Composting – Materials to Add for Optimal Composting and Gardening

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Soils and potting mixes that include compost produce healthier plants whether it is used for indoor gardening, rose gardening or vegetable gardening. Although it won’t guarantee the best vegetables, fruit or flowers, composting can help make up for all kinds of plant deficiencies by improving your garden soil. Adding compost will boost plant health and helps the environment by reducing the amount of organic material that goes to waste (literally) in landfills.

Following are materials to add or not to add to create optimal composting for gardening:

Materials to Add

Add aged manure, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, blood meal or a compost starter. These elements are rich in nitrogen and will help jumpstart the microbes responsible for breaking down the organic matter into compost.

Add a mixture of green materials (grass clippings, food scraps and manure) with brown materials (dead leaves, hay, wood chips and shredded newspaper) to add necessary nitrogen and carbon. Both elements create rich compost for quick decomposition. A ratio that combines equal portions of both works best.

Add coffee grounds and let the worms help with the composting.

Add algae and seaweed. Rinse off any salts before using.

Add straw for an excellent source of carbon but make sure it doesn’t contain weed seeds.

Materials Not to Add

Do not add fats, pet droppings, or animal products. These elements attract pests to the pile and can spread disease.

Do not add ashes to the compost bin (or do so sparingly) since they are alkaline and affect the pH of the pile.

Do not add plants treated with pesticides or herbicides (like weed and lawn clippings).

The compost is finished when it looks, feels and smells like rich, dark soil. You should shot be able to recognize any of the elements placed in it. Finished compost is generally less than half the volume of the materials placed in the bin, but it’s much denser.

Compost piles should remain damp but not saturated (think of a wrung out sponge). Aerate the compost pile regularly (every two weeks) to create air spaces which will reduce the smell.

Apply the finished compost to your garden about 2 to 4 weeks before you plant to give the compost time to integrate and stabilize within the soil.

Hilary Basile is a writer for MyGuidesUSA.com at http://www.myguidesusa.com, you will find valuable tips and resources for handling life’s major events. Whether you’re planning a wedding, buying your first home, anxiously awaiting the birth of a child, contending with a divorce, searching for a new job, or planning for your retirement, you’ll find answers to your questions at MyGuidesUSA.com.

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