Showing posts with label backyard garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label backyard garden. Show all posts
Composting Made Easy Means All Benefit And Minimum Work
| For avid gardeners, having an ample supply of rich compost is a dream. The use of compost will result in nicer plants, but producing the material can be time consuming and hard work. The more you can reduce that effort, investing the saved time in other gardening tasks, the better. One way to start the process is by building composting bins that at least semi-automate the productopn of compost. A bin should be five feet wide, five feet deep, and four feet high. Start by sinking 4 by 4 posts in the ground for the corners, and then nail 2 by 4s and 1 by 4s, alternating on the sides, leaving 2" gaps between the boards for air circulation. The 2 by 4s are rigid enough to keep the sides from bowing out, and in between each 2 by 4 you can use 1 by 4s to save a little money. The bins are three-sided, with the front open so they can be filled and emptied easily. Fill one of the bins with grass clippings, dried leaves, and shrub clippings, trying not to put more than 6" of each material on a layer and alternating layers of green and brown material. Keep a few bags of dry leaves around to help with the alternating. When you root cuttings use coarse sand in the flats and put the old sand on the compost pile. It's a good idea to take plants that do not survive and dump the entire container in the compost bin, which adds more brown material to the mix. After the bin is full, one option is to turn the material in the bin every few weeks. Another option, however, is to pack as much material in the bin as possible, then start filling the second bin, piling the material as high as possible, even to the point where it spills out in front of the bin and covering the fresh material with mulch or potting soil. Setting a small sprinkler on top of the pile and turning it on at a very low level will let a small spray of water run on the material. By keeping the material damp, the moisture will cause the pile to heat up, which is what makes the composting action take place. Once the first bin is full, the second bin is used. As the material in the first bin starts to break down, it settles, which means you can keep shoveling the material piled in front of the bin, up on top of the pile. Continue to do this until all the material is either in the bin or piled on top of the heap. Then leave it alone, except for the occasional watering, which speeds up the process. Not all of the material will rot completely, a result of not turning the pile. But the material in the center will break down more than the material on the edges, most of it breaking down quite well. Keeping a pile of potting soil on hand at all times or buying two or three yards of shredded mulch to get started, will mean always having a supply of good compost. Left in a pile, shredded bark will eventually break down and become great compost, and some potting soil is about 80% rotted bark. Some buy fine textured and dark hardwood bark mulch, and put it in a pile to rot, keeping the pile low and flat so it does not shed the rain water away. The idea is to keep the mulch to stay as wet as possible to allow the mulch to break down quickly. Keep a pile of rotted bark mulch near the compost bins and empty the bin containing the oldest material by piling it on top of the rotted bark mulch. The pile of rotted mulch should be wide and flat on top so the compost material is only 5 to 10 inches thick when it is spread. The mulch pile might be 12" wide, but only be 24 to 30 inches high. Once the compost is on top of the pile, go around the edge of the pile with a shovel, and take some of the material from the edges of the pile, tossing it up on top of the pile, covering the compost with at least 6" of rotted bark. In this way the compost material will fully decompose. Once the system is started, don't use all of the material in the pile. Keep at least 2 to 3 cubic yards on hand so there will be something to mix with the compost. If necessary, buy more material and add to e pile in the late summer or fall. Some supply companies sell a compost material that is already broken down, but try to keep at least 3 yards of old material on hand, adding another 3 yards of fresh material. In the spring you can empty one of the compost bins and add the compost to the top of the pile. The pile of usable compost will be layers of material, some of which can be chipped off and spread on the ground. You can then mix it together with a tiller and shovel it onto a potting bench. Having a pile of rotted compost near the compost bins will allow you to throw some rotted compost in the bin, maintaining the layered effect necessary for composting to work well. |
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| Article From New Ezine Articles |
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Evaluating Commercially Available Composting Heaps
The data on commercial composting heaps consist of quality i the chemical, biological and physical aspect. Th characteristics of the compost will help you fare good judgment amidst the numerous brands of commercial compost heaps being promoted to the consumers.
Primarily, a good composting heap must have complete information in them when you need it. Obscurely written package descriptions may do the customers a lot of disservice. So narrow your search of the best commercial compost heap b choosing those with ample details in them prior to usage.
There are certain characteristics to check out for in any package of commercially available composting heap:
Trace Elements
The number of trace elements helps show you which elements to watch out for as you apply the compost heap on your soil.
