Green Garden

Most gardeners and landscapers will almost all agree that the single best thing you can do for your lawn is to add compost. Good, organic compost can remedy almost any problem you have with your soil. If the soil is too acidic, adding compost will help to neutralize and bring it back to a proper pH level. If your soil is too alkaline, ditto! Compost addition, the balance of alkalinity in the soil to help. If you are in an area with a very heavy clay, adding compost will help the soil loose and blowing. If you’re in a coastal or southern area with a lot of sand, adding compost will help bind it together. Soil nutrients are missing? Add compost to life in addition to the overworked soil
 
. So how do you make compost? It’s easier than you think and less expensive than anything else you will do. How to get cheap? How about free! All the compost is the natural decomposition of organic material. Walking through a dense forest and took a handful of deep soil under your feet. Note how black and rich it is. It was not in the way of fertilizer or manure. It was that way all the decomposing organic material. A forest provides him through recovery. It recycles every leaf, branch, berry, and forests. This makes it very simple. All the organic and living matter in the forest decomposed compost that feeds the existing plants (and some animals!)
 
. In the forest, when leaves fall from the trees, they all gather on the forest floor. In storms, branches may fall as well as the entire tree. This creates layers of organic material on the forest floor. Eventually it rains adding fuel to the mixture. The rain supports the microbes that begin to eat organic matter, and eventually turn it into rich, thick carpet that you see on the forest floor. It nourishes the life of compost trees and other plants provide nutrients that rival the best fertilizer.
 
 You can follow through the forest to create your own compost. Avoid store bought compost, especially those made from manure. There is nothing about the distribution of natural rotten and decomposed cow feces on your lawn or garden. It’s actually pretty gross! Especially considering the number of chemicals and steroids to cattle and cattle in the United States is given. If you purchased or acquired from elsewhere to compost, call your local municipal office. Many municipalities have their own composting facilities and they give the compost to their residents for free! In our village, for example, all the leaves in the fall of the local streets is collected, mulched and composted in a large area. In a year or two, when the leaves with compost, we were allowed to breath away as much compost as we like! The only catch is that we have to load, but it is a small price to pay for free, organic mulch.

Homemade compost bins can the bin to fit into the overall aspect of the property and tailored to the bin or bins to the needs of the gardener and property. They are not tolerated difficult to build and can be made from a variety of materials.

The simplest bin course not. Compost will work reasonably well in a pile next to the garden. However, not allow some areas they are not considered unsightly rubbish heaps in the garden while a bin is more than acceptable. Besides this, many gardeners prefer the look, comfort and rituals of a range of compost bins.

A rapid bin can be made of a 10 length of welded wire fence 3 feet high. 14 meters is about right for strength and stability combined with a reasonable weight. Clip off the fence on one side to the ends protruding and bending them to form hooks. Roll the wire into a circle about 3 feet by and hook the end of the cage. You now have a compost cage about 3 feet around and 3 meters high. It is an ideal size for a compost bin. Add the compost to it and when it’s time to turn to the use of compost, detach the end and the rumble of the pile cage.

Next in simplicity is the palette bin. Nail three poles together to form a U. Take a fourth and wire it to the other three as a door to form. Alternatively it can be hinged. Some composters prefer to leave from the fourth side of the doors and fill you with compost and the addition of material through the open side.

A wooden frame bin can easily be made through the use of wood four 2×4 wooden frames every 3 feet by 3 feet or 4 feet by 4 feet. Butt joints and nails are strong enough for a compost bin. Each frame can be covered with fences, chicken wire, snow fence, lattice work or anything else about a 2 with the opening of the air to the pile Nail three. Some of the frames in a U-shape of a back and two sides to form. The other frame could blow a door to open with hook and eyes and to make arrangements near the bin.

Cinder blocks can be used for the three sides of a compost bin to make. Remember to bin about three feet high, wide and deep to make. Leave an inch or so between the blocks for air to reach the pole. Bricks can also be used but requires a lot more work and stack. A variation on this theme stack of hay bails to use. Not only do they provide insulation for the maintenance of the compost heat, but they also gradually break down, adding compost themselves to the pole.

While there are certainly endless variations on these themes a few things that need to be considered. The pile should be at least 3 x 3 x 3 meters for a good compost heat. Aeration is important to keep the compost operation and easiest way to do this is to turn the pile. Open the bin, so the turn facilitate. With this in mind, consider three bins: a gathering of material, and two of the materials to make one bin to the next.

Whatever you make bin, compost will happen next with the satisfaction of creating your own compost in your own space.

