Composting is a natural process that turns rotted mulch into rich, fertile soil. Microbes, worms and larvae penetrate the material and decompose it. They excrete waste in the form of plant nutrientshumus and smaller particles of organic matter.
Once you start composting, you’ll keep buckets of kitchen scraps and yard trimmings out of landfills. Your waste will feed your plantsthat feed you and contribute more waste. This endless cycle occurs in nature when leaves, twigs and fruits fall to the ground. They decompose, creating a layer of fertile soil for seedlings to grow.
Creating a compost pile is simple: layer of green, fleshy material with dry, brown plant matter in an appropriate proportion. Greens include kitchen scraps, garden clippings and weeds. Browns are things like straw, paper products, and dried leaves.
Water well and then turn the material regularly. The spinning process rotates the inputs so that the decomposing organisms can reach all their parts. They also inject air into the material, feeding fungi, bacteria and insects as they feed.
Without further ado, here are seven ways to transform your piles of decaying matter and produce a quality amendment.
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Take a pitchfork
Pitchforks are the best tools to use compost turning. They have long, thin spikes that throw mulchand quickly remove large chunks of mulch. Find one at your local home improvement store or purchase it online from a gardening retailer. Find a sturdy metal pitchfork that will withstand years of regular use.
Imagine spinning a stack like spinning spaghetti. You dip your fork into a lump, twist it, and lift it up. A trident is like a giant fork and its decaying pile is a bunch of spaghetti.
To flip your materials, take your pitchfork and sink it into the pile about halfway. Lift the tool and turn the mulch containing. Replace the mulch and then repeat the process. Do this several times until you move all the parts in your stack. Rotate hemorrhoids daily an amendment available quickly in two weeks. Turn them less frequently and they will be ready in three weeks or more.
Use shovels, rakes or hoes
If you don’t have pitchforks, other tools such as shovels, rakes or hoes work well. You may need to modify your approach, but you can still compost efficiently. With a shovel, Use it in the same way as pitchforks.. Dig into the pile, pick up pieces and rotate them.
A garden hoe is a little more difficult to use than a shovel. You will want to dig into the center and pull the pieces toward you. Then, pull all the pieces toward the center to rebuild a stack. You can also stick the hoe into the pile and turn it like a garbage disposal inside.
Rakes are the easiest of the three. Simply rake the materials from the center, mix them, and then re-stack them with a rake. Try to leave some large pieces for insects, worms and nematodes to hide in.
The rotation method
The rotation method allows you to maintain continually decaying pilesand allows you to harvest them when they are ready. It requires two or more, meaning you’ll need to add twice as much waste as if you were making a single pile. This method works best in late fall. when gardens are full of brown and green organic matter.
With two or more piles, continually feeding one while letting the others decompose. Then, when the other materials are ready, you can harvest rich, crumbly black soil from within. Leave the undecomposed parts, but remove most of the finished compost.
Now, take the other pile to the place where the old piles were. Turn it over and let it rest. Build a new pile next to it and feed it continuously while the others decay. Repeat this cycle as many times as you need and make as many piles for the amount of waste you generate.
Set up containers
The bins create an orderly space for composting. You can make a diy version of wooden stakes and chicken wire. Drive stakes into the ground at all four corners and wrap wire around the stakes. Fill the center with alternating layers of greens and browns. Holes in the sides of the cable keep the airflow going so you don’t have to flip the pile.
Another easy DIY compost bin uses pallets on the sides. Stacking wooden pallets without chemicals in an open square, with one side exposed. Do this twice, creating one container next to another. It should be “M” shaped. Fill one of the containers until it’s full, then use the other while the first decomposes.
Some garden and nursery retailers sell gadgets that make composting easier. They have stacked compartments; As mulch breaks down, smaller particles fall to the bottom compartments while large chunks break down on top. Other containers have holes like the DIY version. You will open them, fill them with plant scraps and clippings and close the lid.
Spin glasses
Cups are easier than containers, although they require additional maintenance in other areas. They are containers raised off the ground with circular shapes. Glasses often They have handles on the sides What do you use to rotate them.
The glasses need a healthy ration of finished compost, topsoil or mulch to reactivate microbes. The waste will sit and stink in the glasses if you do not have access to beneficial microbes, insects and worms from the soil. In contrast, normal piles sit on the ground, so worms and fungi easily crawl into them. It is useful to place a piece of living soil in the glass, which will grow and spread everywhere.
Summer temperatures threaten the decomposition process in the glasses. They dry out the mulch and kill all living things. Add water to your glass once or twice a day. during heat waves and less during temperate weather. You’ll want the contents to be moist but not soggy.
Plug in the aeration tubes
The aeration tubes do the work of turning.So you don’t have to! They let the materials breathe so that they can decompose continuously without agitation. Try to use UV resistant PVC pipes, hollow wooden stems or metal pipes for this method.
Drill holes in the sides of the tubes. if they don’t have them yet. With your tubes in your hand, Stick them deep into your hemorrhoids.. Small piles may only need one tube in the center, while larger containers require several. Each tube needs a foot or two of space from the others to operate efficiently.
With the tubes in the compost, all you have to do is sit and wait! The material will decompose over a few weeks or months. As There is no going back with this method.The decomposition occurs a little slower than in the case of hot batteries.
Don’t turn around!
Cold fertilizer is a slow decomposition method for those gardeners who hate removing piles. I use some cold compost piles to break down excess waste that I can’t process. Simply set up a pile as you would for hot composting, except you’ll want add more straw, dry leaves, and others brown materials than the green ones.
Amendments like Air bags with straw retention.helping microbes survive without the air access that spinning allows. You don’t have to flip these batteriesalthough spinning will speed up the decomposition process.
Lots of cold produce ready compost in six to twelve months or less than six months if you go frequently. Make sure they stay moist but not soggy, and watch them go from chunky chunks to crumbly soil.
