How I Build A Compost Pile!

Since the high heat is in place here in South-East Texas there is not much in the garden that is thriving, other than watermelon and corn,see the last post! So today I thought I would get another compost pile going, it’s really easy the way I do it , so come check it out!

The first thing I did was to build a cage out of Red Brand Goat Fence, you can use what ever you have around your place, we just had some extra. I took a 10 foot piece and connected the ends to make a cylinder, it works perfect for contaning the pile. I put this cylinder in an out of the way place , its gonna be there a while, and start gathering my materials. Since I live on the farm out here materials are easy to come by. I use mostly old hay that has gotten wet, and bales that fell apart around the haystack, plus grass clippings from mowing around the house. We also have an abundance of chicken, cow and donkey manure around here so that is a key ingredient as well.

Old Hay

Let’s Assemble!

With the materials gathered up I first put down a layer of hay, 1 to 2 feet deep, then water it down with the water hose , it will compact down quite a bit.

1st Layer of Hay

The next layer is a layer of grass clippings, I used about 2 full bags from the mower for the grass layer it works out to about 5 to six inch layers.

Bag From The Mower Full Of Clippings.

Layer Of Grass Clippings

After the grass goes on I dump in about two five-gallon bucket fulls of chicken manure over the grass layer and then wet it down, it helps to keep the dust down as well as adds to the needed moisture in the pile.

Five gallon Bucket of Chicken Manure.

From there it just goes layer upon layer , just like lasagna! I put about five layers on this pile and will keep the water going on for a few more days, as you add water you will see the pile begin to compact down. After a few weeks you can turn the pile over a couple of times to get the air moving again, this will speed up your compost, or you can just let it set and it will still work, it will just take longer.

Almost Done

So there you have it, started compost pile ready to cook. You can continue to add kitchen waste, more grass clipping, fall leaves, whatever just make sure you keep the pile moist and it will do fine. Check back in a few weeks and I’ll update how this particular pile is going!

Thanks for stopping by!

Organic Soil Amendments
photo © 2009 Matt Montagne | more info (via: Wylio)

The absolute best type of amendment you can use in your soil is organic soil amendmentsbecause these organic soil amendments can add a reservoir of nutrients for plant roots to absorb.

To produce big juicy nutritional vegetables, your soil must be able to supply the plant with the following five critical nutrients:

* Nitrogen — for leaf development;
* magnesium — to help the plants with photosynthesis
* Calcium and phosphorus — to help the plant bear fruit and help root growth.
* Potassium — for root development and to resist disease.
* a range of micronutrients such as boron, iron and zinc.

Adding organic matter as organic soil amendments stimulates the natural cycles that enrich soil. Earthworms and soil microorganisms break down organic matter into forms that plants can use. As organic materials are slowly broken down by microorganisms, they are releasing their nutrients slowly over months or even years.

Organic soil admendments are far superior to synthetic chemical fertilizers because synthetic fertilizers are water-soluble and produce a sudden flush of mineral salts that are taken up rapidly py plants. However, even though such salts can produce good yields, they also repel earthworms and other compost-making creatures, our most important allies to keeping the soil fertile and rich. (Here’s a personal experience which showed me how worms hate synthetic fertilizers.)

If you use only synthetic chemical fertilizers, your soil will be lifeless soil, low in nutrients, and low to nil in compost. The only way to support your crops would be to add more doses of chemicals — and you’ve started on a merry-go–round of ruining your soil.

Because your soil is not being replenished, it will have less and less of the necessary nutrients for lush and healthy growth, the plants/vegetables will be less and less healthy thus more and more susceptible to being attacked by insects and pests.

To avoid this type of catastophic ending to nutritious food and better health, you might want to consider the opposite route of feeding the soil — i.e. using organic soil amendments.

If you want to find out exactly what nutrients might be missing in your soil, discover how to take a soil sample and send the sample to get your soil tested. The testers can tell you exactly what soil amendments must be added to your soil.

Organic soil amendments can be made of

natural plants (ex leaf mold or peatmoss) or animal materials (such as bloodmeal or bonemeal) or of powdered minerals or rock (such as rock phosphate or granite meal).
Different Ways to Create Organic Soil Amendments:

Here are examples of good common organic soil amendments you can use. These natural materials will feed and remedy any soil structure.

1. Compost or decomposing plant material — organic soil amendments which improve soil texture and add nutrients to the soil. Straw, grass clippings, or shredded leaves are examples of such mulches.

When organic soil amendments are added to the upper few inches of soil as mulch and are allowed to slowly decompose naturally, you are in fact mimicking nature’s process of feeding not only plants but also the soil.

The end result is the creation of humus, a stable form of decomposed organic matter that improves soil structure so roots can penetrate the soil easily.

Not only is the soil being replenished with nutrients, the compost or humus also increases the soil’s capacity to hold air and water.

On the other hand, you can choose to use compost bins to make compost– a mix of decomposed plant and animal materials. This organic soil amendment can then be worked into your soil in the spring before you plant or in the fall after harvest time.

