Good afternoon, my reader. Today gardeners and gardeners often buy a lot of modern fertilizers in specialized stores, but at the same time, few of them refuse to use good old compost. It is distinguished by its versatility, since the range of its application is very wide. It is used to prepare soil for seedlings, it is used as fertilizer or to feed plants, and by adding it to the soil, it improves its structure.
Please put your likes and subscribe to the channel "About Fasenda". This will allow us to publish more interesting garden articles.
At first glance, composting is easy. It is enough to dig a hole or put together a dimensional box from the boards, then send all organic waste there and calmly wait for them to decay and turn into a substrate valuable for the garden. However, this is not a fast process - all organic matter that has appeared on the compost must be rotated to a state of almost homogeneous mass, forming an independent ecosystem. To get it, a number of important rules must be followed during composting.
1. Not all organics are suitable for composting
It's hard to believe, but even gardeners who have been preparing compost for many years are not always aware of what exactly from organic waste can be put into it and what cannot. However, you need to know this. Some waste can significantly reduce the quality of the compost, which is why it will not provide significant benefits to the garden.
You can compost fruit and vegetable peels, dry leaves, straw and thin branches, chicken droppings, manure, paper and cardboard, rags made from natural materials, and egg shells.
But at the same time, it is categorically not recommended to put weeds with roots and seeds in it, obtained after weeding the garden, as well as raw meat, cat litter, large pieces of wood, sawdust, non-degradable materials such as plastic.
2. Compost layers should be alternated
Although there are many types of waste suitable for inclusion in compost, they can still be divided into two groups with conventional names:
- "Brown" (carbonaceous), which include wood materials, dry leaves, cardboard, straw;
- "Green" (nitrogen rich) are mainly various food waste.
If any of these groups dominates the compost mass, then it will no longer be possible to achieve the desired balance of microorganisms in the substrate. The reason for this is that the bacteria involved in the decomposition of "green" (nitrogenous) consume a lot oxygen, and "brown" just contain it in sufficient quantity, but to maintain the decay process need in nitrogen. The necessary balance can be achieved if, when laying the compost, the components of these groups are present in it in equal proportions.
3. The compost mass must be constantly mixed
In order for the consistency of the compost to be homogeneous, it must be mixed from time to time with a pitchfork, breaking up lumps.
In addition, as a result of such mixing, the compost mass will be saturated with oxygen, which it needs just like carbon or nitrogen.
4. The compost must be moist
By mixing, it is also possible to achieve the optimum moisture content of the compost, since a substrate that is too dry decomposes slowly, and a substrate containing excess moisture quickly. In case of prolonged rains, it will be better to cover the pit or box with something.
5. Before laying large components of the compost should be shredded
This is the law of compost chemistry: the larger the elements of the laid material, the slower they will decompose. Therefore, before sending them to compost, you need to make sure that they are crushed to an acceptable state. For the most part, this concerns wood waste, but it is worth paying attention to the thick stems of plants. If necessary, chop them with pruning shears or garden shears.
Do you know how to make great compost?
Original articleand many other materials, you can find on ourwebsite.
Read also about hilling potatoes in the following article:Hilling potatoes: terms, rules, when and how to hilling