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　　Having an ample supply of good rich compost is the gardeners dream.

　　It has many uses, and all of those uses will result in nicer plants. However,Plastic Lids Suppliers composting can be time consuming and hard work. I place a reasonable value on my time, so spending hours and hours turning compost piles doesn't qualify as a worthwhile exercise, at least in my book. Nonetheless, I do compost, but I do

　　so on my terms.

　　I built two composting bins. Each bin is five feet wide, five feet deep, and four feet high. I built the bins by sinking 4" by 4" posts in the ground for the corners, and then nailed 2 by 4's and 1 by 4's, alternating on the

　　sides.

　　I started by filling just one of the bins. I put grass clippings, dried leaves, and shrub clippings in the bins. I try not to put more than 6" of each material on a layer.

　　You don't want 24" of grass clippings in the bin and you should alternate layers of green and brown material. If necessary, keep a few bags of dry leaves around so you can alternate layers of brown waste and green waste.

　　When we root cuttings we use coarse sand in the flats, so when it's time to pull the rooted cuttings out of the flats, the old sand goes on the compost pile. In our little backyard nursery we also have some plants in

　　containers that do not survive. Rather than pulling the dead plant and the weeds out of the container, and then dumping the potting soil back on the soil pile, we just dump the whole container in the compost bin. This adds

　　more brown material to the mix, and is a lot easier than separating the soil and the weeds.

　　Once the bin is full, the rules of composting say that you should turn the material in the bin every few weeks. There is no way that I have time to do that, so this is what I do. I pack as much material in the bin as I can

　　before I start filling the second bin. I pile the material as high as I possibly can, and even let it spill out in front of the bin. Then I cover all the fresh material with mulch or

　　potting soil, whatever brown material I can find.

　　Then when I'm out working in the garden I set a small sprinkler on top of the pile and turn it on very low, so a small spray of water runs on the material. Since I have a good water well, this doesn't cost me anything, so I let it

　　run for at least two hours as often as I can. This keeps the material damp, and the moisture will cause the pile to heat up, which is what makes the composting action take place.

　　Once I have the first bin completely full, I start using the second bin. As the material in the first bin starts to break down, it will settle and the bin is no longer heaped up,

　　so I just keep shoveling the material that I piled in front of the bin, up on top of the pile, until all the material is either in the bin, or piled on top of the heap. Then I just

　　leave it alone, except to water it once in a while. The watering isn't necessary, it just speeds the process.

　　Because I don't turn the pile, I can't expect all of the material to rot completely. The material in the center is going to break down more than the material on the edges, but most of it does break down quite well. The next step works great for me because I've got a small

　　nursery, so I keep a pile of potting soil on hand at all times. But you can really do the same thing by just buying two or three yards of shredded mulch to get started, and piling it up near your compost bins. If you do this, you will always have a supply of good compost

　　to work with.