Some Information About Composting

Most gardeners and especially organic gardeners would agree that compost is an important tool.   Here are some benefits to your garden using compost.

1.  It helps your garden to hold the ideal amount of water.

2.  Provides the right texture for plant growth.

3.  Adds natural organisms beneficial to the plants.

You can certainly buy compost at a local store but it is cheaper to make it yourself.   By doing that you can recycle your yardwaste and put it to good use rather than just throwing it away. 

It is important before starting on your compost pile to know what to put in it.   Good compost must have carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and water.  Grass clippings provide the the carbon.  To get nitrogen use fall leaves.   To ensure there is water place the pile somewhere you know it will get rained on.   For adequate oxygen you simply need to mix the pile.   If you want a rich amount of nitrogen and carbon you can add some fertilizer to your pile. 

There are two main kinds of compost piles.  The first one is called a cool pile.  To create a cool pile you just need to add leaves and clippings and stir occasionally.   A cool pile is the easiest one to make but takes a year.  You need to take care not to put weeds  in a  cool pile. 

The other kind is a hot pile and is faster to make but takes more yard waste and work.  You need to mix a hot pile much more often.  I recommend mixing every two days.    You don't need to worry as much about mixing in weeds in a hot pile because the heat will kill them.   The downside of hot piles is they can also kill bacteria that are beneficial to your garden. 

I hope you found the information in this article useful.