photo credit: graibeard
photo credit: lessismorebalancedOrganic inputs are usually recycled waste products. Besides, benefit the soil, they are environmentally friendly. Organic gardeners follow nature’s example, recycle plant and animal wastes, feeding the soil instead of feeding the plants directly. Soil living creatures, will break down bulky organic material in the soil. In this process, soil structure will be improved, making it a healthier place to grow your vegetables.
photo credit: lessismorebalanced
Organic inputs are usually recycled waste products. Besides, benefit the soil, they are environmentally friendly. Organic gardeners follow nature’s example, recycle plant and animal wastes, feeding the soil instead of feeding the plants directly. Soil living creatures, will break down bulky organic material in the soil. In this process, soil structure will be improved, making it a healthier place to grow your vegetables.
Some organic soil improvers you can use are:
1) Garden compost: It has a medium fertility level. You have to dig it in or mulch.
2) Green waste compost: It has a low fertility, you have also to dig it in or much and it is available in large scale from municipal recycling centres. They may be low in nitrogen (one of key soil fertility elements) but high in potassium
3) Worm compost: High fertility, but usually available in small quantities.
4) Straw animal manures: Medium to high fertility. Must be well-rotted before being dug into the soil. You can find it in non-intensive farms and stables, but you are quite unlikely to find them in organic farms.
5) Spent mushroom compost: Medium fertility. Tends to alkaline, so it isn’t suitable for acid-loving plants.
6) Leaf mould: Low fertility. Mulch or dig in, depending on age.
7) Straw: Low fertility. Best as mulch
The good news is that you can prepare your own compost if you have a reasonable size garden.
What Should I Compost?
Greens =quick to rot: Grass mowing, poultry manure (without bedding), young weds and plants, nettles of any age
Intermediate- Fruit and vegs scraps, rhubarb leaves, tea bags, tea leaves and coffee grounds, remains of vegetable plants, strawy animal manures, cut flowers, soft hedge clippings, bedding from herbivorous pets (rabbits, hamsters etc) and perennial weeds.
Browns -(slow to rot): Old straw, tough plant and vegetable stems, old bedding plants, autumn leaves, woody pruning, evergreen hedge clippings, cardboard tubes, egg boxes, crumpled paper and newspaper.
How to compost?
First of all will have you have to buy a compost bin; a good bin will have solid sides, open base, a wide top opening for easy filling and a rainproof lid or cover that doesn’t blow away, minimum volume, 330 litres (48 gallons) and removable side to access compost.
To fill in the bin, collect a mixed batch of “greens” and” browns”, if you fill the compost bin in one go with a good mixture of materials, the heap should get hot, speeding the process and killing weed seeds.
If dry, add water.
If you add kitchen waste on its own, mist it in with what is already in the bin.
After 6-12 months or sooner if the bin is almost full, stop adding any more
Related Sites
- Organic Seaweed Fertilizer
- Advantages Of Organic Fertilizer In Maintaining Your Home Garden …
- Save Our Planet With Organic Composting :Healthy Home Smart