The Ultimate Guide to Composting

It’s now been a few weeks since I started to include these guest articles on how to get the most from your garden shredder. Not surprisingly we have spent time looking at aspects of how the garden shredder adds to the green side of life through composting (I’ll upload a business case some other time on how a garden shredder saves money and time in other ways).
I expected this series of articles to continue for some time but, as you will see below, Steve Cownley’s article says just about everything that needs to be said on the subject of composting. As this site is all about electric garden shredder reviews I think we will let Steve have the last word on compost. Because of the length of this article we have split it in 2.

Composting – is it Just a Load of Rubbish?

Author: Steve Cownley

To Compost or Not to Compost

Well, there’s no doubt about it, composting is a good practice that any self-respected gardener should learn to do. But the question really is what materials we could make into a compost and which ones we cannot. We have been told that composting can be done with any organic material. Well, in theory that may be true, however, in real life it may not be always so.

There are a several organic materials that should not be included in the compost pile unless you know how to do it properly while there are other materials that should not even be attempted even by the experts. To compost or not to compost, that is indeed the question. And let’s see if we can provide the answers.

For home composters like you and me, we have a number of materials available inside our own home and even our own backyard. The big, industrial composters have a little advantage over us. They can compost more materials than us because they have the facilities to divert, mask, or absorb the odor that may come out from composting a lot of organic stuff. We don’t have the same luxury. We don’t want our neighbors organizing a protest rally against our composting in our own backyard, now do we?

Don’t let this worry you though, there are still a lot of materials that we could include in our compost pile. Let’s begin with something our front lawn is always dying to dispose off: excess grass. Yep, grass clippings from our lawn can be put to better use like for the compost file in our backyard. In situations where you have hay instead of grass clippings, that could work as well.

Using hay for composting is often practiced by farmers. You will find that farmers are more than willing to dispose of that hay. And when it comes to using hay for composting, be sure to pick the greener ones. Green hay means it still has a lot of nitrogen in it.

Others include kitchen wastes such as vegetable peels, fruit rinds, tea bags, eggshells and coffee grounds. These substances contain high levels of nitrogen. Make sure, however, to keep pests away from your kitchen wastes. Some would prefer to prepare a compost bin intended for their kitchen wastes. Others would prefer burying these wastes in eight inches of soil. And because they precisely attract pests, it would be best to stay avoid including scraps of meat, milk products and left over bones.

Wood chips, wood shaving, saw dusts, paper, and other wood products are generally good to included in your compost pile. However, be sure to stay away from chemically-treated wood products. Arsenic is one of the highly toxic chemicals that is sometimes used to treat wood. Using sawdust from such treated wood products is a no-no since the chemical will leak into the soil causing more harm than good.

Speaking of no-nos, there are other things that you should not include in your compost. Plants that died due to a disease should not be included. There is still a possibility that the disease the caused the death of the plants might infect your future plants.

And similarly, human, dog and cat wastes are not uses as composting materials as well precisely because they contain organisms that could cause disease. Such disease might cause people to be sick or might affect your plants.

Even though grasses can be used for composting, it would be best to avoid weeds like morning glory, ivy, sheep, and kinds of grasses that could grow in your compost pile. The weeds seeds also can survive the composting pile which can be carried to your new garden.

So going back to our earlier question: to compost or not to compost? Composting is something that is ideal for your garden. However, choosing the right materials will determine how successful your compost pile will be.

Top Reasons for Composting

Some of us may be hesitant in making and using compost. They find the task of making one troublesome and time consuming. Or they might have false perceptions of smelly compost piles and having such a messy process right in their backyards. While others would prefer buying their fertilizers, soil amendments or conditioners, and mulch from their garden stores to avoid all the hassle of reading about compost and actually making one.

Here are my top personal reasons for composting. I only hope that you move your butt out of that chair and begin your own compost pile before you reach number ten.

The first reason I find composting highly worthwhile is the fact that the materials used are absolutely free and are readily available. Compare that with the ever rising costs of commercial fertilizers and other gardening products in the market today. All you need is a little extra effort to find the best materials for your compost pile, but otherwise, everything’s for free.

