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Organic Gardening
The term 'organic gardening' generally refers to the avoidance of chemicals, pollutants, and synthetics in the cultivation of plants. Specifically, it may describe either informal commitments by the individual or government certified and regulated practices by the grower. Contributors typically want to know about the different types of organic gardening, the many environments in which it is practiced, and the most likely costs and benefits.
821 Questions
What are the steps for how to make a compost pit?
Use four palletts tied together to form a box. Fill with vegetable material as it becomes available. After a couple of months take away the palletts reset them next to the heap. Turn the heap into the box again and leave until ready. Use.
What foods decompose quickest in a compost heap?
Vegetables are the food items that compost the quickest. Leaves, plants and trimmings can decompose within six months at most. This contrasts with avocado and peach stones and with cabbage and sprout stems that will take more than three years.
Can chemicals be used next to an organic farm?
Not without adversely effecting the organic status of it's neighbor.
AnswerYes, but more caution than usual must be exercised. The chemical-using farmer must be absolutely positive that none of the compounds he applies can make their way over to the organic farm by using barrier strips, spraying only when the wind is blowing the right direction, being aware of the direction of water runoff, etc.Where can you buy garden compost?
Compost buckets are ways to dispose of various foods and wastes that makes better soil full of nutrients to grow plants in. Compost buckets can be purchased at Lowes for prices ranging from about $22 to about $400 not including tax.
Compost is a mixture of both green and dead plant material. Good compost needs both air and moisture to work well. Mix clippings plant clippings and cut grass, dead leaves and flowers. Contain the compost in an area that gets plenty of sunlight. When adding to the compost add the occasional shovel of earth to introduce worms and bugs to help break down the material. Water this pile occasionally and turn with shovel to mix it up about once per month Kitchen scraps are also good but do not add fats, meat or bone as this does not break down well and will attract animals.
How do you make a compost heap at home?
In a nutshell, compost is made through the decomposition of organic matter. Once something is completely decomposed, some of the original object will have turned into gas (carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, hydrogen), some into liquid runoff, and there will also be left over a completely stabilized black crumbly substance called humus (pronounced hyo͞o'məs) which is what determines how dark soil is, and is what contains the nutrients which plants feed off of. So compost has always been constantly produced by nature, but when someone makes compost in a compost bin they're trying to control the process of decomposition in order to make the most valuable end product. The way one does this is by balancing the mixture of "green" material with "brown" material so that the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio (how many parts carbon there are to one part nitrogen) stays ideally around 30:1, making sure the compost is always damp, and making sure there's always a supply of oxygen. This ensures that the smallest amount of gas and liquid is produced as possible and that by the end there will be a far higher percentage of the nutrient-rich humus then if you just put a pile of rotting fruit on the ground. It is gold for the garden, an excellent way to recycle organic matter, and really quite easy. Anything you need to know about compost is readily available at gardening sites, wikipedia, or the library, and if you're interested, then believe me you can do it.
To break down carbon- and nitrogen-rich compostables and to store finished compost are ways in which compost bins are used. Compost bins may be made of metal, plastic or wood, with holes or mesh for proper aeration. They need to be located conveniently for layering and moisturizing in the process of composting and for retrieving once the end-product becomes available for amending, fertilizing, or mulching soil.
Where does compost eventually end up?
Soil is the place where compost tends to end up eventually. The dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich organic material in question results from the human-guided or Mother Nature-directed natural breakdown of carbon- and nitrogen-rich recyclable materials. It tends to be used as soil amendments, fertilizers, mulches, and rejuvenators.
Are animal droppings turned into compost?
Animal droppings can be turned into compost fertilizer. For example, currently, the most common and valuable processing method is to turn cow dung/manureinto sellable organic fertilizer. Cow dung is a derived product from wastes produced by cattle, providing high levels of organic materials and rich in nutrients, including about nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium as well as many other essential nutrients. According to the data, daily cow dung contain 12.9% DM and excreting a total of 0.15kg N, 0.04kg P and 0.08kg K. Moreover, cow manure also contains high levels of ammonia that can almost kill the growth of the pathogens. Once raw cow dung composted by professional compost turner, it can provide lots of benefits to the garden and organic farm, which makes cow manure very popular and useful raw material of organic fertilizer production.
What are the benefits of manure?
"Night soil" is a traditional sewage disposal method in rural agricultural locations. The contents of chamber pots is gathered and worked into the soil The obvious problem is that workers in the fields and people who eat the food produced in the field can get diseases that are carried by the waste.
In modern cities treated sewage (after biological treatment and digestion) is often applied to open areas (golf courses and pastures) as fertilizer. The problem of disease is reduced by the treatment but sanitary sewage in cities is often contaminated with heavy metals like chrome and mercury.
Resourcefulness, sanitation, self-reliance, and sustainability is the importance of a compost pit. The form of composting in question relies upon a hole, dug in the ground and filled with carbon- and nitrogen-rich yard debris. It will keep litter away from edibles and ornamentals and produce dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich organic material to be used as local, on-site soil amendments, fertilizers, and mulches.
Why should you compost organic material?
Budget control, environmental quality, neighborhood sustainability, and resource maximization are reasons why one should compost organic material. Organic material breaks down aerobically and cooperatively with environmental well-being and human health since air is involved, as opposed to the airless, anaerobic, greenhouse gas-producing processes typical of landfills. It provides dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich organic material which can be used as soil amendments, fertilizers, and mulch, all of which reduce household and office budgets and improve community sustainability and neighborhood quality.
What are the layers of compost bins?
A series of bottom, moistened brown, moistened compost or garden soil, moistened green, and moistened activator constitutes the layers in a compost pile.
Specifically, the pile begins with a layer of brush, straw or twigs to facilitate air flow throughout the pile. Secondly, a layer of carbon-rich materials - coffee grounds, dried or fallen foliage, egg shells, sawdust, shredded paper - is added. Thirdly, it is covered with moistened compost or with garden-quality soil. Fourthly, it receives a moistened layer of nitrogen-rich grass or plant clippings and vegetable scraps. Fifthly, it will be covered with moistened blood meal or fresh manure. Layers 2-5 will be repeated in the above-mentioned order and with the above-mentioned materials until the pile reaches its desired height.
What to do to make a good compost?
You can make a compost bin from almost anything: cinder blocks, lumber, rubber garbage cans ...; to me the question is: "How large or small do you want it to be?" If you live in an area where you get a lot of rain, then you should keep it covered; also, by covering it, you will keep out the night-time critters.
As an example: you could make it 2 feet wide by 2 feet long by 3 feet high with 3 or 4 sides. It may be placed under cover out of the weather or fitted with some type of a lid.
The most important things about composting are:
- Put only vegetables, peelings from the kitchen, cut-up newspapers, leaves, grass, coffee grounds, egg shells [no fish or whole eggs]; and keep the contents as wet as a sponge.
- Turn it over at least once a week.
But you don't even have to make a bin to have good compost. You can just make a pile and get the same results.
Hope this will help you wikihow.com/Build-a-Compost-Bin
A:A compost bin can easily be made by taking an old barrel and placing it in an accessible part of your yard. Fill the barrel with your scraps and give several weeks to decompose. A:In order to make the compost bin you must follow several simple steps. You must get metal, scrap or bought, then put it together, basically like a recycle bin.You can make a compost bin out of a variety of things, be creative! We have a surplus of old garbage cans around my house, so I am using one with has a snapping lid.
Why is compost so nutrient rich?
Non-synthetic procedures and organic inputs are reasons why compost is so nutrient-rich. The product in question demands natural ingredients and processing by human intervention or through Mother Nature. It relies upon the natural breakdown of carbon- and nitrogen-rich recyclables through proper respect for air, beneficial bacteria and fungi, heat, light, and moisture.
Why are food wastes ideal for compost piles?
Food wastes are ideal for compost piles because foods derived from plants are made up of the soluble components of the soil where they grew plus carbon and oxygen taken from the air. Composting such food returns those ingredients to the soil to be used again. Essentially all food wastes -- with the exception of meat and meat products, which can attract foraging animals, and seeds, which can germinate -- are ideal.
What does the soil gain when an organism dies and decomposes?
The soil gains fertilizer to help plants grow.
What is in organic fertilizer?
Animal and vegetable matter are what is in organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer therefore may include algae, green manure (decomposing crop leftovers), and seaweed as well as animal matter (bones, hides, hooves, horns, litter, powdered blood, skins, manure), guano, manure, and slurry. It also may involve mineral matter since peat improves aeration and moisture retention.
Yes, pencils can be composted since graphite contains potassium, which is important in plant and soil food web well-being. But no, they should not be placed in the compost pile since their manufacture includes color, glue, toxic phenol-filled resin, and wax.
What is the aim of organic farming?
The aim of organic farming is to ensure that the produce it yields is free from artificial fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides that could harm human, animal or plant health. Also, it is to ensure that the ecosystem as a whole is free from chemical contamination, and to maximize the level of nutrition in produce, which can be lowered when artificial ingredients are added to their cultivation.
Why is natural fertilizer better than artificial or laboratory fertilizers?
Emergence from non-chemical processes and structure in conformity with Mother Nature are reasons why natural fertilizer is better than artificial or laboratory fertilizers. Natural fertilizer generally falls into one of three categories: mixture of compost and manure, production through composting, or result of waste elimination. Environmental contamination therefore will not be an after-effect or side-effect of natural fertilizers whereas it does happen with artificial and laboratory fertilizer use.
What contributes most of the material found in humus?
Carbon and nitrogen -- through human-intervened composting or nature-induced erosion -- are most responsible for the organic matter in humus.
Specifically, organic matter contains the organic compounds carbon and nitrogen. Carbon functions as the energy-driving source. Proper composting and erosion result in soil with a 10:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen.
Is organic farming successful?
Yes, organic farming is successful.
Specifically, organic farming involves farm products whose cultivation, marketing and sale adheres to specific procedures and standards. Its success may be measured culturally, economically, politically and socially. It tends to be viewed as desirable culturally, lucrative economically, regulated politically, and prestigious socially.
Which brand provides the best quality compost turner?
There are a number of brands that provide good quality compost turning. Deciding the best is down to personal preference. Some of the best brands are Yard Butler and Exaco Trading.
What kinds of compost are offered at Cedar Grove?
Cedar Grove offers several kinds of compost. They sell landscape mulch, organic compost, compost with manure and compost mixed with sand. One can order the compost online.