Nutrient Content
The nutrient content will show you how well-nourished your soil will be after putting the heap in. Also, it will show you if the commercial heap is giving you your money's worth. A thorough knowledge on the composting process will help you evaluate this aspect more properly.
Soluble Salts
Stability
Amount of Organic Matter
Ultimately, we get the compost heap for the organic matter it contains. The higher the organic matter, the better it is for your soil.
Moisture Level
Moisture works hand in hand with air in helping keep the compost active. The moisture of the compost helps facilitate the transfer of nutrients from compost heap to soil to plants.
Size of Particles
The size of particles will tell you how well-mixed the heap is. You don't need a scientist to tell you, but you can actually see via visual inspection how well-mixed the heap is. This will also give you an idea as to how long or how mature the heap is.
Maturity
You acquire commercial compost heaps for this factor. The more mature a compost heap is, the more stable and rich in nutrients it is. The more mature heaps are also easier to manage and it is much better to add to them to keep them dynamic once you have placed them in your soil.
If you are presented with relatively “young” compost, it is better to administer the composting yourself and save the money you are to use for purchasing something that you can do well on your own.
Ability to destroy weeds and other destroyers of soil.
The resisting factor in commercial compost heaps will also contribute to the overall growth and fertilization of your soil. The presence of unpleasant elements in the compost heap need to be checked before buying so that you will be ensured that the addition of the heap on your soil will reap you all benefits and no problems whatsoever.
Aside from these basic characteristics, you also need to check the pH level and other compost parameters related to it.
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Helping Nature by Composting
The more popular things that are being utilized in recycling are the pins on soda cans. These are said to help out in making aluminum. Other containers can be used as pots or vases. Used clothes can be turned into mats or rugs. The idea here is that while there are things that can still be useful in your everyday lives, most of the recycled materials are being implemented as decorative elements.
With the products of compost, you will not pick things out of the garbage pile to be able to come up with other things that will be useful to you on your everyday life. No, the process will not come up with an exotic looking vase or a picture frame made out of shells or bottle caps. You can leave those thoughts to recycling.
Composting entails the recycling of the materials that can be found on nature. The popular samples of this would be dried leaves, grass clippings, vegetable or fruit peelings, animal manure, sawdust, among others. How would all these be useful? Unlike the practical applications of the product of recycling, this in turn will mostly be for gardening purposes.
This will be especially helpful if you are into organic gardening. This method requires the use of organic materials. That means that you cannot turn to synthetic products, especially for the purpose of fertilizers and pesticides. And it is possible. Your compost can make the soil for this type of gardening healthy and happy. As a result, it will produce healthy crops and chemical-free plants.
Organic gardening may sound complicated to the novice ears. But if you put your heart into it, you will find out that all the hard work that you will spend doing this will all be worth it. But this doesn't really mean that you have to do it especially if you can't afford to because of the time consideration and other factors.
But even if you don't have time to do organic gardening, you can still try your hand in making compost. This can also apply with people living on the urban zones. Even with such situation, you can still do a little gardening trick by having your plants in pots. No, you don't need to go organic all the way. Nobody's telling you to do so. But using the products of your compost as a fertilizer can actually engage you with the project and may start your curiosity towards the real organic gardening thing.
Besides, everything nowadays seems to be marketed as organic. Look at the grocery aisles. There are organic food, organic soap, organic tissue, cloth and everything. This seems to be trend. And nature is definitely not complaining.
By going out of your way to do composting, consider nature sending out her appreciation your way. And may this inspire you to do other things to help with the causes of Mother Earth.
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How to Succeed with Your Composting Venture
The two actually go together. You will be able to utilize to its full potential your compost on your organic garden. If you think that you have a knack and you have the talent for it, you should really try gardening. It is not all work but no play. This can actually be just a hobby that you can use to relax while flexing those muscles out for a much needed exercise.
The main reason for gardening may be for beautification. But when you go the organic route, the reason behind this will be much bigger and much in tuned with nature. By making compost, you are also being one with nature. You are doing your part in preserving its beauty by gathering the waste elements that can be recycled to act as fertilizers to your garden.
For starters, it is only natural to worry if your project will be a success or not. But why worry if you can take the necessary actions for it to actually succeed. Here are some tips that you can follow.
