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Compost for Beginners

Posted by Admin on April 29th, 2010 filed in Uncategorized

composthandfulHey Gardeners! Do you compost? Are you in the process of creating black gold for your growing areas? No? You don’t know what you’re missing! Better even than extra macbook memory for your macbook!

Composting is simply mixing yard and household organic trash in a bin and creating conditions that facilitate decomposition. The decomposition process is occurs as millions of microscopic organisms go to work in the compost pile making it into a rich organic fertilizer and valuable soil amendment.

Select your site – make it a little “out of the way” so you don’t have to look at it all the time, but it should also be convenient to your garden for transporting compost. Make your compost bin about 3 cubic feet in size.

Now start adding your layers. You need carbon materials (straw, dry leaves, newspapers, sawdust) and nitrogen materials (grass clippings, kitchen waste, manure). Start with a 6-inch layer of carbon and follow this with a 12-inch layer of nitrogen. Continue adding the layers in alternating order – always end up with a carbon layer on top, though…keeps pests and insects away! After you fill your bin to the top, let it sit and fester. You’ll know when it’s done because it looks like…dark, rich, COMPOST!

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