Benefits of Garden Composting

If you are considering garden composting but need some motivation please read on. There are numerous benefits to creating your own garden compost and no drawbacks either!

And at the end of it all, you'll be left with the richest, blackest organic fertiliser that you can put on your garden. And, contrary to popular expectations, it doesn't even smell too bad!What do you put onto a compost heap? You can put any garden waste and any kitchen waste into the compost heap. As a matter of fact, anything that has an organic origin can go in. This includes papers, old leather shoes, cat litter, wood ash, cloth made from artificial fibres and the contents of your vacuum cleaner bag. Some things take longer to rot down than others (leather, cloth and bones take a while), so when you come to using the compost, these items may need to be fished out and put back into the heap. Some people get very scientific about the proportions of different types of waste, but a good rule of thumb is to make sure that you have about the same amount of "wet" waste (lawn clippings, vegetable peelings, weeds, etc) to "dry" waste (dead leaves, paper, straw, ash, etc). If you want to really enrich your compost heap for use in the garden, then you can collect seaweed and animal manure to add in.Adding garden compost regularly gives your soils a feed of slow release fertiliser. Nearly all the nutrients needed by your plants, except perhaps lime, will be contained in your newly created garden compost. Also, of equal importance, hummus improves the very structure of the soil and its ability to retain moisture. Whether you dig your garden compost into the soil or just lay it as a mulch eventually all the goodness it contains is imparted to the soil and then your plants.For more information about garden composting and choosing a garden compost bin visit the Garden Composter site at http://gardencomposter.comSpecific properties of different manures can be used to improve particular sites. For example if a site is cold and damp, adding hot, dry horse manure is ideal (sheep dung is usually left in the field and fortunately the time hasn�t yet arrived where we need to painstakingly collect it). Likewise for a hot, dry site adding cool, wet pig dung will balance the site. Manure from cattle is pappy and wet and has a cool, restrained and long-lasting effect on the soil. It is the best manure for composting purposes, as the nutrients have been stabilized in the long digestive process of the animal. It contains valuable cellulose-decomposing bacteria making it highly beneficial in a compost heap.Poultry fed on seeds (grain) in which proteins and minerals are concentrated, provide a manure also high in minerals and with a low carbon nitrogen ratio (approx. 8:1), which means that it is low in carbon and is rich in nitrogen. It is also rich in phosphorus making it beneficial for growing the seed, flower and fruit parts of the plant.

For more information about garden composting and choosing a garden compost bin visit the Garden Composter site at http://gardencomposter.com

Author: Lec Watkins