The second one is that compost provides more nutrients and minerals needed by my plants than commercial organic or synthetic fertilizers. The overall effect of compost is also longer than commercially available fertilizers. It’s free and it works better, who wouldn’t want that? Plus, if you organize your ingredients just right, you can provide a whole lot more range of nutrients.

Another good reason would be the benefits of compost to the soil structure. When applied to the soil, compost can help the soil be more resistant to erosion, improve its retention of water, and in some types of soil (like clay) it can reduce the chance the soil becomes compact. This is also important for farmers since compost can make the soil easier to till conserving time and fuel needed to operate the machines.

With the right composting technique, the process can kill those troublesome weeds as well as pests and disease-causing organisms present in the materials being composted. High temperature composting is the technique I am talking about. Although, this technique is not the backyard variety but rather a more laboratory or industrial type variety, I still find it a good reason why we should make composts.

There have been studies which indicate that using compost can suppress the growth of diseases in crops. Other studies also show that crops grown over compost rich soils can resist better pest or insect attacks. Likewise, some news and observations in the field also shows that crops grown using compost bear produce that can be stored longer. If that’s not reason enough, I don’t know what else you are looking for.

For the environmentalists and conservationists, compost has something for them as well. Using compost together with the soil can build soil carbon which can eventually reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It may take a lot of compost to have a positive effect on the greenhouse gases but that fact is quite useful as well.

It is also found out that compost works well as an antidote for soils that are toxic with agricultural chemicals. Compost can balance the levels of soil acidity, and helps farmers to go organic after years of using synthetic agricultural products.

These are my top reason for composting. Some of it may not directly benefit my personal needs but having those reasons to cling onto is a good thing to motivate the use of compost.

Part 2 coming soon…

Steve Cownley

http://organic-gardening.net46.net

http://infoblog.net78.net/

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/composting-is-it-just-a-load-of-rubbish-550027.html

About the Author

Wide experience on many things and just publish information for fun.Experienced Salesperson and marketeer, both internet and non on-line. Web designer, very knowledgeable on PC and pc related issues, both hardware and software. Parent, driver and blogger.

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Do It Yourself Composting

There is nothing difficult about composting.  In many ways it is one of the most natural processes there is.  In many larger gardens gardeners will often simply leave their garden waste in piles strategically positioned out of view to most visitors.  Over time these piles simply rot away to nothing.

In smaller gardens we need to be a bit more economical with space so we typically keep all of our green waste and woody prunings (suitably shredded) in compost heaps.  The process is the same and after a year or 2 all that lovely mulch is ready for spreading on the garden again.

Homemade Compost Bins

By Darrell Feltmate

Homemade compost bins can be as simple or as elaborate as you like. In fact it is not necessary to build one at all. Compost can be made quite well in a pile or a series of piles. On the other hand there are advantages to a bin or system of bins. They allow for a more organized systematic approach to composting, they look better than a loose pile and may be mandatory in some municipalities. If they are mandatory in your area there may be conditions imposed on what you can build. Be sure to check before you start.

A compost pile to be effective should be three feet wide and high and at least three feet deep so that is the start of the measurements for the bin. One of the simplest bins takes a 10 foot length of welded wire fencing three feet high. Once it is wrapped in a circle it makes a bin. To turn the pile once the bin is full, in theory it can be lifted off the pile and the material turned into the bin. In reality the compost material holds the fencing in place and it is hard to move. It is better to have prepared the fencing in the first place so it can be opened and unwrapped from the pile.

It has become fashionable in some areas to make a compost bin from recycled pallets. Three of them on a side make the sides and back of the bin. They can be tied together with twine or nailed together for a more permanent setup. With a bit of ingenuity they can be extended to a three or more bin connected system.

Still others have taken concrete blocks and dry set them one on top of the other so as to make a bin. This is particularly fashionable in some suburban areas where the compost pile will be visible to neighbors and passers by. Staggering the blocks allows for better aeration. Again the system can be used to make one bin or a system of bins.

