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Archive for the ‘Compost’ Category

Rubbish is the bane of our environment.  Damaging everything around is something that all of us generate, no matter how much we recycle or do our bit to look after the environment.  Have you ever really thought about what happens to all of that Garbage?

Rubbish or Garbage, is generated in mass amounts by families all over the world, and of course we can’t just keep it in our backyards so we must send it off to mysterious Garbage fairy land.  We know not where it is, just that our Rubbish goes there.  In some cases we do know where this rubbish goes but dare not go any where near it!  However do you really know how much garbage you generate?

On average an American family will create about 24 Kilos of rubbish each week!  That’s one family and it’s about a third of the weight of your average adult.  This comes to just over a tonne each year of Rubbish supplied by each family.  Although I must be making this far worse than it sounds, because the rubbish isn’t leaking out anywhere we can see it, and there are no crazy garbage landslides.  Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean that it’s not happening.  Here are a few facts for you to think about:

Fresh Kills in New York is the largest “Land” Fill in the world.  Spanning over 890 hectares, that’s about 950 football fields (bring it into perspective).  However this “Land” fill is ridiculously small compared to the worlds largest Rubbish collection point.  Our seas are by far the most polluted parts of the world, and the Pacific ocean actually has a collection of rubbish that takes up about the same amount of room that Texas does on land.  The currents in the sea collect the rubbish and dump it in this oceanic desert.

Even more dangerously Landfills are ticking time bombs, capable of extreme destructive power.  As they grow, they compress rubbish at the bottom to a sticky and hot mush.  This heats up drastically, to somewhere around 300 degrees as one of the hottest recordings.  The chance of an explosion then becomes very high, and it is possible for it too ignite.  Another Bi-product of the Landfill is something called Landfill gas which is created by micro organisms living within the landfill.  This is extremely flammable and can be ignited by a spark or naked flame, also causing a mass explosion.

When you are throwing out your trash, remember that even the smallest piece of recycling can help to make a difference, for every kilogram of recycling that you accidentally throw away, there is a possibility that almost 300million more people in the US are doing the same thing!

Bio:

Mark Cronin is an Eco friendly Travel Blogger working with a Las Vegas holidays tour operator, sharing his ideas and experiences with any of his readers.

6 Must-Know Composting Tips to Get You Started
By Henry Allpas

Managing an efficient compost pile is an art. You will run into problems sooner or later on your road to becoming a composting extraordinaire. The following is a list of 6 tips that every good composter should know.

1. Keep a close eye on the temperature of your compost pile; it should be warm, but not hot. Try to maintain the temperature between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. On the rare occasion a compost pile can become so hot that it can spontaneously combust. On the other hand, if the compost pile is too cold it will take forever for your compost to mature.
2. The moisture level of the is important. It should feel about as moist as a wrung-out sponge. If the compost is too dry add water and if it is too wet try to physically raise it (this should have been a consideration when you first built your compost pile) so that the excess liquid can drain out of the bottom
3. Cut up or shred anything you put into your pile for composting. This will increase the surface area of the fresh organic matter helping it to decompose more quickly
4. Aerate your compost pile 4 to 5 times each season. This prevents anaerobic decomposition which can produce toxic byproducts. You will know it is time to aerate when your composter starts to smell of ammonia
5. Keep the ratio of Greens to Browns at about 25:1. Greens are carbon-based organic matter and Browns are nitrogen-based organic matter.
6. Do not dump your fresh lawn clippings onto your compost pile. Instead spread the clippings over the pile and mix them under or spread the grass clippings on the lawn and let them dry before you add them to pile. If you do not do either of these the fresh, wet clippings will clump together and remove oxygen from the compost pile possibly leading to anaerobic decomposition which leads to toxic byproducts

If you want to learn more about composting toilets or just composting in general visit my website and join the movement to reduce, reuse and compost! http://www.bigsteamypile.com

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Gardener, What of Your Compost Heap?
By Trevor Dalley

To the making of composts there is no end.

Where it is possible to make compost, this is the best material of all for the gardener to use. All kinds of green material and garden waste can be incorporated in the heap including annual weeds. Grass Mowings, Hedge Trimmings, Pea, tomato and Bean haulm, old flower stems and so on.

If a proportion of manure can be obtained, this also should be included in the heap, though it is not absolutely essential. Poultry manure, if included, should not exceed 20 per cent in bulk and should be applied in layers not more than an inch thick. A thick layer of poultry manure will prevent air from circulating and retard the break-down of the heap. It is often possible to obtain industrial or semi-industrial organic waste (waste from eating establishments and hotels) that, if incorporated in reasonable proportions, can be of great value.

Seaweed is probably the most valuable of all, and other materials which I have used include water-weed from rivers and canals, decayed sawdust from the old sawmills and waste coffee, cocoa residues from various industrial processes, also we have used hemp not the type that some people smoke, (if you tried to smoke this type you would have to roll a joint the size of a telegraph pole to get any sort of buzz) we only use the type for making rope.

Fresh fallen leaves have a delaying effect on the break-down of the heap and it is better, therefore, to allow them to rot by themselves for a year or two and then to incorporate them in the compost heap.
I find that the Garden Compost Heap should not exceed four feet square and about three feet high, but they can be made of any desired size.

If the Compost Heap is made to wide or to high, there will be a lack of air and the majority of the necessary bacteria will not multiply. The Garden Compost Heap should be built on soil rather than on a concrete base or on gravel. If it is built on grassland, it is better to dig out the top 4 inches of the grass. In any case, there should be a loose layer of hard, woody material to assist aeration.

Baled Straw is the best material to use for the walls; it provides a neat, convenient method of making the heap and enables the compost to decompose fully right up to the walls and assists the retention of the heat of decomposition. After the bales have been used two or three times and have started to disintegrate, the Straw Bale can itself be incorporated in the next heap. Many Garden Compost Heaps, however, are made without any retaining walls at all.

Quicker results and more even decomposition will be obtained if the raw materials are mixed and shredded before being put on to the heap and there are several shredding machines on the market which are very efficient. Where no shredder is available, dry materials should be mixed with fresh green matter in alternate layers. Straw Bales of any description should be thoroughly wetted. The layers should not exceed 6 inches in thickness and should be a good deal less in the case of Grass Mowings and any other material that will form a mass which the air cannot penetrate.

A light sprinkling of topsoil or good de-composted compost should be added at every twelve inches of height to introduce bacteria into the heap. A sprinkling of lime dust in the form of crushed chalk at a rate of one ounce to every two square yards may also be added along with the topsoil.

Layers of Well Rotted Farmyard Manure in the Garden Compost Heap will act as an activator, but whether there is Manure in the heap or not, I always use an activator usually herbal based as I find this speeds up decomposition.
The final covering of the Garden Compost Heap can either be an inch or two of topsoil or a rough thatch of straw, slopped to carry off the rain. In large Garden Compost Heaps, vertical air holes are necessary. They should be spaced at 3 feet intervals down the centre of the Garden Compost Heap.

If the heap seems to be drying out, the outside should be wetted. Try to wet evenly and avoid saturation. There may be a certain amount of leaching from the bottom of the Garden Compost Heap if no retaining wall is used. In such a case it is well to spread a thin layer of sawdust, peat or other absorbent organic matter round the base of the Garden Compost Heap. This material can be incorporated into the next Garden Compost Heap that is made and will add to the value of the finished compost.

The process of decomposition will be greatly accelerated by turning the Garden Compost Heap once every 3 to 4 weeks after building. If so desired the Garden Compost Heap can be treated again with an activator during the turning process but this is not essential. Garden Compost Heaps made chiefly of fresh green material will often break down quite successfully without any turning at all but where the material is very dry and made from straw one turn is practically essential.

It is most important that the high temperature at the centre of the Garden Compost Heap should be obtained, otherwise annual weed seeds may survive and be reintroduced all over the garden. It is advisable to purchase a soil thermometer and make sure that the Garden Compost Heap reaches a temperature of no less than 40 degrees Celsius. If the Garden Compost Heap does not heat up, the reason is probably that it has been built to slowly.

The remedy is to turn it and add fresh green material; also adding chicken dung pellets will help. There is no objection to incorporating diseased vegetable matter in the well-made Garden Compost Heap that heats up properly. In fact, there is considerable evidence to prove that such a Garden Compost Heap becomes a breeding-ground for bacteria that will fight the disease, and that the resulting Garden Compost Heap, when applied to the soil, will give resistance to, if not immunity from, the disease concerned.

This seems to be particularly true in the case of Tomatoes, and many gardeners insist that the compost that they use for their Tomato crops should contain as large a proportion as possible of old Tomato haulm.
Garden Compost-Making is an art that has to be acquired. It is, however, not a difficult art and any Gardener with a reasonable amount of common sense can quickly learn it.

It is also, quite frankly, something which we know more about now than lets say 100 years ago mainly because of the advancements in modern scientific research. What I do think is that some gardeners make much to heavy weather of Garden Compost-Making. It need not be anything like the laborious a job as many people think, providing the Garden Compost Heap is sited in the right place as to avoid unnecessary transport of materials.

Trevor Dalley has been growing and preserving his own fruit for 40 year, most of the preserves are sold in his Organic Farm Shops in Herefordshire England. Did you find those tips on Organic Food a way of Life useful?

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8 Allotment and Gardening Tips
By James Middleton

The following allotment and gardening tips are in no particular order. They cover little things that I have discovered along the way that help save time, money, effort and heart-break on my allotment.

1. Utilising damp areas – Build a well

   If you have an area on your allotment garden that, after rain, takes a long time to dry out, why not try this…Take a plastic barrel. Drill holes in the sides of the (about 1 every 2 ins square). Dig a deep hole (3ft x 3ft and 4ft deep) and place the barrel in it. Fill the remaining gaps around the outside of the barrel with pea gravel. Cover barrel will paving slab. The well will drawn dampness from surrounding site.

2. Keeping the slugs aways

   Make a visit to your local coffee shop and ask for the spent coffee grounds. Many cafés such as Starbucks have bins full of the stuff, ready for your garden. Sprinkle the coffee grounds in a 1-3cm thick layer around the bases of a vulnerable plant. Both the scent of the coffee and the texture as it dries puts slugs and snails from crossing onto your plant. The grounds will also slightly raise the acid level in the soil and increase fertility.

3. Raise your soil levels

   Instead of planting and sowing your crops into large open beds, makes lots of smaller raised beds. Excavated paths and put surplus soil onto bed. Use wood, bricks or logs to shore in the raised soil. Although you loose a little more ground with walkways, because the beds are smaller (ie 3ft by 6ft, 8inch high) it is far easier to access all parts without treading on the well cultured soil. You can also get away with planting a lot of plant a little closer together than you would with a larger none- raised bed. Generally, raised beds offer greater productivity despite the loss of growing area.

4. Free compost

   To increase the quality of your soil, its a good idea to try to include as much organic materials as you can. Although making your own compost is an excellent way of utilising unwanted kitchen waste, it is a slow process and very little compost is produced. Contact your local council and ask them if they offer free ‘green waste’ delivery. Many will dump lorry loads of steaming, rich, dark composted organic matter on your allotment for free.

5. Keep your seeds fresh

   If you haven’t used all of the many packets of seeds that you bought for your allotment this year, it’s a good idea to put them in a box and store them in the fridge for next year. This should slow down the natural degradation of the seed, resulting in a better chance of high germination for next year.

6. Keep of the soil!

   Never walk on soil that you wish to grow your crops in. Doing so damages the natural structuring of the soil and compresses it, making it difficult to dig and weed. Good soil should be teaming with bacteria and worms. Trampling on it will reduce the diversity of life in it and in term, affect fertility levels. If you need to cross a patch, use a good plank of wood to distribute your body weight. The soil will compress slightly, but not enough to cause any real harm to your soil.

7. The keyhole composter method

   An excellent way to both increase soil quality and raise good strong growth is to build a keyhole. Out of chicken mesh, form a tube (1-2ft wide, 2-3ft high). Bank up soil around it until the soil reaches the top of the tube. Place bricks around the mound to keep the soil in. Put all of your orangic waste into the tube and plant your crops in the mound. As the organic material rots, liquids will leech out into the mound feeding your plants. As a by-product of this method, you also will be producing good, well drained compost. It is a good idea, when constructing the mound to leave a wedge out (like a slice out of a cake), to allow for easy access, causing the structure to look like a ‘keyhole’.

8. Natural insecticide and weed killer!

   Many of us grow rhubarb and are aware that the leaf part of the plant is very poisonous to humans. You can use the toxic qualities of this garden favourite to produce insecticide. Boil up the leaves in water, add some soap flakes, allow to cool and spray to kill most leaf eating insects. You can also use the fresh leaves to suppress and kill weeds. Cut and lay them on paths – the poisons will leech out and kill weeds, whilst starving them of light. More facts about rhubarb – http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-uses.html

Right! That will keep you going for the time being. Visit again for the next instalment.

James Middleton

http://www.theallotmentgarden.co.uk

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Herbal Compost Activators
By Henry Allpas

You may have heard about herbal compost activators or perhaps you have not. Either way, they help your compost pile rapidly produce compost for you to use in your garden. If you find that your compost is taking forever to mature you can add some of the following to give it a jolt.

1. Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is rich in calcium, potassium, nitrogen and phosphates. Its leaves are hairy and they break down quickly. This provides a nutrient influx for the inhabitants of your compost heap.
2. Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) has the ability to attracts earthworms. Why? Who knows? But having earthworms in your compost pile helps your compost mature more quickly. After Earthworms eat the organic matter in your compost pile they leave their nutrient-rich castings which are great for your garden. The leaves of Valerian are also very nutrient rich.
3. Dandelions (Taraxacum sp) are rich in iron, copper and potash. All three of which are excellent for keeping your compost pile healthy. Not only that, but now you have a place to put those pesky dandelions when you pull them out of your lawn.
4. Yarrow (Achillea sp) has a big impact on your compost pile, even if you only add it in small amounts. It provides nitrates, phosphates, potash and copper.
5. Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) concentrates the potassium from the soil where it grows. When you add Tansy to your compost pile you are adding loads of potassium, which is great for your hard working worms and bacteria.

The great thing about herbal compost activators is that they are an all natural way of getting your compost pile steaming along at high efficiency. However, these plants cannot save your compost from everything. For example, if your compost pile is too cold then no matter how many herbal compost activators you add, it will not increase production until the temperature increases.

Composting is an art and there are lots of things you need to know to compost successfully, but once you have it it becomes a piece of cake. Learn more about composting, worm composting and the like on my website: http://www.bigsteamypile.com

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Winter Composting
By John Yazo

Composting is the recycling of organic waste. It can be from the household to yard and garden waste. When we are composting we are participating in a natural cycle, the same way that nature recycles in our forests, fields and meadows.

Worm composting or vermicomposting is a method of recycling food waste and other organic matter into a nutrient rich soil conditioner. Composting with worms doesn’t need allot of room to do and can be done outdoors, or even indoors in your house, garage or barn. This is a big advantage over the standard composting that is done it larger bins or piles in the yard because the quantities that are composted with worms can be done allot smaller.

The compost that is produced from worm composting is an excellent amendment that can be added to potting soil mix for household plants or just added as a layer of mulch in existing potted plants and container plantings.

The method of worm composting is fairly basic. There aren’t many supplies needed. To start worm composting you will need a container. The container size can vary depending on the amount of waste you have to compost. It can be as simple as a five gallon pail or you can make your own container. Building a container out of wood two foot by three foot is a sufficient size that should handle most household waste that most have. The container shouldn’t be any deeper than sixteen to eighteen inches deep and the bottom of the container needs to have holes in it about every eight inches apart for drainage. Bedding material is needed to create an environment for the worms to live, it will also hold the moisture that the worms need to survive. Compost makes an excellent bedding material to start with.

Once you have your container and bedding material you will need the last to most important parts, worms and food scraps. The worms that are best for composting aren’t your usual earth worms from your garden. They are called red worms or red wigglers. These worms can be purchased at bait shops, worm farms online or even some local garden centers carry them or may know where they can be purchased locally.

Now it is dinner time for the worms. The menu can be scrapes from fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, coffee filter paper, tea bags, crushed eggs, shredded paper without gloss finish, brown leaves, cardboard, and wood shavings. Kitchen scraps that are meat sources can also be used but keep them to a minimum because they can attract rodents. Start out slow, it takes a little time for the decomposition process to start and form the bacteria needed to produce a good nutrient rich compost.

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.

John Yazo

http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com

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The Secret of a Successful Worm Compost
By S W Allen

A solution has been discovered to one of the environmental problems and a lack of nutrition in the soil. This technique has been tested in the laboratory and has proven to be very useful.

Worm compost is the answer to many of today’s gardening problems. Some may have goosebumps at the thought of a multitude of worms in one place, the thought of a lot of worms can give a normal person the shivers.

They have been known to be very beneficial to the soil and the compost bin. It is really no surprise that they play a vital role in the whole composting process. The thought of worm composting may take a little getting used to, open your mind and consider the advantages of the worm composting technique.

Whether you decide to have your worm compost indoors or outdoors, you can have them in either or both areas. The good thing is that you will not have to sweat too much with your worm compost. They are very easy to transport and are non-complaining workers that will till your compost day in and day out, for relatively no charge. You only have to feed them to keep them in top condition.

Worms like damp areas, moisture is one of the easiest components of composting. If you are able to provide the moisture, you only have to wait and see until the worms do their wonders in helping you have more fertilized soil.

Worms are readily available and are not hard to find, in some areas you need not look very hard at all. You only have to get a jar and focus your eyes while walking in the garden. They will be very content to be in an enclosed place rich with food.

For further information visit my blog

S W Allen

Kitchen Compost Blog

http://www.kitchencompost.info/

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Little Known Ways to Kitchen Compost
By S W Allen

When starting a compost program you will not have to look very far to find an abundant source of material. The good thing about composting is there is a wide variety of items that you can use from the entire household. The best way is to categorize the entire household into composting material candidates. This will help you sort out which part of your home has the best resource for your composting project.

Vegetables that have been burned by the freezer can still be put to good use in your kitchen compost program. food that has been in the freezer is also easier for worms to digest. Worms are a very important part of composting. They will eat most of the material that you will put in a compost pile and produce worm casting, a very beneficial product for plants.

Paper napkins, paper towels, old newspaper all good for the compost pile. Make sure they use a soy based ink as lead based ink is not good for a compost pile. Tear up the paper into strips as this will help in the break down process. If you have a way to shred paper that will help also.

The backyard garden is also a very rich place to find composting material. Organic material such as pine needles, leaves, herbs, chicken manure the list goes on and on. All you have to do is acquire some observant eye and a huge bag with which you can store the various discoveries you can find in your garden or backyard.

For more information visit my blog

S W Allen

Kitchen Compost Blog

http://www.kitchencompost.info/

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How to Make Liquid Fertilizer From Your Compost
By John Yazo

There is something better than compost, compost tea. It is a nutrient rich liquid fertilizer made from compost that can be applied either as a foliar spray or soil drench method. There are several benefits that compost tea have over the traditional method of adding compost to the soil. When compost tea is sprayed to the foliage of plants it helps to suppress foliage disease and it increases the available nutrients to the plant. The use of compost tea as a soil drench enhances the existing microbes in the soil. These microbes are very important in improving the soils structure by enhancing the decomposition of organic matter in the soil. This is where plants get the nutrients they need to survive.

A basic way to make compost tea is by placing a cloth bag filled with compost into a pail of water and letting it soak for a couple days.The water solution is then applied to the plants as a foliage spray or used to water there root system. There is another method of making compost tea by the use of aeration and water. This process keeps the oxygen levels in the compost tea from depleting which in return enhances the aerobic microorganisms that are the ones that are the most beneficial.

Compost tea can also be made for a specific use. It can be made to be dominated by either bacteria or fungi. Which way you want to dominate it depends on the plants you are growing or the soil condition you are improving. Compost tea can be a highly sophisticated method depending on how much you want to work at it.The benefits that you can get from the use of compost tea are extremely rewarding.

Any way you choose to apply it you will have a nutrient rich water solution that can be use to feed your plants and help defend insect and disease problems in your garden.

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.

John Yazo

http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com

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Benefits of Aerobic Compost Tea
By John Yazo

There are many benefits in organic gardening from the use of aerobic compost tea. It helps to suppress plant disease, breakdown toxins in the soil, extend plants root systems and increases the nutrient and water retention in the soil.

With organic gardening it is all starts with the soil. A good healthy organic soil is full of life. There are millions of microbes in as little of an area as a teaspoon of soil. These microbes are what work the soil and turn the organic matter into nutrient rich soil for the plants to feed from. When pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used they kill off these microbes and the soil looses it’s ability to produce it’s own nutrients. To replenish the soil you need to add organic matter back into the soil to get the life cycle going again.

Aerobic compost tea is an extract that is produced fro rich mature compost that is full of microbes and nutrients. The use of aerobic compost tea as a soil drench will enhance the microbes in the soil and improve the health and structure of the soil. Aerobic compost tea can be blended to a specific design for the specific use you need. Not all plants or soil conditions require the same treatment.

With the use of traditional compost you are adding organic matter to the soil. It is the microbes in the soil and compost that turn the organic matter into nutrients. The aeration process when applied to the compost tea multiplies the microherd population. These microherds then breakdown the toxins, poisons and pathogens and turn then into good nutrients for the plants to feed from. With the use of aerobic compost tea you still need to add organic matter to the soil.

Making aerobic compost tea is a simple process. All you need to get started is a five gallon pail and a small aquarium air pump.

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.

John Yazo

http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com

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