Hydroponic and Organic Gardening

Compost is one of the best things that you can add to your garden. It allows you to use organic materials that would normally go to landfills. Organic materials make up approximately 24 percent of items send to landfills. It’s very inexpensive and much better than spending money on commercial fertilizers. It helps with soil texture and structure. It also adds nutrients to your garden. The best time to start your compost is in the spring. It will decompose faster due to the warmer temperatures. Just remember ordinary items may be used to create your compost, such as hair trimmings, kitchen scraps, newspaper, pine needles, cardboard, and wood ashes. Items that you should avoid: ashes from charcoal, kitty litter, diseased plants, dog or cat droppings and bones. It’s good to pick a site which is close to your garden and very accessible. It you have to walk the length of a football field then it will be very unlikely that this project will be successful.

Compost is decomposed plant material, so you don’t need to spend a lot of money on anything fancy. You can create a compost pile on top of ground which can be unattractive to others. You can spray paint it on the outside it you want to be artist about it. Many people purchase a compost bin but you can create your very own with garbage can. It can be old or new.

Items you will need:

• garbage can
• newspapers or cardboard
• plant materials

Step 1: Start by drilling or punching holes in the garbage can.

Step 2: Place equal amounts of shredded newspaper and plant materials inside the can. The smaller the items the quicker it decomposes

Step 3: Spray water over plant material and newspaper just enough to get it wet but not soggy.

Step 4: Place lid inside the can

Step 5: Turn the can as often as possible or you can open up can and stir or mix with a gardening hoe or pitchfork.

You may add more plant material and newspaper at any time. Keep watering as you add materials. You can use your compost after a month or so.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 3:41 pm and is filed under General Gardening Tips, Organic Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Digg it | Bookmark at del.icio.us