Few things in life are as rewarding as being able to sustain your garden on compost you created. The hours spent collecting, sorting, piling, and mixing have finally paid off, and you now have healthy compost. Before adding it to your gardens, you will want to find out how to tell if your compost is … Read more
As we take care of our yards throughout the growing season, we remove a considerable amount of waste. The grass clippings, leaves, and branches all add up quickly, especially when you collect them throughout the entire season. So, what should you do with them if you decide against burning them or tossing them in the … Read more
The process of composting is an excellent way to turn your food scraps into rich, beautiful soil that benefits your garden. But what happens when pesticides end up in your compost pile? Does it break down, or will it remain in the compost and kill the plants you apply it to? Generally, pesticides break down … Read more
In high school, I needed community service hours to graduate and had a chance through my ecology class to score some. My assignment was to build a compost pile in exchange for 20hrs or something close to that, and so I set to work digging a hole at the bottom of my parent’s yard. A … Read more
One thing about compost bins is that as the season gets on, they become heavier and heavier. Once your bin is mostly full, it can be hard to relocate without damaging your yard or risking making a mess. That means your initial bin placement is kind of a big deal. Since a compost pile is … Read more
Every time I go to a garden center, I am amazed at the variety of soils that exist for every stage of a plant’s development. What fascinates me is that I’ve seen almost every imaginable seed germinate freely in homemade compost. Key Points: If starting seeds in compost lead to successful germination, is there any … Read more
Composting allows homeowners to turn their yard and garden waste into an organic soil amendment full of nutrients and beneficial microorganisms through natural biological processes. While this works well for homeowners with usable space outside in their yard, it presents challenges to apartment dwellers or those with limited outdoor space. Those challenges can be circumvented … Read more
Have you ever heard the expression something is more of an art than a science? I think this is particularly true of composting. There are so many factors that affect the temperature of a compost pile that unless you are doing it in a lab, there will be some fluctuations. Sometimes these variations in compost … Read more
Most gardeners rave over compost and its benefits for gardens. From amending poor-quality soil to feeding vigorously growing plants, compost is an excellent way to give your garden a helping hand. Given its lengthy list of attributes, can you skip potting soil and just use compost? After all, it provides all sorts of benefits to … Read more
Many homeowners know the importance of keeping plant litter for compost as an investment in the future of their soil’s productivity. Returning these unused materials and nutrients to your lawn’s soil can help grass seeds grow to a healthy, mature coverage. Using compost to help fertilize your lawn when you lay down grass seed is … Read more
Have you ever mowed your lawn after a nice summer rain, only to your dismay that it looks like you farmed your yard with rows upon rows of freshly cut, damp grass piled inches high? You may have wondered, what am I to do now? Will that grass degrade by itself? This article will give … Read more
Most people know that composting food scraps, yard trimmings, and other forms of debris is much more eco-friendly than sending them to the local dump, where the waste would simply decompose into harmful methane gas. However, what most would be composters do not consider is the amount of time for compost to ripen and develop … Read more
As gardening takes more and more of a foothold in the lives of homeowners, many are exploring the benefits of taking their home and yard waste and turning it into compost, a highly beneficial soil amendment. Through natural biological processes, composting takes unwanted waste and breaks it down into organic matter particles full of nutrients … Read more