1. Manage the stink. You don't want to get into trouble with your neighbors for the sake of nature. To achieve this, you must keep the pile oxygenated. You can turn the materials periodically to gain such effect. This way, the materials on your pile will decompose regularly.
2. Decide if you are going to do it hot or cold. If you've decided on cold, you just have to pile all the organic materials and let nature takes its course over them. But this will take months to even years for all the materials to be good enough for compost.
If you will choose hot, this is a more detailed process and more effort is required on your part. You have to place your materials on a compost bag. Place the leaves first then put soil into it. Add other kitchen wastes like scraps from vegetables and fruits. You must remember to moist this pile periodically for the bacteria to grow so they can aid in decomposing the materials faster.
3. Watch out for the unnecessary visitors. You must be vigilant in a sense that if you are seeing flies and other pests inhabiting on your pile, take the proper actions to get rid of them. You want the pile to rot but not in a way that it won't be useful in the end.
4. Place the compost, whether it is being done through hot or cold way, a good distance from the household and nearby neighbors. This way, you can proceed with the steps without the probable intrusion and questioning by the people nearby who don't get what is that all about.
Composting can really eat up a lot of your time. So do it methodically. Make sure that you'll devote ample amount of time into the process if you really are serious about gaining positive results from this.
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Making Compost: Getting Your Hands Dirty
If you’re a gardener then you should not mind getting y our hands dirty. In this line of work, you need to handle plants, soil, rocks, fertilizer, soil conditioners, etc. and not all times a pair of gardening gloves is handy. At times using glove can prevent you handling some delicate stuff. In this case, you have to get down on your knees and get your hands dirty. And nothing is dirtier that making compost.
Composting is a the process were biodegradable materials, usually manure and household wastes, are turned into soil-like output by combining them with a little air, water and nitrogen. Is that too technical for you? Well compost is a dark, crumbly, soil-like substance which functions as soil conditioner, mulch, and fertilizers. It feed your garden soil the microorganism that most plants need to grow healthy and strong.
When making your own compost pile, it would be ideal to find a place near your garden and yet it has enough concealment to not affect the overall look of your garden. Does that make sense? Just like one of the famous movies say “hiding in plain sight”. If such is the case, a cleverly painted compost bin would help make the area neater. A corral or a fenced area would do fine.
After setting up your composting area, you start composting by arranging a 3:1 ratio of brown and green organic materials. Green ingredients contain lots of nitrogen while the brown elements contain lots of carbon. Together, they form the basic foundations of a compost file. The green organic components of gardening include grass clipping while the brown components are the dry leaves and other wood products.
If you’re worried about the possible bad smell that would come out of your compost pile, then don’t. When the ratio of greens and browns is correct, you don’t have to worry of any bad smell from your compost pile. Compost should have this earthy smell and not smelling like rot. If you smell the later then there could have been some things that might have been included in the pile or the ratio of the greens and browns components is not correct.
One way to make certain that your compost pile has jus the right combination of greens and browns components, is to get a pile of green material and put it in you compost bin. Follow it up with two piles of brown materials. Keep this gong until you have a nice pile of leaves and grass that measures about three feet. At this high, you probably have a base measuring 3 feet also. One good thing of having this large a compost pile is that the greens and browns can easily and quickly break down.
If you want, you could add in a bucket of already finished compost to the newly formed pile. This will help start the process and begin the microbial activities in your compost pile.
Make sure that you add enough moisture to the pile as well. Keeping the compost pile damp will help quicken the breakdown of the organic materials. Add water to the pile and feel a sample. It should be damp, somewhat like a sponge. See, I told you your hands will have to get dirty.
There is a need to turn over your compost pile at least once a week to keep it loose allowing air into the pile and quickens the process of decomposition. After two months, you should have decent quality compost by now. The original materials you used should no longer be recognizable.
As you can see, making compost is quite easy and requires not too much of your time.
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Home Composting: 10 Ways to Make it Successful for You
Gardening is a fun and invigorating activity. It keeps one busy and productive and brings the creativity and ingenuity in everyone. Gardening beautifies our homes but it also produces a good deal of yard waste. What better way to make this waste work out for you than to use it to enrich your garden through composting? You'd be making your soil more fertile for the health of your plants and at the same time, you'd be helping you community dispose of waste in the cleanest, cheapest and easiest manner. Here are some simple ways to make home composting successful for you:
1. Select the best compost material. Composting is simply simulating, if not imitatinag nature's natural process of breaking down dead matter and using it to replenish the soils nutrients. The best source would obviously be your own yard waste such as the dried leaves, straw and wood chips from your own vegetation. Experts recommend using browns and greens. Browns are rich in carbon while greens are rich in nitrogen.
