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August 21st, 2011 at 12:00 am
The essence of compost is that it recycles “green” materials, mostly kitchen or garden refuse. Compost is a vital part of a gardener’s repertoire, as compost goes into the soil to nurture the next generation of crop or ornamental plants.
Items that can be composted are fruit and vegetable leavings, coffee grinds, newspaper or cardboard, prunings, hay or dry grass, dead leaves. Things that shouldn’t be used for compost are meat or grease, coal ash, and cuttings from diseased plants or weeds.Want more? Click here/tag
The gardener should first buy or make a compost bin. These can come in many forms, from a rotating barrel placed on a stand, to a box, or a cylinder of chicken wire propped up on stakes in a way that it can be lifted off when the compost is ready. All of them need covers to protect them from rain.
A compost pile needs heat to work, and the smallest size that will produce heat is about three feet square. The material should be added in six inch layers and watered till it’s wet but not soggy. An activator like sulphate of ammonia should be added between each layer of material to speed up the breakdown of the material. Then a layer of garden soil should be laid over everything. The compost should be turned now and then, and will be ready after three to six months.