Ginny Bartolone began writing DIY and home improvement guides nearly 10 years ago, covering everything from energy-efficient appliances to cracked foundations. Whether she's compiling cost information ...

Composting is an essential skill to learn for any serious gardener. Known affectionately as black gold, compost is a rich, nutritious soil improver and costs little to make besides time. As well as ...

It takes time to make compost. Organic matter requires about two to three months to break down in hot compost piles, and up to a year or more in cold composting systems. But if you add a compost ...

Turning compost piles provides more air to beneficial microbes, helping to speed up the composting process and creating enough heat to kill weed seeds, pests, and pathogens. Aim to turn a hot compost ...

Gardeners often assume outdoor compost piles stop working in cold weather, but beneficial microbes can continue to break down compost all winter. The problem is that composting takes much longer in ...