Recycling Yard Waste
One of the problems of having a beautiful yard is what to do with the waste. Grass, leaves, and other garbage piles up quickly. But these items can contribute to the health and beauty of your outdoor space–composting, chipping and other uses can keep organic material out of the landfill and help you create a yard that will be the envy of the neighborhood.
Composting
Composting is an excellent way to reduce waste and reuse yard clippings. Composting involves sectioning off part of your property for waste. Usually, the types of waste you’ll be putting here are grass clippings, leaves, rotten vegetables, and other organic material that are easily broken down.
To make your compost pile, section off part of your property. You don’t need much space – about 3 feet by 3 feet. Chicken wire or a simple DIY fence made of something that won’t decompose works best. Lay a layer of nitrogen-rich green materials like grass clippings, plant-based kitchen waste (i.e. vegetable peels), or barnyard manure down. Shovel some garden soil on top of it. Put down another layer of green stuff, then another layer of soil. Keep doing this until you run out of compost material. Go three layers deep. Moisten the soil.
This process starts the breakdown of the green stuff into rich soil. You’ll have to periodically churn the compost and keep it moist (but not soggy). Eventually, you’ll have really great top soil you can use practically anywhere.