Compost may or may not be ready for use. In fact, compost that has been only partly prepared may harm the growth of plants by leaching nitrogen as it continues to decompose in the soil. Depending on the nature of the materials composting, it may contain materials toxic to plants. Some plants produce hormones that prevent other plants from growing near them and competing for nutrients in the soil. These need full composting to break down and be rendered harmless. How is one to tell when the compost is ready and to what uses may it be put?

As in many an endeavor, experience is a great teacher and an experienced composter will tell if the process is finished by the texture and smell of the product. However, if your are not sure there are a couple of ways to tell.

If you are hot composting and the pile has been active but has now cooled down, give it another turning, ensuring that the moisture content is correct for good composting, about the feel of a wrung out sponge. If the pile does not heat up after a day or two it is likely finished. Again, it should smell earthly sweet and have a crumbly texture. If it is finished use it and if it is not finished you have already turned it for the next heat and cool cycle.

An even more sure test is to take a sample of the compost, at least a good handful, and put it into a glass jar. Close the lid and place it in a warm, sunny location for about three days. Open the jar and take a smell. Sour smells mean the compost is not done and an earthy, rich smell means it is ready for use. If not done, you may either turn the pile or not but test it again in about a week. Once finished, compost may be used in a myriad of way.

At the end of the growing season or before it starts compost makes a great soil conditioner. As a rule of thumb one inch of compost is sufficient for soil that is already fairly good, and three inches for problem soil or a first year garden. One cubic foot of compost will cover 12 square feet of garden to one inch deep and four square feet of garden three inches deep. If about a third of a pile is lost during the composting process, a pile three feet high, wide and deep will produce about 18 cubic feet of compost. Fork the compost into the top three inches of soil and certainly no deeper than eight inches for best results.

During the season apply compost as a mulch for the growing plants. It will help to retain moisture in the soil and to suppress weeds. Use any where from one to three inches. Rainfall and watering will cause it to act as a slow release fertilizer as the water trickles through. Earthworms love it and will carry it down into the soil for you while they leave behind even richer castings for another plant boost.

For another plant boost during the growing season, make a compost tea by placing a good shovel full of compost in a burlap sack and placing it in a 5 gallon bucket of water in the hot sun for a week. Pour the resulting “tea” liberally over the plants to boost their growth. Unlike commercial liquid fertilizers, compost tea will not burn the plants and only encourage growth. The spent compost in the bag is still a good soil conditioner.

Whatever the use to which it is put, well finished compost will be loved by the garden and the gardener alike.

Compost piles are a feast for millions of microorganisms. Once the proper mix of food, moisture and air are available, the parties come to the feast and do their work. However, most of those who compost want it as fast as possible and some suppliers of garden materials tell us we need an accelerator or starter for the pile to make it work faster. They are only half right when it comes to an accelerator for the compost pile.

Consider the compost pile that is made for fast decomposition. It will have a carefully blended supply of brown or carbon rich material along with the right amount of green or nitrogen rich material. The moisture content will be that of a wrung out sponge. Properly turned it now has oxygen to all parts of the pile. All it needs now is some way to ring the dinner bell and get all those microorganisms in to feed themselves on all those goodies.

accelerators tend to come in two different varieties although, like most products on today’s market, they can sound like they come in myriad disguises. The two will either be a blend of microorganisms ready to eat or some substance ready to be mixed with water and poured over the pile. Both will assume that the pile is made for fast composting.

The water blend tends to be active for just that reason, it has water. Back on the farm we had to be careful of the moisture content of the hay we were making that season. Properly cured hay has about the carbon-nitrogen mix of a good compost pile. Add water and the composting action would be so great that the microorganisms would have so great a heat in the middle of the pile that it would burst into flame and a barn fire would result. Some of the manufacturers know that compost pile builders often have too dry a pile and the addition of the water will get the microorganisms active. They will also be in the accelerator material but there will likely be more than sufficient in the compost material itself, just like there was on the hay.

Other compost accelerators are generally simple blends of the microorganisms found in an active compost pile. These are found almost everywhere there is soil. In fact you have likely added them to your last compost pile. Most of us pull weeds and add them to the pile. Maybe you beat a lot of the soil off the roots of the weeds, but it is doubtful that you beat off all the soil or washed it off at the garden. That soil contains the microorganisms that are needed for the pile to work. Remember all those leaves and grass that fell on the lawn and gradually disappeared? They composted under the work of these same creatures. So they moved in on the weed roots; roots of plants pulled from the garden because they were spent, harvested, or bolted to seed; or sod removed from the lawn. Just to make certain of the availability of the little beasties, some composters will toss the occasional shovelful of garden soil on the pile as they build it.

