How to Make Homemade Mulch

Homemade Mulch Production Options

• 1

  Rake grass clippings, leaves and small twigs into a wheelbarrow, or directly into a homemade or purchased compost bin for cold composting. Leave the bin alone and it eventually turns into usable mulch. This method is not for the gardener who needs mulch quickly. While cold composting requires practically no maintenance, the process is slow, and it depends on the size and quality of the raw materials, weather conditions, and carbon to nitrogen ratio of the pile. When the compost reaches the consistency of a rich loam, use it as a weed inhibitor and water conservation tool by spreading it around the landscape in a 2-inch-thick layer.

• 2

  Deposit materials high in nitrogen to create a hot compost operation, which decomposes organic matter for use as mulch in the landscape much quicker than cold composting. Nitrogen accelerates the decomposition process by quickly bringing the soil to the optimum composting temperature, between 141 and 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a compost thermometer to determine the pile's temperature. The ideal hot-composting ratio consists of two parts carbon materials and one part nitrogen material. Carbon materials consist of brown items such as autumn leaves, shredded paper and wood chips. Nitrogen materials include grass clippings, manure from farm animals, and waste from the kitchen or the garden. Keep the hot compost pile at the ideal temperature by turning the pile with a pitchfork twice a week and keeping the pile damp by watering it to the consistency of damp rag. When using mulch-pile ingredients in the garden, keep 1 to 2 inches of space between the mulch and the base of plants.

• 3

  Use worms to do the work in vermicomposting. Make bedding from shredded newspaper, straw or dead leaves. Use a 15-gallon container, and place it and a supply of 50 red wigglers with bedding in a convenient place. Deposit kitchen waste like coffee grounds, egg shells, peelings and seeds from fruits or vegetables. Vermicomposting enthusiasts keep the bucket outside, in the garage, in the basement or even under the kitchen sink. Bury waste under the bedding material and worms. In approximately six weeks, push the finished product to the side and establish a new bed next to the old in the bottom of the bucket. In another four to six weeks, when the worms migrate to the new bedding, harvest the mulch, rich in worm castings, for use in use in the garden as an enrichment to the soil by top dressing the plants or digging the finished mulch into the soil.