Vegtable Garden
What Is Composting?
In today’s Gardening society everyone has wised up to one of the most safe & effective ways of fertilizing…using an organic compost. Not only is it beneficial to eliminating waste from your home, it is also beneficial for your flowers and vegtables. In this article I will quickly answer a few questions you may have about composting. First i’ll cover what compost is exactly, then i’ll discuss how to have your compost pile come out rich and earthy.
Composting is the decompostion of organic matter into a product benficial for plant growth and for improving the soil. Adding this organic matter to the soil as a compost aids in plant growth, soil drainage and nutrients, and slowly releases nitrogen for the plant. Certain conditions should be maintained to have the best compost. Proper nutrients and moisture (about 50% moisture) along with air and occasionally mixing the compost. One major, but little know key to composting successfully is the amount of heat applied to the compost pile. If the compost stays too wet, too long it will not break down properly. Here are a few items that can be beneficial in your compost pile:
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kitchen scrapes/ left over dinner scrapes
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grass clippings and leaves
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sawdust (just a bit at one time)
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a good compost starter/compost maker
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coffee grounds
Most composters don’t have the ability to properly mix/turn the compost, and almost all composters don’t address the situation of properly heating the compost pile. Compost is usually considered complete when the color is a dark brown or black, and the material becomes spongy. Properly prepared compost will have an earthy smell, not a moldy or musty smell.
Compost can be very beneficial to your vegetable garden, flower garden, etc. If you wanted to produce more blooms on your plants (because compost doesn’t have much phosphorus which is what produces blooms on plants), you could put blood meal in with your compost pile. So go ahead and turn those grass clipping and kitchen waste into a beneficial food for your garden!! For more info on choosing a composter and how to compost click here.
About the Author
John Gray is a respected consultant in the Lawn & Garden Field. He has been in the business since 1998 and been a consultant to over 75 landscape companies and helped write 2 Garden Guides as a consultant.
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