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How Compost Can Help Your Garden
When you finish eating supper, what do you do with the food left on the plate? Do you throw it out? A lot of people do, but if you have plants in your home, or a garden outside, then you may want to try composting. Composting involves create fertilizer for your plants and garden by using natural biodegrading properties in organic matter. Instead of buying fertilizer, you can use your kitchen waste to create fertilizer that is healthy, good for the environment, and incredibly efficient.
For compost to work, it needs the following:
- Carbon: This is for energy and when microbes oxidize carbon, they produce heat that helps to break down the compost. Materials that are high in carbon are brown and dry.
- Nitrogen: This helps the organisms in the compost grow and reproduce in order to oxidize the carbon. Typically, materials with a lot of nitrogen tend to be green and wet.
- Oxygen: This is for the decomposition process and for oxidizing the carbon.
- Water: This helps maintain the activity in the compost without causing anaerobic conditions.
Materials that are high in carbon include:
- Any dry straw-like material. This includes cereal straws and corn stalks.
- Dry leaves are extremely high in carbon. It is best to shred them first.
- Wood is high in carbon as well but it needs to be ground up. Sawdust and ground wood waste is best.
Materials that are high in nitrogen include:
- Green plant material including hay, alfalfa, grass clippings, weeds and the residue of what is left in your garden.
- Manure from animals such as horses and cows is very high in nitrogen.
- Kitchen waste is also very high in nitrogen. It can include pulp residue, fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds and tea. Some people use meat, bones and eggs but you have to be careful that you do not get maggots in your compost.
Having a compost bin can help your garden immensely. It will give it many different forms of nutrients and minerals that will help your garden grow year after year. In fact, you can use the waste from your garden in one year, to grow the garden the following year through the magic of composting. Don’t ever pay for fertilizer anymore when you can use compost instead. It is free, organic and good for the environment.