Gardening - Composting
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Compost doesn't have to be just the leaves from your yard, in fact, it
shouldn't be just the leaves. All of your vegetable scraps should go
into your compost pile. Why pay to have that material hauled off to a
landfill when it can be beneficial to you.
Now if you just throw all of this stuff into a pile, it will
be broken down by bacteria, but it can take two
years for this to be broken down into a usable form.
You can make conditions better for this bacteria so
they will work faster and you can be adding new
humus to the soil in your garden every year. How to do this you ask?
Well my friends, read on.
You will need a compost pile that is made up of wet stuff and dry stuff.
Basically 3-1 dry to wet. A dry compost pile, like just dead leaves
from your yard, will take forever to break down. If you have a wet
compost pile, like a pile of vegetable scraps, well, that could start to
stink a bit. The wet nitrogen rich parts will work with the carbon rich
dry parts to break down your compost pile faster and with less fuss
on your part.
Here in Indiana we should always have our compost pile in a sunny
location. You can take four fence posts and some plywood and make
you a small little bin to put your composting material into. Leaves and
grass should be shredded to make them break down faster. Don't let
your grass clump up as it will heat up and kill off the oxygen inside the
grass clump. Much like putting up alfalfa hay when it is too wet. It can
heat up and start to stink, or in a worse case scenario, burn your barn
down. Invest in a 5 tine pitch fork so you can turn your compost
every so often.
If your compost pile is getting too dry, you can moisten it up a bit with
the hose, but don't get it too soggy. You can even compost your old
newspapers. You can put on manure from plant eating animals, but I
tend to avoid bird manure as it is very high in nitrogen and I don't like
to use horse manure at all. Some people add their old garden plants
into their compost pile, I would avoid doing that. If tomato or potato
plants have any kind of disease in them, you will compost that right
back into your garden.
A fifty percent moisture content is the desired moisture level. It
should feel damp, not wet. If you start to get that ammonia smell to
it, you have too much green stuff in it and you need to either ease up
on the greens, or add some more dry stuff to the pile.
shouldn't be just the leaves. All of your vegetable scraps should go
into your compost pile. Why pay to have that material hauled off to a
landfill when it can be beneficial to you.
Now if you just throw all of this stuff into a pile, it will
be broken down by bacteria, but it can take two
years for this to be broken down into a usable form.
You can make conditions better for this bacteria so
they will work faster and you can be adding new
humus to the soil in your garden every year. How to do this you ask?
Well my friends, read on.
You will need a compost pile that is made up of wet stuff and dry stuff.
Basically 3-1 dry to wet. A dry compost pile, like just dead leaves
from your yard, will take forever to break down. If you have a wet
compost pile, like a pile of vegetable scraps, well, that could start to
stink a bit. The wet nitrogen rich parts will work with the carbon rich
dry parts to break down your compost pile faster and with less fuss
on your part.
Here in Indiana we should always have our compost pile in a sunny
location. You can take four fence posts and some plywood and make
you a small little bin to put your composting material into. Leaves and
grass should be shredded to make them break down faster. Don't let
your grass clump up as it will heat up and kill off the oxygen inside the
grass clump. Much like putting up alfalfa hay when it is too wet. It can
heat up and start to stink, or in a worse case scenario, burn your barn
down. Invest in a 5 tine pitch fork so you can turn your compost
every so often.
If your compost pile is getting too dry, you can moisten it up a bit with
the hose, but don't get it too soggy. You can even compost your old
newspapers. You can put on manure from plant eating animals, but I
tend to avoid bird manure as it is very high in nitrogen and I don't like
to use horse manure at all. Some people add their old garden plants
into their compost pile, I would avoid doing that. If tomato or potato
plants have any kind of disease in them, you will compost that right
back into your garden.
A fifty percent moisture content is the desired moisture level. It
should feel damp, not wet. If you start to get that ammonia smell to
it, you have too much green stuff in it and you need to either ease up
on the greens, or add some more dry stuff to the pile.
