How To & Help - Making Your Own Compost

25/11/2009

How To & Help - Making Your Own C… Home

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Making Your Own Compost You could live a long tim e on bacon, doughnuts and vitam in pills, but nobody would e ve r m ista k e you fo r a he althy pe rson. Ye t m any garde ne rs fe e d the ir garde ns a sim ilar die t che m ical fe rtilize r and little e lse . W hile such a die t can produce re m ark able short-te rm growth, it can se riously stre ss your plants. Fe rtilize rs se t up a rich/poor nutrition cycle and, lik e hum a ns e ating junk food, a garde n's he alth ultim ate ly suffe rs. To he lp plants grow ste adily and fight off pe sts a nd dise ase , you m ust fe e d the soil. Think of com post as he a lth food for your garde n.

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How It Works Look at any thriving fore st and you'll se e com posting in action. The com ple x inte rplay of gre e n plants, fungi, bacte ria and othe r m icro scopic life ste adily conve rts de ad organic m atte r into nutrie ntrich food. How do you m a k e this work in your ga rde n? It's sim ple e nough: com po st just ha ppe ns.

Mak e a he ap o f we e ds, k itche n scra ps, grass clippings and othe r organic waste , walk awa y, and in 18 m onths you'll ha ve dark , rich com post. But if you ge t involve d in the proce ss, you can re duce the tim e to six we e k s or le ss. A te aspoon of he althy garde n soil pro vide s a hom e for m ore than four billion bacte ria and othe r m icroscopic be asts. Mak e the m happy, and the se little age nts of change will work wonde rs in your soil. Just re m e m be r four k e y words: brown, green, water, air.

LINKS! Brown and green. All com postable m ate rials contain bo th carbon and nitroge n, but the re lative proportions de te rm ine whe the r the m ate rial is brown or gre e n. W he n yo u think "brown," think straw, wood shavings, chips and sawdust, ne wsprint, stalk s, ste m s, twigs and the lik e . The se carbo n-rich m a te rials pro vide the fue l that the bacte ria and the ir chum s ne e d to bre a k down the gre e ns in your com post pile . "Gre e n" re fe rs to we t, nitroge n-rich m ate ria ls grass clippings, we e ds, prunings and the lik e and k itche n scraps (plant m ate rial only; m e a t and dairy scraps attract unhe lpful k inds of wildlife ). Not all o f this stuff is lite rally brown or gre e n, but a lot of it is, and m ost pe ople find it e asie r to re m e m be r colo rs than che m icals.

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A com post pile built in fa irly e ve n la ye rs of brown and gre e n m ate rials will usually de co m pose just fine . If your pile isn't bre ak ing down, it proba bly ne e ds m ore gre e n (nitroge n-rich) m ate rials to he at up. The cure for this is to re build the pile adding m ore gre e n stuff, or "spik e " it by adding a fe w handfuls of a high-nitroge n granular fe rtilize r be twe e n laye rs. Som e pe ople e ve n add anim al be dding or m anure both a re rich in nitroge n. Water and air. De com po sition tak e s place m uch faste r in a m oist e nvironm e nt. C ove r your com post pile with a tarp or pla stic garba ge bags, and it'll probably re tain e nough m oisture to ge t the pile re a lly cook ing. Som e com post im pre sario s pre fe r to add wate r to the pile , laye r by laye r, as the y build it. C lim ate , we athe r and the m oisture in the m ate ria ls the m se lve s will influe nce your cha nce s of succe ss with e ithe r m e thod. If you live in the de se rt and your po tato pe e ls look m ore lik e potato chips by the tim e the y m ak e it to the com post pile , wate r the pile as yo u build it. In coasta l O re gon, insufficie nt wate r m a y be the le ast of your worrie s. In ge ne ral, your com post pile should be a bout as m oist as a wrung-out sponge : not soak ing we t, but da m p throughout. If yo ur pile re fuse s to he at up but yo u think yo u've adde d e nough gre e n stuff, the proble m m ay be insufficie nt m oisture or size . Size m atte rs, as we 'll se e in Ste p 1 on the ne x t page . If your he ap ge ts too we t, it won't hold e nough ox yge n to support the ae robic bacte ria that do m ost of the work . Ex ce ss m oisture also re sults in unple a sant o dors. Turning the pile e ve ns o ut the m o isture conte nt a nd introduce s a ir, the final e le m e nt of succe ssful com posting. Turn the pile e ve ry thre e days or so, and yo u'll re ple nish the ox yge n supply for the bacte ria a nd othe r frie ndly cre a ture s hard at work inside . You'll be