Finally, remember that dish at the back of the fridge that used to be stew, or soup, or leftover broccoli before it turned into a green science experiment? The bacteria and fungi were there to start it composting. They will follow it to the pile.

Is compost accelerator necessary for a pile to work? Yes, but it is already there.

Most ing lawn mowers are machines fun e and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dream for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A ing mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscas. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a ing mower.

We w explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better w your current needs. Basic ing mowers are actuy those featuring rear engines. y use to come w sm horsepower engines, usuy mounted under the oator’s seat. se mowers have reasonable power sized cutting blades and fit fectly into sm lawns w less than 1 acre. next level up is for medium horsepower ing lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; te can fit larger engines due to the space. y have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium ing mowers provide better formance on hy gardens and are the fect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial ing lawn mowers are designed for rey large yards, inclug sp fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t rey provide their best formance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Here you can find some impant points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit w your necessities. final choose w depend basicy on:

Most ing lawn mowers are machines fun e and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dm for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A ing mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscas. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a ing mower.

We will explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better h your current needs. Basic ing mowers are actuy those featuring r engines. y use to come h sm horsepower engines, usuy mounted under the oator’s seat. se mowers have sonable power sized cutting blades and fit fectly into sm lawns h less than 1 acre. next level up is for medium horsepower ing lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; te can fit larger engines due to the space. y have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium ing mowers provide better formance on hilly gardens and are the fect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial ing lawn mowers are designed for lly large yards, including sp fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t lly provide their best formance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Here you can find some impant points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit h your necessities. final choose will depend basicy on:

Most ing lawn mowers are machines fun e and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dm for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A ing mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscas. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a ing mower.

We w explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better h your current needs. Basic ing mowers are actuy those featuring r engines. They use to come h sm horsepower engines, usuy mounted under the oator’s seat. These mowers have sonable power sized cutting blades and fit fectly into sm lawns h less than 1 acre. The next level up is for medium horsepower ing lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; there can fit larger engines due to the space. They have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium ing mowers provide better formance on hy gardens and are the fect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial ing lawn mowers are designed for lly large yards, including sport fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t lly provide their best formance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Here you can find some important points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit h your necessities. The final choose w depend basicy on:

Most rng lawn mowers are machines fun ride and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dm for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A rng mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscapers. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a rng mower.

We will explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better w your current needs. Basic rng mowers are actuy those featuring r engines. y use to come w sm horsepower engines, usuy mounted under the operator’s seat. se mowers have sonable power sized cutting blades and fit perfectly into sm lawns w less than 1 acre. next level up is for medium horsepower rng lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; there can fit larger engines due to the space. y have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium rng mowers provide better performance on hilly gardens and are the perfect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial rng lawn mowers are designed for lly large yards, inclug sp fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t lly provide their best performance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Here you can find some impant points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit w your necessities. final choose will depend basicy on:

Most riding lawn mowers are machines fun ride and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dream for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A riding mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscapers. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a riding mower.

We w explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better h your current needs. Basic riding mowers are actuy those featuring rear engines. y use to come h sm horsepower engines, usuy mounted under the operator’s seat. se mowers have reasonable power sized cutting blades and fit perfectly into sm lawns h less than 1 acre. next level up is for medium horsepower riding lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; there can fit larger engines due to the space. y have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium riding mowers provide better performance on hy gardens and are the perfect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial riding lawn mowers are designed for rey large yards, including sport fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t rey provide their best performance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Here you can find some important points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit h your necessities. final choose w depend basicy on:

Most rng lawn mowers are machines fun ride and extremely cool to look at. However, they are just a dm for many gardeners who can not afford one of these powerful gardening equipment. A rng mower can be a practical time saving machine for professionals as well as for beginner or amateur landscas. If you are on of those homeowners, lucky to maintain a large yard, it can be a good idea to invest in a rng mower.

We w explain first the type of mowers on the market and then which one would fit better h your current needs. Basic rng mowers are actuy those featuring r engines. y use to come h sm horsepower engines, usuy mounted under the oator’s seat. se mowers have sonable power sized cutting blades and fit fectly into sm lawns h less than 1 acre. next level up is for medium horsepower rng lawn mowers; these mowers use to include their engines at the front; te can fit larger engines due to the space. y have a stronger and faster cutting capacity. Medium rng mowers provide better formance on hy gardens and are the fect complement for yards between 1 and 3 acres. Commercial rng lawn mowers are designed for lly large yards, including sport fields, they can be extremely expensive for homeowners and won’t lly provide their best formance in yards no bigger than 3 yards.

Here you can find some important points to have in mind before you decide on the most suitable model that would better fit h your necessities. final choose w depend basicy on: