Compost is essential in any garden. If you have a large garden you could break the bank buying compost in bags from garden centres. You have to make your own.
The raw material for compost is free. You use your vegetable peelings, cardboard, grass cuttings and leaves. You can throw in your dead annuals in the autumn and even cardboard boxes.
Good compost needs a mixture of ingredients.
Bacteria break down the compost over time into a form that plants and worms can use. The bacteria need oxygen to do their work properly. This means that your compost needs to be turned to aerate it at regular intervals.
You can buy composters that you turn twice a day, or you can get in the compost heap with a garden fork and turn it into an adjacent empty compost bin the hard way.
If your space is limited then a composter is what you need. If you have two composters you can put your fresh peelings into the second machine while the first one is working at breaking down last month’s peelings. Rotary composters produce high quality compost in a very short time because of the constant aeration.
If you have the energy and space you can make your compost the traditional way. Plastic compost bins are a waste of money. They are not strong enough and will break or come apart in a few weeks.
Nail together a few wooden pallets to make compost bins. Use a half pallet to divide one bin from the next and at the front of each bin. The half pallets make it easier to climb in and to toss the compost from one bin to the next. You really need at least three compost bins. One will be for current waste, one for maturing waste and an empty bin to turn the maturing waste into.
In my large garden I have seven compost bins. One has soil in, one has maturing compost, three are full of compost ready to use and two are empty at the moment. I also have three compost bins full of leaves from the past two autumns.
You can make your own leaf mold in a similar way, just pile up dead leaves in a pallet-type compost bin and leave them for three years. Different bacteria break down tough leaves. These are anaerobic bacteria that do not need oxygen so there is no need to turn your leaf mould, just leave it.
Similar Posts:
- Use Your Raised Garden Bed As A Winter Compost Pile
- Growing Lychee Fruit
- Friday Five: Preparing the Garden for Winter
- Preparing Your Veggie Garden For Planting
- Grocery Bag Gardening
| Tags: Compost