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Archive for the ‘Compost’ Category

How to Make Compost – Help the Environment by Cutting Down on Garbage and Help Your Garden, Too!
By Winnie Abramson

Gardeners know that compost is a wonderful amendment to the soil. Fortunately, making compost isn’t hard. You can create a pile out of your kitchen scraps and yard waste pretty simply and eventually it will decompose without much input on your part.

There are many compost bins on the market and these are great if you don’t have a lot of extra room, you like to keep things neat and orderly, and if you don’t particularly want to look at an “ugly pile”. Bins/containers can also ensure that the contents get turned properly and heated optimally for good breakdown, so you will likely end up with a finished usable product sooner than if you just build a pile and let it sit there.

If you have an out-of-sight spot, though, a pile is the simplest and cheapest way to get the job done. And if you put in just a bit of work, you will see great results from your efforts.

For adequate heating, it is best to make a pile that is 3 feet by 3 feet. Water should be added to keep the pile as moist as a “wrung out sponge”. So keep it covered with a tarp if it’s raining a lot and it’s getting too wet, and water it with a hose when conditions are very dry.

Compost piles usually contain 1-2 parts green materials (high in nitrogen)- this means grass clippings, green plant trimmings, and food scraps (all fruit and veggie scraps, grains, organic tea and coffee, and eggshells can be added; experts say not to add meat, bones, dairy products, eggs or oils) to 1 part brown materials (high in carbon)- this means leaves, straw, hay, wood shavings, newspaper, and cardboard).

When building your pile, you should layer the greens and browns and add water to help jump start their breakdown. Then keep an eye on the moisture level and turn the contents with a pitchfork every week or two to make sure it continues to decompose evenly. The more you turn the materials over and get things stirred up, the faster it will decompose.

There are many websites that offer composting advice, as well as tips and techniques. These can be helpful to get things going, and they are a good place to turn if things don’t seem to be going well with your pile.

If you don’t have any land and/or you are looking for another way to recycle your food scraps, you can try using a worm bin. The original and best book on the subject of making compost with worms (vermiculture) is Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof.

Whichever way you choose to compost, know that all of your “green efforts” really do make a difference. Thanks for doing your part to save the environment, and enjoy the healthy soil you’ll create with your composting efforts!

Winnie Abramson, ND is a naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of http://www.healthy-green-lifestyle.com, a website that helps readers improve their health and decrease their environmental impact with holistic nutrition and green living tips, healthy recipes, organic gardening advice and photos, and links to eco-friendly companies. She also puts out a free monthly newsletter called “Healthy and Green”: you can sign up here!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Winnie_Abramson
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Compost Worms – Your Garden’s Best Friend
By David Karlson

The major benefit of having compost worms is that one can do it both indoors as well as outdoors. This facilitates composting all year round. They provide an opportunity to people living in the apartments composting. Worm compost is very convenient as it can be easily prepared in any container via filling it with bedding worms and red worms. Make sure that these worms are moistened. Once you fill the container food waste for a stipulated period. There will be a time when the microorganisms and worms will get convert the container content into beneficial compost.

Compost worms are a method that utilizes worms in order to recycle food scraps as well as various other organic materials is to vermicompost. This is a kind of soil amendment.

The worms usually eat food wastes and turn them in to compost once these are passed via the body. Compost tends to leave the body of worms though their tail. The compost is extremely beneficial in growing plants.

Composting with worms is not a difficult task. Most gardeners tend to compost kitchen waste as well as waste from the yond with huge compost piles, sheet composting or other available methods during the season when compost grows. The good thing about this is that only a little amount of yond waste is produced during the months of winter. During this season, composting becomes difficult.

However, waste in the kitchen is consistently produced and it is very important to as get rid of it. This waste needs to be utilized in a good and useful way.

Vermicomposting is a process that can utilize the kitchen waste in to something beneficial. This process uses microorganisms and worms to turn kitchen waste into humus that’s’ rich in nutrient and smalls just like earth. If you have decided to go for Vermicompostin, you must get started as mentioned below:

Here are the five basic ingredients you require to start with your vermicomposting process.

• A container
• Bedding
• Fat-free kitchen scraps
• Water
• Worms.

The depth of the container you use need to be between 8-12 inches. The bins should be shallow to let the worms feed in the bidding’s top layer.

You can easily purchase worm boxes from the market or create it yourself. Plastic storage contains are known to be very convenient as these are available in a wide variety of sizes. The best part is that these containers can be transported easily from one place to the other.

Some important points to consider:

• The lid of a plastic storage container should never be shut tight.
• Using an old dresser drawer will help you keep the environment friendly.
• You can also purchase compost worms online.
• Never put plastic bags, bottle caps, robber bags, sponges, glass and aluminum foil in to the bin.

Composting has been gaining in popularity for many years now. How to effectively use compost worms is a question we are asked quite often. We are advocates for protecting the environment and giving back to the earth. Visit our site today for more information on composting.

http://www.compostingforfun.com/
By D. Karlson

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Karlson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Compost-Worms—Your-Gardens-Best-Friend&id=1756988