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25/11/2009

How To & Help - Making Your Own C… re warde d with de e p, dark re a dy-to-use com po st in six we e k s, m a ybe le ss. And since this m e thod e ncourage s rapid de com po sition, your pile will he at up to 150 de gre e s or m ore hot e nough to k ill m ost we e d se e ds. Step by Step 1. Contain it. You can just pile things on the ground, but a wood, wire or plastic bin e nclo se s e nough m ate ria l to ge t a pile re ally cook ing. In com posting, as in nucle a r fission, a critical m ass is re quire d to ge ne rate he a t. The ide a l sha pe a nd size for a com post pile is a cube a bout 4 fe e t pe r side . Anything le ss than 3 fe e t will ne ve r re ally ge t going. Dark conta ine rs de signe d spe cifically for com posting re tain solar he at a nd also allow daily turning, which haste ns the bre ak down o f m ate rials. 2. Prepare it. Afte r you've gathe re d your com post m ate rials, cut or bre a k the m into pie ce s the sm a lle r the be tte r. C hopping up com post m ate rials m ak e s it e asie r for bacte ria to ge t in and do the ir work . Hardcore garde ne rs ofte n k e e p m a te rials in "holding" pile s until the y can be choppe d, chippe d or shre dde d, and a chippe r/shre dde r can be ve ry he lpful inde e d. If you can't do this by m achine , try a m attock or spade . Spre a d the cho ppe d m ate rials in la ye rs 3 to 5 inche s thick . Start with a laye r of brown, the n add a laye r of gre e n. Ato p e ach brown-gre e n se ctio n, add an inch or two of m anure or garde n soil. This e nsure s ple nty of m icro be s in the pile . Boost nutrie nts by adding a shove lful of wood ash, rock phosphate , lim e , granite dust, blood m e al, bone m e al or gre e nsand to e ach com ple te d se ction. If your a re a 's clim a te re quire s it, m oiste n e ach la ye r of the pile as yo u go. Use a ge ntle spray. If you m ak e your com post in a barre l or tum ble r, yo u can fore go the laye ring proce ss. Just pile the m a te rials in, add a bit o f wate r if ne ce ssary, the n turn the tum ble r to distribute the m ate rials a nd ge t things rotting. 3. Chop it and turn it. Le t your ne w pile he at up for thre e days, the n turn it. To do this e fficie ntly, you ne e d a m attock and a garde n fork . (Most any fork will do , but a m a nure fork or hay fork is be st.) First, cho p through the laye rs with the m attock , pulling back afte r e ach swing so that you turn the pile inside out. Ne x t, lift and e x pose the lowe r laye rs with the fork , the n chop the m . O r you m ay find this e a sie r use the fork to m o ve e ach choppe d la ye r to a se cond com post bin, and continue to chop the re st o f the laye rs in the first bin. The m iddle of the pile will de com po se faste r tha n the o utside , which will re m a in large ly unchange d; you'll e spe cially se e this the se cond tim e you turn. To work a round this "cook ing-from -within" phe nom e non, m o ve the outside e dge s of the pile in, a nd vice ve rsa . Afte r the pile has be e n thoro ughly m ix e d (and transfe rre d, if you're using two o r m ore bins), m oiste n it again if ne ce ssary. You can m onito r te m pe ra ture with a com post the rm om e te r. Le ave the pile a lone a s the te m pe ra ture rise s from day to day. W he n it sta rts to drop, it's tim e to turn. If you don't have a the rm om e te r, sim ply turn the pile e ve ry thre e days, but if you can't, no harm is done your com post will just tak e longe r. Each turning will be e asie r than the last be cause the m ate rials ge t sm alle r and lighte r as the y de com pose . W he n your pile has stoppe d he ating up, and the co m post is pre tty m uch all the sam e color and te x ture , your he alth food is re ady to use . 4. Use it. Use your com post as is o r scre e n it. To scre e n fre sh co m post, buy a riddle (a high-side d sie ve ) or m ak e yo ur own out of hardwa re cloth and a fram e of 2-by-4s o r 2-by-6s. Shak e the com post through the riddle . The large r bits tha t won't go through the scre e n will still m ak e gre at m ulch. Use d as m ulch, scre e ne d or not, com post will suppre ss we e ds, add nutrie nts to the soil and he lp re ta in ground m oisture . Spre ad com post in the garde n be fore you till or fork the soil in pre paratio n for planting. Scre e ne d com po st is a gre at additive for conta ine r m ix e s. It supplie s a full spe ctrum o f nutrie nts without burning yo ung plants' roots. TO O LS AND MATER IALS Mache te Bone m e al Pruning she ars High-nitroge n blood m e a l (12-0-0) He dge she a rs Spade High-nitroge n Miracid pla nt food (30-10-10) Manure fork or hay fork Matto ck Mini-tille r

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