OR…you can choose to cold compost also. All these methods of composting are explained step by step in the ebook How To Compost In Your Backyard or you may choose to read individual posts outlining each of the four composting methods step by step.

2. Peat moss, a lightweight and inexpensive natural and organic soil amendment, — helps loosen heavy soils or in the case of sand, to radically improve the ability of soil to hold moisture. Peat moss can be bought in big or small quantities. I always used to keep a bag or two in my shed.

3. Composted manure, (usually cow or sheep manure which can be bought in bags) — improves drainage and moisture retention in the soil and adds nitrogen among other nutrients. Composted manure has a rich, dark texture and is easy to work into soil.

4. Leaf mold (composted or decomposed leaves) — helps loosen the soil. High in nitrogen and potassium, the leaf mold releases its nutrients slowly in soil. Leaf mold and other garden leftovers are often called “the gardener’s gold” for when decomposed, the resulting organic soil amendment helps any type of soil become rich loam.

5. Shredded bark or wood chippings — improves soil texture by making it more airy and help with proper soil drainage. Shredded bark such as cedar bark is often used to mulch around the base of plants and trees.

Avoid shredding or chipping any wood which has been painted or have been tainted with oil preservatives or such things as plywood which is kept together with glue.

6. Worm castings — is a terrific addition to organic soil amendments which bring with it much needed nutrients. I have been using worm castings for my balcony and indoor potted plants and have found worm castings to be every bit as good as composted plant material.

7. Green manure, — a great organic soil amendment which can add many nutrients and amend texture immensely.

Green manure is easy to make. In the fall after the harvest, plant alfalfa seeds or soy seeds (be sure the seeds are GMO-free) in your garden. Allow it to grow some, and in the early spring before the crop starts making seeds, cut the growing plant to the ground and then plow it in or with a shovel turn this green manure under. I’ve used this method extensively during the last five years I still had my house.

By adding the proper organic soil amendments to change the texture of your soil, you are well on the way to producing rich loam, the road to healthier, more nutritious vegetables and plants which are lush and vibrant.

Marcie
Bio: A gardener since the 70′s, Marcie Snyder knows that it is important to grow your own vegetables and plants organically and that adding organic soil amendments is extremely important to growing healthy nourishing vegetables.
You will find loads of great tips in her FREE ebook “The Complete Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening” (OVG GUIDE), as well as a very comprehensive step-by-step ebook detailing 4 methods of composting. Check for more articles at http://organicvegetablegardeningguide.com/blog

The Worm-A-Rater – More DIY How To Projects

Check it out and lemme know what you think!?

Enjoy!

Practical Compost Making

Author: Katie Collins

Whether you are an ordinary gardener, or an organic gardener which doesn’t use of any sort of chemical additive for fertilization or pest control, a quality compost becomes one of the most important factors in determining the ultimate success of your garden. Compost is one of nature’s best mulches and soil amendments. With a good quality compost there is no need to use any sort of commercial fertilizer, and one of the best features of compost is that it can literally be made without spending a dime.

What Exactly Is Compost

Compost is the remnants of any organic material that has been aerobically decomposed. Compost is often also called humus. In earth science “humus” is defined as any organic matter which has reached a point of stability, where it will break down no further and can remain essentially as it is for centuries, or even millennia. So both words, for practical gardening purposes, basically mean the same thing; the end product of decomposed organic matter. It is also important to note that this decomposition is a result of a aerobic process as opposed to an anaerobic process. For example, vegetables placed in an airtight plastic bag will still decompose but will do so in an anaerobic manner since there is limited oxygen available. Anaerobic decomposition is what produces the foul odor that most of us are quite aware of.

The Compost Decomposition Process

The decomposition of organic matter is actually a process of repeated digestions as organic matter repeatedly passes through the intestinal tracts of soil animals or is attacked by the digestive enzymes secreted by microorganisms. Compost is the end product of this complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. In reality composting simply replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials on the forest floor. But fortunately for us, the organic gardener, this process results in a product that significantly improves soil fertility and helps keep the soil in a healthy balanced condition where nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally.

Compost Ingredients

Although almost any organic material can be used for compost pile, caution should be used when backyard composting as most backyard systems will not reach high enough temperatures to kill pathogens or deter vermin. So generally pet feces, non vegetarian animal manure, meat scraps, and dairy products should not be used unless you can be sure that an adequate temperatures will be reached.

To ensure proper composting your compost pile needs the right mixture of carbon rich “brown matter” and nitrogen rich “green matter”. Brown matter can consist of such items as dried leaves, straw, sawdust, wood chips, and even non-inked paper and cardboard. Green matter can include green plant material such as grass clippings, fresh cut hay, weeds, animal manures, fruit and vegetable table scraps, seaweed’s, and coffee grounds.

