Some gardens have the best soils for plant growth while some have the worse soils. Whether your farm is fertile or not, there is a need to add compost. It will improve the land and provide the right conditions for bigger and healthier plants. Choosing the appropriate compost is vital since you must ensure it has different ingredients. For the best results, you can make your tailored compost. First, here are the dos and don’ts of compost.
The do’s
- Create a specialist compost for the plant you plan to grow in your garden. It will create maximum growing conditions for your plants.
- Check the soil pH and ensure it’s balanced. You may add lime to improve it. Check the soil pH using a soil pH tester.
- Use leftovers in creating your compost and mix them with the soil.
- Pot up existing plants to reduce pests and diseases carried by the plants and provide new nutrients.
- Water the plants always and ensure roots are in contact with the soil.
- Use gloves as a precaution when creating compost since it may contain harmful materials.
The don’ts
- Use specialist seed instead of sow seeds in your compost to ensure optimal root growth.
- Don’t shy off from growing vegetables and fruits due to less space. Use pots, growing bags, and garden hanging baskets if the area is small.
- Do not only increase the soil pH but lower it depending on the plants you want to grow. This is because plants such as azalea require a compost with lower soil pH.
- Don’t assume the garden has enough nutrients.
- Don’t forget to follow compost label procedures and instructions.
Homemaking compost ideas
Compost consist of rotten animal and plant waste. It produces organic fertilizers. Compost is high in plant nutrients which eliminates pathogens, improves soil characteristics, and decreases organic waste. Supporting conditions such as combining soil microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are essential when creating compost. Breaking the plants and animal waste will produce heat, decompose, and finally release nutrients.
Requirements for making compost
- Buy a machete, watering can, compost bin, fork, spade, and sticks.
- Enough space, ideally 2.5m wide by 2.5m long.
- Crop residue made of legumes and cereals.
- Other types of green manure and animal remain such as sunflower, bones, and meat.
Procedure for making compost
Throw organic household wastes such as leftover foods and crop residues into a pit. Leave them to decompose for a few weeks probably two to four months. Once the period elapses, the compost will be ready.
The waste material is then heaped under a shade and left to decompose further in the open air to produce compost. The quality might be low, but it is natural. For high quality compost, you will need specialized methods.
How to prepare specialist compost
- Select a location where to compost.
- Obtain a compost bin with thick and secure walls.
- Start by adding dry compost material such as wood chips to the bin.
- Place a layer of compost material such as vegetable peelings and grass clippings on top.
- Alternate the two layers weekly and water them regularly.
- Build a compost pile on bare soil to enable microorganisms to access the compost.
- Add a layer of wet compost such as food scraps on top of the dry base. You can also add weeds, bones, oils, and meat.
- Alternate the three layers after two to three weeks and ensure you water it.
- Cover the compost to enable it to retain moisture and heat for fast decomposition.
- Dig a compost trench to add more nutrients to the soil, thus improving the plant quality.
- Fill it with the compost and cover the compost with soil.
- Repeat the process in different areas of your farm annually to allow for entire fertilization of the garden as you grow your flowers and vegetables.
What to decompose
There are two types of compost material which are brown material and green material.
Brown Materials
Brown materials are often dry and full of carbon. These materials include:
Woody waste: Sparingly use these materials since they have very high carbon content. They include; clean sawdust, clean ashes, and wood chips.
Paper products: It’s advised not to decompose paper with coloured ink. You should shred the materials before trashing them to the compost pit for fast decomposition. They include; toilet paper, office paper, and newspapers.
Dry yard waste: Contains dry leaves, straw, small twigs, pine needles, and hay.
Green Material
Green materials are often moist and provide nitrogen after finished compost. They include:
Most Yard Waste: Contains flowers, grass clippings, stems, green leaves, and weeds that don’t have seeds. Don’t add diseases material since these might affect your plants.
Kitchen Scraps: Should have coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed eggs, nutshells, and vegetable peels.
Some animal wastes: Adding animal wastes to the pile with fasten the waste break down process. They include; animal droppings, manure from horses, rabbits, goats, cows, and chicken.
Benefits of Composting
Free fertilizer: Compost improves soil texture, making, enabling it to hold water and air better. It promotes healthy root development by adding nutrients to the garden plants. Home compost is also free.
No harmful chemicals: Commercial compost may contain traces of herbicides which might kill plants if used in the garden. Making your compost will eliminate the problem and ensure your garden is rich in nutrients.
Less waste: Food scraps and yard waste make up a high percentage of household trash. Putting that waste into compost will reduce your trash by considerable amounts. It will make you save more if you pay for garbage.
A clean Planet: Composting is eco-friendly. When vegetables break down, they produce methane which is a potent green gas. Composting helps fight global warming by reducing the need for chemical fertilizers which pollute the water supply.
Increased crop yield: Compost provide nutrients and help plants to hold water. Plants will absorb the nutrients directly leading to high yields. It will also make your flowers look beautiful.
How to fix compost problems
The composting process is not always smooth. You will face a lot of issues if you are composting for the first time. Fortunately, you can fix those problems quickly.
Pests: Vegetable and fruit scraps may attract small insects. To eliminate them, you can use an enclosed bin or cover the container with grass clippings.
Oduor: Don’t fear to start a compost pile because it will smell bad. You can avoid putting meat and bones in it and bury food scrapings. Make sure you balance green and brown matter since too much of green matter will produce a smell like ammonia.
Clumping: clumping often caused by sticking together of wet materials. To fix clumping, add wet material in small batches and use a carbon steel border fork to mix and break them up.
Dampness: Exposed compost may become waterlogged during winter, leaving it soggy and unusable. You can avoid this by ensuring your compost is covered at all times. You can also correct this by turning the pile and adding more brown materials which can break down fast.
Slow decay: You can fix this problem by adding more material, turning the compost, adding water, and keeping the pile covered. If the above methods don’t work, add green content to fasten the decay process.
Bottomline
Buying a compost bin and putting a little effort can give you natural nutrients for your plants. You don’t need to purchase fertilizer every planting season to make your plants healthy. Making compost will enrich your soil and make it more productive for many years.