Obviously there are as many ways to make a compost bin as there are imaginations of gardeners the world over. Consider however, the desired system as much as the construction. A hot composting system is best served with at least three bins; one to build the pile and two to turn the pile back and forth. Cold composting will want an easy way to add composting materials to the top of the pile and finished compost from the bottom. Either system requires a way to easily access the compost.

Which ever system you use, fix up a homemade compost bin and get the compost coming for the best garden ever.

Darrell Feltmate is an avid gardener who has been composting and gardening for over 25 years with gardens up to 1/2 acre and compost piles for each. His composting site may be found at Compost Central. You can be a master composter in no time at all.

Much of his compost uses wood shavings from his wood turning hobby. The site for wood turning may be found at Around the Woods.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Darrell_Feltmate
http://EzineArticles.com/?Homemade-Compost-Bins&id=625229

Garden Shredders: The Composters’ Best Friend

If you have been reading the Garden Shredder Review it will have been pretty difficult to miss that we are big fans of composting.  However, if you have a particularly woody garden you can find that composting, without first shredding, can take a lot of time (and space)

In her article below Sarah Cowell asks if Garden Shredders are simply toys for the boys or essential parts of any gardeners compost regime.

How To Make Compost – Are Garden Shredders Expensive Boys’ Toys or Useful Kit? by Sarah Cowell

The garden shredder can help you make compost if:

1. You’re drowning in woody prunings

2. You want to make more compost NOW

3. You are a keen mulcher or have woodchip paths to renew

Let’s start with drowning. You have a small garden and nowhere to put all the shrubby prunings. Because your garden is small you have to keep pruning or will never see the light of day. Shredding reduces the bulk enormously. Then it can fit into a small-ish compost bin and start earning its keep.

For number two, you want to make more compost and NOW, you probably grow some veg (or have roses that think they’re teenage boys – hungeree). By reducing the size of the woody materials, shredders increase the surface area available to decomposing microbes. They can attack it from every side and hey presto compost is made. Whereas if you had added rose prunings to the compost directly they would probably still be there when all your other stuff had broken down into lovely crumbly compost. This isn’t necessarily a problem however as it can be easily sieved out and returned to the pile for another year. If there are a lot of them it makes sense to make them all smaller when putting it in. For patient composters who can wait as long as two years before using their compost it’s not a problem but the alternative is to spend ages cutting up twiggy stuff before it goes in. I’ll bet you’d rather do other garden jobs. The shredder comes to the rescue and earns its salt.

Finally you may live somewhere hot (lucky devil) and drought is a problem (OK we do tend to forget why our land is green and pleasant). Mulching after rain keeps the water from evaporating too quickly and ultimately feeds the soil. Wood chips might be useful for paths or play surfaces. Chippers are more suited to the kind of woodchips required for paths and playground. Similar to shredders they deal with bigger chunks of wood, branches rather than twigs.

The drawbacks are the initial financial outlay they start at around £150/$200 and then the running cost of the energy needed to fuel it. There are petrol and electric versions available. For electric models you’ll need a source in the garden (or a long enough extension lead) but electric or petrol, the noise! Nature is a whole lot quieter. A word of caution, be careful about getting soil or stones in the shredder as it quickly blunts the blade. Replacement blades can be bought but that’s another expense.

If you like machines and are keen to make compost as quickly as possible then a shredder is a useful addition to your garden practice but if you have a little patience there are millions of small and even microscopic organisms ready to do the job for you. By shredding you give them an ‘in’ so they can get to work more quickly but they will get there in the end without you lifting a finger!

Check out a website like reviewcentre.com for reviews before choosing a shredder or find out more about getting nature to do your work – see link below.

Want to learn more about the alchemy of composting and how to choose the right system for you? Go to www.CompostEverything.com and sign up for a FREE 10 part mini-course now!
Sarah Cowell Dip. Hort. is a gardener and writer on horticulture matters