How to make compost for your garden:
Compost is nature’s fertilizer, mulch, and soil conditioner
all in one. There are many benefits of
using compost for your plants. Such as allowing you to help the environment by
recycling yard and kitchen waste for your compost pile, the microorganisms in
the soil are fed from compost and help keep plants healthy, compost will also
allow sandy soil to hold moisture longer and clay soil to drain better.
Here’s how to start a compost pile in the back yard.
1) Choose
a site that is close to garden but away from house and out of site.
2) You
can place composting material in a wire circle or even purchase a compost bin.
3) Leave
the bin open on one side so you can add material and turn regularly.
4) Two
basic elements of a compost pile are green yard material ( like grass and
leaves) and brown yard material ( like dried leaves ) Compost piles with one part green and two
parts brown material seem to decompose faster.
5) Add
a shovel full of finished compost or garden soil to help kick start the
microbial activity is your pile.
6) Turn
your pile once a week and keep slightly moist with water from the garden hose.
Within two months your compost will be ready to use. ( compost is ready when it
no longer heats up and you cannot identify any material in your pile ) Your
compost should be dark brown and smell earthy.
7) Spread
under bushes, trees, and into your garden soil and watch the benefits grow and
grow.
What to add to your compost pile: *
- whole or chopped leaves and stalks (if chopped, they will break down quicker)
- vegetable and fruit trimmings
- herbicide-free grass clippings
- weeds
- straw or hay
- shredded paper or cardboard
- manure from grazing animals
There are a few ingredients you should never add to your composting pile:
- meat
- oily or greasy food and paper
- manure from meat-eating animals, such as dogs and cats
- herbicide-treated grass or other clippings
* mothereatchnews.com
Happy Earth Day!
Warm regards and love,
Erin