The Composting Process

This speed by which the composting process will occur will depend to a large extent on amount of effort you desire to put into creating the compost. Passive composting obviously takes the least amount of effort on your part. You simply mix the materials together in a freestanding pile and allow them to sit and rot on their own. This process may take a year or two but eventually you’ll have compost.

However, by actively managing your compost pile, you can often get finished compost in as little as one month. You can actively decrease the amount of time it takes to create compost if you’re willing to take the time to chop up your materials since shredded organic materials can heat up more rapidly and decompose quickly.

Heat is an important factor in effective composting. Hot composting allows aerobic bacteria to thrive. The ideal condition is for pasteurization to occur in a hot compost. Pasteurization will occur when the temperature reaches 55° Celsius (131°F) or more for three or more days. This will kill most pathogens and seeds. Pasteurized compost is valuable to the home gardener since the pasteurization process is otherwise both expensive and complicated, and adding chemicals to produce pasteurization is not an acceptable alternative for organic gardening.

Compost Tumblers

For many gardeners, space is often an issue, and even you have adequate space in your backyard you may not want to have a large unsightly compost heap. Compost tumblers offer a reasonable and effective alternative to the compost pile. And while the claims of some compost tumblers to produce compost in as little as 13 days may be slightly exaggerated, they do offer several benefits over the standard compost heap and they actually can accelerate the decomposition process because of their convenience.

There are a number of benefits of compost tumblers. First, they are generally easy to use and come in a number of sizes and styles that make the turning of your compost piles much easier. Second, because they are fully enclosed they are pest proof from such common pests as squirrels, raccoons, rats and dogs. Also, because tumblers are in a closed environment it’s much easier to retain moisture so your compost doesn’t dry out. Also in wet weather it won’t get too soggy. The enclosed environment also keeps unpleasant orders inside the compost tumbler (however if you’re keeping your compost properly aerated by proper turning there should not be any unpleasant odors).

Whether you garden by more modern means, or are a strict organic gardener, one thing is certain; healthy plants come from a healthy and nutritious soil. By making your own compost (a.k.a. gardeners black gold), not only are you being environmentally friendly and very economical, you’re producing your own natural black gold for your vegetables, herbs and flowers and providing healthy, safe, and great tasting food for your loved ones.

About the Author:
Katie Collins is a gardener, mother and writer.
For more great articles and advice on gardening please visit our websites at
Great Vegetable Gardens and
Better Organic Gardens

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Practical Compost Making

So read up and tell me what you think!

What Makes Composting Worthwhile

Author: Paul Hata

If you’re into organic gardening you probably know by know about compost and how it works wonders to your garden patch. But for the first timers, creating a compost pile is not really on the top of their to-do-list. The question of is composting worthwhile usually comes up and not knowing enough they usually arrive at the easiest answer and course of action. And that’s a nope, I don’t have time for making my own compost. I will settle with the commercially available organic fertilizers and stuff.

First things first, composting is the process of decomposing organic wastes, which can be household wastes or plant remains or a mixture of both, and making them into a dark, earthy, and loose or crumbly substance. Because compost is rich in minerals which most plants need, compost can be made to replace your garden soil.

Most often, however, gardeners use compost to enrich their garden soil. When compost is added the soil, the overall structure of the soil improved allowing it to hold more water and letting air circulate within the soil.

Contrary to some of your perceptions, compost is quite easy to make and is especially easy to use. There are several methods that could be used when creating compost. The following guide shows how easy it is to create it on your own backyard.

I would suggest making your own compost bin to make everything confined to one place. You will avoid making a mess in your backyard if you do so. Plus, temperature and moisture can also be regulated if you construct a compost bin but allow the organic materials to be composted touch the soil. You need to allow your earthworm buddies and other organic microbes help out in the decomposing process.

Although, almost all organic materials could go into your compost pile, a good combination of greens and browns would be better. The greens refer to nitrogen-rich organic matter like fresh grass, leaves, and your scraps in your kitchen. The browns on the other hand refer to organic matter that contains a lot of carbon such as those dried leaves on your backyard, straw and, of course, wood chips or shavings.

A good combination of greens and browns can dictate how fast you will have a finished compost. Admittedly, you will have an edge in this area if you have piled up your experience in compost making. Why? Well, for starters you would probably have timed how fast the final compost is created from the different proportions of greens and browns.

Some, however, would suggest that the best proportion would be 25 percent of your compost pile is made of browns and 1 percent is made of greens.Take note that if you have a large part made up of browns the compost pile will decompose rather slowly. On the other hand, having too much greens on the pile could cause some serious smell.

Other elements that you should always consider when making compost are the air and the amount of water your pile will need. It is best to keep your compost pile damp. This will help in the decomposing process. Air is also needed so make sure your pile is properly aerated. If you do observe that no air is coming in, just turn over your pile. Observe and continuously aerate your pile every until you can already harvest the fruits of your labor.

It takes some effort in creating compost, that part I have to agree. But the results of composting are really worthwhile.

About the Author:

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – What Makes Composting Worthwhile