Your Step-By-Step Guide on Composting

Anyone who likes gardening would know what is compost.

It is probably one of the most essential and important parts of creating a green garden for yourself.

This relates to complete organic material to give your garden the organic boost.

When someone is talking about making compost, they mean to create organic food which helps the plants and produce in your garden to grow effectively.

Your food wastage dump and organic food decomposing can be used in a better way.

Composting is a major factor in benefiting the environment overall.

When you are using these organic wastage, you will be actually enriching the soil. It plays a major environmental impact- you don’t need to make use of chemical fertilizers.

In this article, I will be talking about everything you need to know when it comes to quality composting, how is it done, its environmental benefits and more.

So let’s get on with it:

What is Composting?

So now that we have a better understanding on how composting more or less relates to organic food remains, I will now talk about what exactly is contained in a compost mix. There are three major ingredients:

-dead material from the trees like dead leaves as well as tree trunks, branches and twigs, is one of the leading materials which are used in compost

-aside from the brow material, the greens also play a major role. This includes particles like vegetable waste, fruit remains as well as coffee grounds. All of these together are a great source of organic remains.

-and lastly, your compost isn’t complete if you don’t have the right amount of water in it. This all adds up to give your plants in your garden the right level of energy and helps especially in case of multipurpose crops.

One thing I need to point out here is that there aren’t any fixed amounts of food remains that should be used. You can make use of alternate layers of the organic remains but the key is to having at least one kind from all three types.

Especially water as it helps to keep the moisture levels high of the compost and also is essential in breaking down the organic material in its simplest form.

Here’s a Quick Checklist on Best Things to Compost

• fruits
• vegetables
• eggshells
• coffee grounds
• coffee fillers
• tea bags
• leaves
• wood chips
• hair
• fur
• paper
• houseplants
• glass clippings

Now that you have a fair idea on what is composting, and what are the best materials to compost, it is also essential that we talk about and emphasize things we should not be composing .

Let’s look into those now:

Composting : What You Should Not be Using

• Black walnuts as they are known to release substances which actually harm the plants
• Coal as well as charcoal are toxic to this purpose
• Avoid making use of dairy products especially butter, milk, as well as sour cream and yogurt. All of these elements are harmful as they bring forth pests such as rodents and flies. So it is best to not make use of them at all
• Don’t use meat and fish bones- they also create odor which brings forth rodents and they are known to cause more harm than help to your garden
• Pet wastes- this is a major misconception but your cat’s or dog’s feces are actually very harmful for your garden. This is because it actually contains parasites as well as germs and bacteria.
• It is best to not make use of chemical pesticides as they actually kill all the benefitting elements of organisms. It is important aspect in pest management.
• You should also keep an eye out plants which you know were having some disease as these can transfer onto the other, healthy plants hence it is best that you actually remove them completely.

Now I want to hit upon all the major benefits of Composting.

Benefits of Composting

As I already talked of how the major benefit of making use of compost which is all natural and organic is that you don’t have to worry about any chemical and preservatives involved in the manner of how your garden is grown.

Here’s looking into more of the many advantages it holds:

• It will enrich your soil.
• Helps to retain the moisture.
• Focuses on suppressing any plant disease
• Aims to keep pests at bay
• Reduces the methane emissions that can come from landfills
• Lowers the carbon footprint
•  Adds more nutrients into the soil, making it more fertile
• More fertility leads to higher sustainability
• Greener pastures
• Overall good for the environment when it provides a more greener outlook
• Reduces the landfill wastage
• It is a natural and slow release of fertilizers and unlike chemical fertilizers, they don’t release quickly and don’t damage the plants
• Aims to also focus on and filter the local water sources
• Compost also plays a major role in controlling erosion
• Takes carbon from the atmosphere and gets it into the ground as well
• A major advantage is that it also is very benefitting when it comes to disposal costs in a better way
• Food wastage is changed into a major valuable resource
• Helps out the farmers as well by lowering the production costs
• Composting also leads to creating jobs

Now that you know of all the major benefits of composting, I will now hit upon how to do composting right at home.

Here’s removing a major myth- composting isn’t as hard as it may seem. You can have it done easily too when you know how it is to be done.

Agricultural growth and sustainability is a major element which doesn’t require years of rigorous planning and preparation.

You can get results in a great way when you know what needs to be done.

Composting at Home

Did you know that there are a large number of ways in which you can actually create a composite pile.

There are a few major tools which help you in your compositing practice.

You should know how to make use of pitchforks, shovels as well as machetes’ and water hoses. All these tools will help in using the techniques rightfully.

Let’s now talk about the two major kinds of composting you can apply:

Backyard Composting

This is the kind of composting which is normally used. It is not as hard to learn and can give killer results when done right.

Want to know how it’s done? Read On:

• Make use of dry and shady spots, especially near a water source that will focus on creating your compost pile or bin
• You can add brown as well as green materials which are then chopped and shredded as making use of smaller, refined material is the key.
• It is also best if you mix grass clipping s as well as green waste into this mix.
• One key element is that you should mix the fruits and vegetables mix at least 10 inches under the compost material
• Some would also suggest that you should try to cover the top of the compost using a wet or moist cloth, as it helps to keep it moist and prevents it from completely drying out.
• Focus on getting vermicompost as well. This is made with the help of worms which have been eating the food scraps. Not to be confused with rodents and insects, these worms actually release castings which have high potency of nitrogen and that is a major element for you to have in your composting tactics.

Indoor Composting

Now that you have a good understanding on what is backyard composting, it is important to hit the spotlight on the composting which is to be done for indoor plants and enclosed garden spaces.

Sometimes you can also suffer from not having a large outdoor compost piling area. In that case, you can make use of compost materials which are made by using special kinds of bins.

These bins are not that hard to purchase, in fact you can find them at your local hardware stores as well.

The main thing to look out for is to ensure that whatever you keep within your pile is organic and does not fall out of thing from which a compost can be made from.

If you have a proper compost bin, it will not attract pests as it will not smell rotten.

The compost’s size depends on your need. Ensure that you are making use of the amount which will be properly utilized. However usually a compost is very well-prepared within a week or two.

Also it is important that you purchase the compost bin of the right kind. Do your proper research before deciding on one which is meeting to all your requirements and needs.

Conclusion

Compost making isn’t as hard or complicated. It’s all about identifying the ingredients needed. As what is worse than not having organic compost, is making compost which contains toxins and harmful substances which does more harm than good.

Compost mix made right at home is better than anything else as it allows you to keep an eye out and mix ingredients in their proper amount, ensuring all the essential nutrients are well-taken care of.

Gardening 101 should include this as one of the basics you must master. Your garden will only grown and groom when you take care of it properly. Knowing the essentials helps in a number of ways.