area. An area of land, a composter bin or a homemade composter
2. Collect the right composting materials: carbon-rich organic materials which include dry leaves, straw/hay, wood chips, sawdust, napkins, dryer lint, and vacuum cleanings. Fresh, moist, nitrogen-rich materials like lawn clippings, fruit and vegetable peels and leftover pieces, tea bags, pasta, coffee grounds, stale bread and eggshells.
3. Add oxygen and maintain the right level of moisture for a healthy compost
4. Turn the contents of your compost heap with a pitchfork or shovel to work air into the compost pile. Do this at least twice a month to help break down the contents and speed composting.

The end result of composting is a nutrient rich soil called compost that can be added to gardens, flower beds, potted plants an even lawns. Compost is great for the soil, improving its fertility, structure, aeration, and ability to hold moisture. http://www.ec.gc.ca/education/default.asp?lang=en&n=BAE2878A-1