Gardening, lawns, garden design, organic gardening & more!
Composting
All about composting – how to do it, composting processes, compost bins, worms
How To Make Compost
Nov 14th
It is easy to learn how to make compost. It is just a natural process that when all is said & done needs very little intervention from you… Compost is one of nature’s best mulches & soil amendments, & you can use it instead of commercial fertilizers. Best of all, compost is inexpensive.
Making compost is all about creating the ideal environment for organisms to thrive in the compost pile. After all compost is in the end is a waste product that results after hundreds of different organisms including friendly bacteria, fungi, insects & worms feed on our waster. After these More >
Maintaining the Compost Pile
Nov 11th
Maintaining the compost pile does not have to be a lot of work. Basically any pile of organic pile will eventually rot into fertilizer. It is just a question of how long it takes.
One key to maintaining your compost pile is to get it off to a good start in the first place. This means locating it in a level well-drained area. Also keep in mind that if you dispense with the freestanding outdoor compost pile in the first place & opt to put the waste in the bin you will save yourself a lot of work. This way you More >
Compost Piles – Feeding the Farm
Nov 8th
Compost piles are feeding centers for billions of microorganisms. Right. While it may be said that inside every gardener is a farmer waiting to get out, in reality every gardener with a compost pile already has a enormousnumber or plants & animals under her or his care, grazing & growing in the midst of the pile.
Compost piles are best thought of an one unit when thinking of care & feeding. We build the pile as the optimum ground for an invisible creature made up of billions of microorganisms & then let nature take its course. Like all creatures, our pile More >
Homemade Compost Bins – Ready for the garden
Nov 5th
Homemade compost bins allow one to fit the bin into the general aspect of the property & to tailor the bin or bins to the needs of the gardener & property. They are neither tedious nor hard to build & may be made from a variety of materials.
The simplest bin is of course none at all. Compost will work quite well in a pile alongside the garden. However – some areas do not allow what they consider unsightly piles of garbage in the yard while a bin is more than acceptable. Besides this, many gardeners prefer the look, convenience & More >
Compost Pile – Building Tips
Nov 3rd
Compost piles may be contained in bins or other enclosures or simply piled on the ground. Whichever you select there’re some simple things to consider before the pile is established.
1.Make if close to the main garden. A lot of compost material will come from pulled weeds & spent plants so you may as well carry them as short a distance as possible. Likewise the majority of the finished material will be going directly on the garden.
2.Consider putting it right into the garden. If you do not plan on turning it every three or four days but just letting it sit More >
Organic Compost – It Is All in What You Add
Oct 31st
Compost by definition is organic. It is the decayed remainder of flora & fauna & thus is processed organic material. That said, additives both known & unknown can add inorganic material to the mix.
Some organic gardeners like to add certain mineral additives to their compost such as dolomitic limestone or greensand to lower pH & add calcium to the mix. It is doubtful if this is more effective than adding these materials directly to the soil especially in the case of pH control as compost piles tend to go neutral by the nature of their composting action. Still, it means More >
Different Types of Composters
Oct 28th
There are basically two types of composters. One type is a static freestanding type of composter & the other is the kind that rotates like a wheel barrel to kind of churn the waste material into a swiftly degrading mixture. Of course these are just the two types of composters that you can buy commercially. You can also make your own composter.
Of course the simplest of composters is simply the heap that is in the garden. This is usually just a mound, occasionally hidden, that is now full of grass clippings, leaves & kitchen waste. All it really needs is More >
Compost Maker – You & Your Equipment
Oct 25th
Compost makers are where you find them. They may be either the people who make the compost or the equipment they use.
On a municipal or commercial level, compost makers will usually be large machinery. They may be something as simple as the bucket on a farm tractor that is used to pick up compost material & slowly slip it over the edge so as to mix & pile it or they could be as specialized as compost rotators that are essentially open ended tubes. There is more. There is more. The tube is set at about 5? off horizontal & More >
Adding Food To The Compost Pile
Oct 22nd
Decomposer organisms work best with as varied a diet as you feed them. The ingredients are all around us ?almost anything that once lived is a candidate for the compost, so attempt for lots of variety to get a good mix of textures & plant nutrients.
In composting jargon, woody materials that are high in carbon (autumn leaves, paper, peat moss, sawdust, cornstalks, hay & straw, etc) are called ‘brown’ ingredients.
Materials like garden refuse, manure, tea & coffee grounds, feathers, hair, & food scraps are high in nitrogen, or ‘green’
Some materials can actually be both: for example, fresh grass clippings are More >
Composting – An Introduction To The Basics
Oct 19th
More & more cities are developing composting programs, where homeowners can place food scraps in a green bin. The city collects the green bins & starts large compost piles. Right. When the materials in the pile are fully broken down, the city then offers the new compost soil either for free or for a small fee. This new, composted soil is rich in nutrients & eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers in your garden.
The following items can be composted:
- Food scraps (do not include meat, bone or fat scraps)
- Egg shells
- Peels (from potatoes, oranges, apples, bananas, etc)
- Old and/or More >