2. Correct combination of compost materials. To make home composting successful, it is better to combine different compost materials that to use just one type. Combine some of the materials mentioned in the above tip and shred them into small pieces to make them easier to store in case you might want to pile them later.
3. Use of manure can also mean successful home composting. Manure is also a rich source of organic materials and may come from a variety of animals such as chicken, ducks, pigs, sheep, cow and goats. They are rich sources of nitrogen which plants need in building up their tissues. It is best to layer this manure with dried leaves and to not simply add it into the pile s that it is effectively decomposed and incorporated into the compost.
4. Cold composting. Cold composting is easy enough to do which involves piling all the materials you have chosen as compost materials. Put them up in a pile and give them time to decompose, after months or a year, you'd have a rich compost from the decomposition of these materials.
5. Hot composting is more systematic and laborious than cold composting but it works. The pile should be at least 3- feet deep and is made up of alternating materials. Water is sprinkled regularly on the pile keep it most for microbial growth and action. Once in a while, you may mix the pile to expose the lower layers to oxygen and promote further decomposition of organic matter. This should generate some heat in the compost as gases are produced with the breakdown of organic matter.
6. Stink management is also a key to successful home composting. If the pile is not aerated enough, it begins to give off a bad odor. To resolve this problem, turn and mix the pile once in a while. Do not allow your compost pile to simply stink up.
7. Keep moisture level up but not too much. Adding too much water will waterlog your microorganisms which will not be good for them too and will inhibit their decomposing activities.
8. If the pile is dry and is not heating up, one has to do the entire pile all over again and this time cut the materials into smaller pieces. Add enough water also to make the entire pile moist to stimulate microbial activity.
9. No matter how you are promoting the decomposition of organic waste, you compost should not be a breeding ground for flies and ants that can be sources of diseases and may hard your plants in the long run. Another key to successful home composting is management of these insects by covering the pile with dirt. It does not do if these insects would proliferate in your compost because they may do more harm than your compost may do you good.
10. For a successful home composting, keep your compost pile within your yard. It should be contained within a particular space so it does not look like a dumpsite of some sort. Building a simple fence may do the trick. Your enclosure should also allow some air to get in through the sides.
Source: Free Articles
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Winter Composting
Composting is the recycling of organic waste. It can be from the household to yard and garden waste. When we are composting we are participating in a natural cycle, the same way that nature recycles in our forests, fields and meadows.
Worm composting or vermicomposting is a method of recycling food waste and other organic matter into a nutrient rich soil conditioner. Composting with worms doesn't need allot of room to do and can be done outdoors, or even indoors in your house, garage or barn. This is a big advantage over the standard composting that is done it larger bins or piles in the yard because the quantities that are composted with worms can be done allot smaller.
The compost that is produced from worm composting is an excellent amendment that can be added to potting soil mix for household plants or just added as a layer of mulch in existing potted plants and container plantings.
The method of worm composting is fairly basic. There aren't many supplies needed. To start worm composting you will need a container. The container size can vary depending on the amount of waste you have to compost. It can be as simple as a five gallon pail or you can make your own container. Building a container out of wood two foot by three foot is a sufficient size that should handle most household waste that most have. The container shouldn't be any deeper than sixteen to eighteen inches deep and the bottom of the container needs to have holes in it about every eight inches apart for drainage. Bedding material is needed to create an environment for the worms to live, it will also hold the moisture that the worms need to survive. Compost makes an excellent bedding material to start with.
Once you have your container and bedding material you will need the last to most important parts, worms and food scraps. The worms that are best for composting aren't your usual earth worms from your garden. They are called red worms or red wigglers. These worms can be purchased at bait shops, worm farms online or even some local garden centers carry them or may know where they can be purchased locally.
Now it is dinner time for the worms. The menu can be scrapes from fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, coffee filter paper, tea bags, crushed eggs, shredded paper without gloss finish, brown leaves, cardboard, and wood shavings. Kitchen scraps that are meat sources can also be used but keep them to a minimum because they can attract rodents. Start out slow, it takes a little time for the decomposition process to start and form the bacteria needed to produce a good nutrient rich compost.
A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.
John Yazo
http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Yazo
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