Gardening
Tips and Advice
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How To Compost
by: Chris Moorhouse
What is compost?
There are two meanings for this word. It can mean the material you use to plant in flowerpots. A well-known example of this would be John Innes. Or it can mean the material you get when plants decay. Compost is often confused with humus, which is a more advanced decay of the plant material, which has turned into a jellylike material coating soil. Though professional gardeners have been recycling their plants like this since Adam was a lad, compost heaps have only recently grown in popularity, probably because of the television gardeners' encouragement and have become a vital part of most gardening activities today. The techniques for producing compost have changed little over the years and there is not reason why it should.
So, how do you make compost and what do you do with it?
Ok. You can make it several ways. You can simply have a heap at the back of the garden where you throw your future compost or you can build a wooden framed structure with chicken wire yourself and fill that, or you can buy a purpose made composting bin at the garden centre.
Of the above choices, I would recommend buying the one at the garden centre. They are usually made of plastic and have a little hatch at the bottom from which you can remove your compost, as you need it. If you build one yourself, it would be difficult to match the functionality of the garden centre compost bin. Apart from that, being plastic it will very likely last longer than your wooden one which will probably need to be replaced every few years. The old-fashioned way of the heap does not compare to the other two. Because the heap is exposed to the elements, it cannot heat up as much as the containers and the plant matter will rot much slower as the bacteria and worms doing the rotting will not grow as quickly at the lower temperatures.
What to put in.
You can put most plant material into your compost binheap. However, there are some things you must not put into your compost bin:
. - Diseased plants and leaves.
. - Cooked vegetables.
. - Woody plants.
. - Anything recently treated with weed killer or other strong chemicals.
. - Too much, grass mowings.
. - Weeds, unless you process them first.
The diseased plant matter will infect the compost heap. The worms and bacteria will rot the plant but the infection it had will very likely remain in the compost. Cooked vegetables and other kitchen waste will attract rats and other vermin before they rot. The woody plants will take too long to rot and will just be a nuisance. Anything recently treated with weed killer or insecticide may kill or slow down the worms and bacteria. But worse again if the chemical used, if it does not break down quickly, will continue to do its duty when you are spreading the compost giving unwanted and often disastrous results. Putting too much lawn mowings into your compost heap can swamp it. It takes a lot of effort and nitrogen to break down a constant supply of mowings. They may be used but not to excess. With experience, you can judge yourself how much to us. Do not put weeds in your compost unless you are sure you have removed all the taproots, flowers and seeds to ensure there is no potential for new growth in your compost next year.
When you start the process, it is a good idea to put in a pot of earthworms. They are easily available at garden centres and fishing tackle suppliers (as bait). You could just collect them next time you dig the garden. There are more there than you think. They can often be collected on your lawn at night without digging. Before long they will multiply and you will have thousands of worms in your compost bin.
To kick-start the composting process, you can also get bags of bacteria specially cultured for composting.
How to maintain it
There is very little maintenance involved in a compost bin. However, it does take a lot of nitrogen for the bacteria to work at speed. Therefore I would recommend a sprinkling of sulphate of ammonia every occasionally. About three ounces every time the compost has grown by 9 to 12 inches. Not too much or the worms will protest.
The heap, in or out of the bin should not exceed five feet in height or diameter. This is to ensure that it can breathe and maintain a steady temperature.
You will notice that the compost bins have ventilation holes. This is so the bacteria and worms that convert your garden waste into compost can breathe. The composting process causes heat and if the material gets too hot, the bacteria cannot work and the worms could be cooked. This is not a total disaster because when the bacteria stop working it cools down and they start again. But, this of course slows down the process.
Different types of compost bin
There are now many different types of compost bins on the market. There are large ones and small ones wooden ones and plastic ones and ones made of PVC coated steel mesh. There are ones that tumble or roll the contents to aerate the mixture and help the process. There are even ones that collect compost tea. You may well raise your eyebrows at that one. Compost tea is the liquid that drains from the compost during the composting process. It is highly nutritious for plants.
As you can see above Composting has become a fine art. You need not become a compost artist but if you are not composting in some form, your garden is missing out and so are you.
If you are wondering what to do with all this great compost that you just spent all your spare time nursing, wonder no longer. You will find that compost is mentioned in many gardening articles and this site is no different. So, you will have no shortage of places to put it. Anyway I will give a brief rundown. You can use it as a mulch on your flower beds and other plants and dig it into the hole where you are planting trees or large plants. You can mix it into your potting mixture. There are some plants that do not like to be mulched with your compost. Check with your local garden centre when buying.
By the way potting mixture is often referred to by many gardeners as compost or potting compost. You can also buy potting supplements which are also called compost.(e.g. John Innes) It has become a broad term used to indicate a number of things in the garden. So which compost you are talking about will depend on the context in which it is used. But most people are familiar with their usage in their own circles.
Chris, one of our resident authors, also writes articles for Article Desk and Articles Galore
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