Compost Pile Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide
Compost Pile For Better Garden Nutrition
By Pixie Matthews
One of the great things about organic waste is that with enough
time and the right conditions it will decompose. But that should
not be construed to mean that you can toss any kind of organic
material onto your compost pile.
But recycling your yard waste via composting is a great way to
go. You can take your lawn clippings, leaves, hedge trimmings
and any plant trimmings that are "non-woody" and add
them to your compost heap. You can even add the wood items if
you first make sure they are chopped into very small pieces.
Grass Clippings And Leaves
In most backyard composting, the largest single contributor is
the huge amount of leaves that rain down each autumn season. In
addition, grass clippings can be added to the compost if they
are not mulched and left to nurture the lawn itself. When lawn
clippings are used in the compost mix they should be used together
with other yard waste elements.
If you have a supply of wood items such as small logs, branches
or twigs, then you will need to have them chopped or ground up
if they are more than a quarter inch in diameter. If you just
have a few of these larger wood items you want to put in your
compost pile, then you can also use a corn knife to cut them down
to a size that will decompose easily.
Kitchen Waste In Your Compost Pile
Many types of kitchen waste items are also appropriate to be
included in a compost pile. Fruit rinds, vegetable peelings and
scraps, coffee grounds and eggshells that have been crushed are
all perfectly acceptable to use in composting and this is a very
effective way to recycle these kinds of materials.
There are some organic materials that need to be avoided and
which should not be added because of potential health hazards
or nuisances that can be created. No type of pet feces should
be included in a compost heap because of potential diseases that
can be transmitted. Any kind of meat, whole eggs, dairy products
and grease should also be excluded because they will attract rodents
and other vermin.
Composting Destroys Diseased Organisms
In most instances, diseased organisms that are common to plants
and weed seeds are destroyed through the process of composting,
as long as these components are in the center of the heap and
the temperature in the center reaches at least 140 degree F.
But, experts caution that it is difficult to assure that such
waste will be brought to the center during the composting process.
As a result, putting large amounts of diseased plants or weeds
with seeds into your compost heap could end up causing problems
and should be avoided.
Keep Ratio Of Green To Brown Material 1:1
A good compost pile needs a balance of materials that will enhance
the decomposition process. In general, keeping the mix to a ration
of about one-to-one of brown material with green material works
well.
Brown material includes items such as manure, decaying leaves,
and newspaper and cardboard. Green material would include the
hedge and grass clippings, coffee grounds, and fruit and vegetable
peelings.
Speeding Up Decomposition
In order to help speed up the decomposition of the organic elements,
it is best to have your compost pile contained in some type of
structure. In addition, this also helps to make better use of
space and minimizes the amount of area needed for your project.
Compost bins are a good way to start and they provide the structure
to manage the compost and also helps to keep the appearance neat
and clean.
About the Author:
Pixie Matthews has written a number of articles on gardening and
landscaping including Organic
Vegetable Gardening Products, Vegetable
Gardening Tips, Spring
Vegetable Gardening, Compost
For Your Vegetable Garden, Vegetable
Gardening Tricks, Composting,
Vegetable
Gardening Tricks.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
Little Known Composting Facts....
How do I prepare the materials for composting?
Start preparing your compost pile by breaking
up the materials into manageable pieces. The object is to help
the materials break down or decompose faster. Larger pieces will
hinder the process. A shredder works wonders for yard trimmings.
If you are using manure you will want to take a pitch fork and
break up the clumps before adding them into the pile.
Try to keep the pieces to sizes around the shape of a leaf if
it is at all possible. If you can keep them even smaller to help
speed up the process that much faster and before long you will
have a mound of fertilizer to use however you see fit.
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