Repost from Organic Gardening Blog - Composting Basics

A Good Compost Pile Consists of 5 Elements

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 04:53 PM PST

By Richard Dugan

Excellent compost material is crumbly and has an earthy smell. In general it is made from yard waste and food scraps. Learning to generate good quality compost isn't to challenging if you can acquire a fundamental understanding of how a compost pile works. These 5 parts are the scientific components. After that it will be a bit of an art.

What Materials To Or Not To Include

Given a sufficient amount time and any organic matter will in due course decompose. The issue is if you want it in your compost pile. The elements that play into this choice comprise of whether or not it will smell or can spread disease among others. So for a short list:

Good Things To Include:

* grass clippings

* vegetable and fruit scraps

* paper unless you can recycle it

* yard leaves

* used potting soil

* animal manure

* small twigs or mulched up branches

* coffee filters and grounds

* used tea bags

* weeds but not with seeds

* plant stalks

Things You Should Keep Out:

* dead animals

* pet poo

* bread and grains

* meats

* grease and oils

* oily foods

* diseased plants

The Useful Organisms

The life really guilty for breaking down the organic matter in your compost is a compilation of microorganisms and miniature creatures. This group of microorganisms may include bacteria, fungi, and protozoan. The miniature creatures will be a compilation of arthropods and worms. The microorganisms may be put in by adding a few shovels of garden dirt or manure and the rest will get there on there own.

The Proper Environment

For the microorganisms to do an proficient job you will have to supply a proper environment in the compost for them to live in. The three main points to creating this environment include moisture, aeration, and temperature.

Fresh air and nitrogen is needed by the microorganisms. Turning the compost with a pitch fork every few days should provide plenty of fresh air. If your compost pile starts to smell bad (as apposed to an dirty smell) you may need to turn the pile more. Bad or smelly bacteria thrive in a lack of fresh air.

The moisture level of your compost pile should be slightly damp. Just take notice when your turn your pile and add water when necessary.

The ideal temperature would be somewhere between 110F and 160F. This will take a little practice. The temperature will primarily depend on the correct ratio of carbon and nitrogen in the yard waste. The lower the carbon content to nitrogen content the higher the temperature will be. Generally speaking wetter/green waste will have a less carbon compared to nitrogen where as brown or dry waste have a low nitrogen to carbon ratio. Also even when conditions are exact it may take a couple days to get the compost up to a good temperature.

Preparation of the Organic Matter

The organic matter should be in small pieces to help speed up the decomposition process. Your kitchen scraps should be chopped or cut into small pieces and lawn clippings or leaves should be mowed over a few times.

Size of the Compost Pile

A correctly sized compost pile will be around 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The size compost pile is easy enough to turn yet large enough to hold in the heat caused by the decomposition process.

Richard Dugan has chosen to live a greener lifestyle. If you would like to learn about using a worm compost bin or learn about any aspect of composting take a moment to visit his blog at DiscoverComposting.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Dugan




Is Shredded Rubber Mulch Good For Organic Gardens?

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 04:51 PM PST

By Nova Person

Shredded rubber mulch might look like a great idea for your green gardening initiatives. After all, this recycled mulch helps you reuse old tires, and mulching is great for your garden, right? Well, there's another side to it. Shredded rubber is one of the least desirable mulches you can use in your organic garden. Here's a look at this kind of mulch, its characteristics, and what most people should use another product entirely. We all want healthy gardens, and it's worth it to make sure that we do things right.

Ground up tires have been tested as surface mulches and soil amendments in the past, and they've been shown to kill ornamental plants. Plus, they don't smell good, and they can be a fire hazard when located near buildings. In fact, just a single application of this mulch may kill plants.

The problem is that more and more companies are offering shredded rubber mulch as a recommended product for gardens, and even using it to bulk up commercial compost. Their reasoning is that there's a very slight nitrogen content to this rubber. Unfortunately, there's a lot more other substances in it, including zinc and heavy metals such as cadmium, that can cause some real environmental issues.

The amount of zinc alone in ground or chipped rubber means that it shouldn't be used in composts or gardens. Unfortunately, it can be hard to know if that's what you're buying. There's no law that says commercial compost manufacturers have to tell you what's in their product, after all. Even if you know enough not to use shredded rubber directly on your garden, you could be doing it accidentally.

For a long time, the US was worried about what to do with its used tires. After all, we have a lot of cars and a lot of tires get reused every day. Since rubber mulch is recycled, it even sounds like a good idea, but contaminants in the rubber make it much less of one. Even mulch packages admit it, billing themselves as good as weed suppressors, because of their zinc content. The slow decay rate of rubber means that it's hard to get it back out of the soil after it's been used, too.

Why crumbed rubber might be worthwhile as a playground mulch, where its plant killing abilities are a plus, or when used as part of asphalt to prevent frost cracking, it's best ot keep it out of your garden. Stick to a natural mulch, without nitrogen binding characteristics, such as shredded leaves or even a compost mulch. Mulches that comes from non-toxic plant sources are a much better idea than industrial by products, no matter how much we want to recycle.

Rubber might seem like a good choice for organic gardeners, and some people are even saying that it is. But, take the time to check out the facts. Trace elements found in chipped rubber are bad for plants and can leach into the watershed. They're certainly nothing you want to have in your food. Stick to mulches from natural sources and let the rubber be used for other purposes entirely. You'll get much better results!

Nova Person's knowledge on gardening is based from 20 years of experience growing and tending her gardens at home. She now maintains a website where she shares all her knowledge on organic gardening. For more information on this topic, Shredded Mulch, and other organic garden tips, please visit http://theorganicgardeningsecrets.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nova_Person

2010 planting goals

In the dead of winter, I needed something to keep my spirits up and my thoughts on the prospect of growing things. So, my husband and I came up with this list for what we would like to plant during the 2010 growing season, separated by location.

Naknek - 1 acre parcel
Beets (from seed) - 40-60 plants
Potatoes (from seed potatoes) - 200 plants
Turnips (from seed) - 40-60 plants
Rutabeas (from seed) - 40-60 plants
Peas (from seed) - 40 plants - 10 plants per arbor

Naknek Little Cabin / Naknek Family Fisheries Fish Plant
Lettuce, cilantro, mesclun salad mix, dill (all from seed) - to fill two raised garden beds
Kale (from seed) - enough to fill one-half of a garden bed
Potatoes (from seed potatoes) - 50 plants

Even in winter, ideas can grow

Although there is about a foot of snow out on the ground right now as I write this blog post, I am inspired by the life that is only a few months away from realization. Growing food in Alaska definitely poses challenges, but there are so many opportunities that abound.

For inspiration, please visit my website at www.alaskabounty.com.