How To Make Organic Gardening Compost

October 27, 2008 :: Posted by - admin :: Category - Organic Gardening
How To Make Organic Gardening Compost

What kind of compost should you use for an organic garden? “Organic” means you don’t use artificial chemicals or fertilizers to make your compost. It also means that you don’t use lawn clippings, plant cuttings, or other material that has been exposed to chemical pesticides or herbicides.

Recipe For Quick Organic Gardening Compost

Visit your garden center and get some straw, because you’ll need plenty of straw to make this organic gardening compost. Start your quick compost pile with a layer of straw. Don’t mistake hay for straw; they are two different things. Hay contains many grass and weed seeds that you don’t want to include in your compost.

For your second layer, use kitchen scraps or clippings from garden plants, or annual plants that are past their prime remember, nothing that has been exposed to chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Sprinkle the pile with plenty of blood meal or bone meal..

For the third layer, add dry brown material like shredded leaves, shredded corn stalks, or small, ground-up twigs.

Keep repeating these three layers. The straw will keep the pile aerated. All you need to do is water it enough to keep it barely moist.

Amazing Additions To Your Organic Gardening Compost Pile

Certain ingredients will give your compost pile a big boost and help it cook faster and be ready to use sooner. Plants, algae, and water from a freshwater aquarium contain nitrogen and other micronutrients that speed up the decomposition process.

Dead houseplants aren’t so good for your home decor, but they make outstanding additions to the organic compost pile. Gardening outdoors is more fun, anyway. Make sure the plant is not showing signs of pest contamination or disease. Then just plop the entire plant, including the soil and root ball, onto the compost pile.

Weeds can be composted, too. Just be careful not to include any weeds that have set seed heads, or your compost pile will turn into a weed bed.

Coffee grounds add moisture and texture to the compost pile. You can compost the coffee filter, but it is very fibrous and will break down slowly. Cut it into smaller pieces so it can decompose faster.

Worst Compost Ingredients Ever

Whatever you do, do not add these ingredients to your organic gardening compost pile: Diseased plants; raw manure; sawdust from pressure-treated lumber; gypsum board scraps; vacuum cleaner bags and their contents; and meats, dairy products, bones, and fish.

Watch the video related to organic gardening

Linda and Larry Saltzman, Founders of the Santa Barbara Organic Garden Club, share with us a Food Forest right in their suburban backyard. Produced by Jill Cloutier, Carol Hirashima & Logan Nevitt. … sustainable permaculture food forest santa barbara organic gardening gardens fruit trees small plants carol hirashima jill cloutier.

Help answer the question about organic gardening

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18 Responses to “How To Make Organic Gardening Compost”

  1. tailndkharlie Says:

    Big deal they planted a garden. Obama could snap a deuce on the lawn and say it saves water and fertilizes, and you’d say he’s a real inspiration to us all.

  2. takeaparthead Says:

    Wendell Berry: ‘One of the primary results – and one of the primary needs – of industrialism is the separation of people and places and products from their histories… This is an economy, and in fact a culture, of the one-night stand… In this condition, we have many commodities, but little satisfaction, little sense of the sufficiency of anything.’

  3. iliketolearn Says:

    I sure hope the Obamas put in a garden at the White House. What a great message that would send across the country and across the globe.

  4. Merdyd Says:

    I agree with iliketolearn

  5. globalgourmand Says:

    All garden centers now have an organic product section. Go take a a look, you'll be surprised what they stock nowadays.

  6. X-Malleus Says:

    There will be so little pesticides left after it is broken down that it shouldn't matter. In addition, the amount taken up by new plants growing in the future from that compost would be very small.

  7. it is i Says:

    All valid answers so far, and Rob is spot on, ORGANIC is best and any food waste is usual.OTHER THAN Egg shells and corn cobs which take a lot longer to degrade.

    The same can be said for yard waste; IE: fresh cut grass. Dry leaves however will break down more rapidly.

    Part of the process involves HEAT generated from within the pile/bin. Adding water on occasion; to dampen the material; then turning it also helps. Certainly anything of an organic nature can be blended with surrounding soil.

    The mechanics of it can be as simple as a framed pit; or milk crates on cinder blocks.

    I added Rabbits in cages to my pits; and they not only help make the best soil on the planet; but that soil attracted worms enough to keep me in fishing bair for years.

    Steven Wolf

  8. mattysmom Says:

    No problem, go for it. Mulched leaves are a great organic mulch.

    To keep the shredded leaves from blowing away, squirt a little dish soap (non anti-bacterial soap only) on the pile and spray with a garden hose. The soap will help keep the leaves from drying out.

    For overwintering with mulched leaves, pile them up a few inches high around the plant but keep the leaves away from the stem or trunk (at least 3 inches) to avoid mice from taking up residence in your pile and snacking on the plant.

  9. cubezero01 Says:

    This video is very fun to watch and entertaining, it helps me learn a lot about the White House’s gardens

  10. 1 Says:

    Compost tea, a liquid solution or suspension made by steeping compost in water. It is used as both a fertilizer and in attempts to prevent plant diseases.[1]

    Made by steeping compost in water for a variable period up to 5-days, then applying the liquid un-diluted as a spray to non-edible plant parts, or as a soil-drench (root dip), such as to seedlings, or as a surface spray to reduce incidence of harmful phytopathogenic fungi in the phyllosphere [3] Today, you can create compost tea at home.[4], as well as purchase DIY automated compost tea machines as well as compost tea brewing barrels are available commercially.[5] [6]
    [edit] Anaerobic compost teas
    These consist of controlled compost extracts made by adding finished, properly prepared compost to water and stirring the mix for 1 – 14 days. This process encourages the loosening of microbes adhering to compost and soil particles so they are transferred into the water itself. The notion that compost tea is a "brew" process is of only recent origin in the USA. Traditional compost tea (called compost extracts) developed in Europe and especially in Germany by microbial scientists from the late 1970s on, did not employ significant technological support to prepare solutions of compost with microbial counts as high as 1011 per ml. The mixing, or active aeration, was required after the introduction in the USA of molasses, sugars and other highly fermentable agents created fermenting, anaerobic conditions; as a direct result, it became necessary to take extra steps to maintain compost teas in an aerobic condition, to be safe and non-odorous. If the tea is properly made, it is a mixed concentrate of facultative and aerobic microbes, and presumed non-harmful. The US National Organic Program (National Organic Program) has strict guidelines on use of compost teas in USDA certified organic farming; research evaluated by a Tea Task Force did not support the idea that active vs non-active teas had any differences in terms of microbial hygiene, and therefore the need to protect the safety of organic consumers and the integrity of organic farming became necessary. For example, E. coli testing of compost extracts is strongly recommended and may be required under NOP; the levels should be less than 126 cfu ml-1.

    Traditional European formula: Steep 1 part compost in 3 : 9 parts water, with optional additions of a handful of basalt-meal or granite-dust and seaweed powder, and stand at room temperature ( 20 – 25C°) for 3 – 24 days, with frequent stirring. Sieve through cheesecloth or a fine mesh screen.

    [edit] Aerobic Compost Tea (ACT)
    The use of air pumps or blowers to aerate or <a href="http://www.vermicrop.com">brew compost tea</a>. A compost of high quality is added to aerated water at the rate from 1:4[7]. The water must have a sustained dissolved oxygen content of 6 ppm or higher to be able to support aerobic organisms and be considered an aerobic tea. Water may be warmed slightly but cooler water supports higher dissolved oxygen rates. By aerating the water the extraction and growth of beneficial bacteria, protozoa and fungi that were present in the tea is promoted. Teas are aerated from 12 to 48 hours depending what type of microbes are desired. A short brew of around 12 hours will favor the growth of fungi, while a 24 hour brew will favor the growth of bacteria and a long brew of 36-48 hours will favor the growth of protozoa. Some farmers will add small amounts of supplements that promote growth of these microbes. Molasses will promote the growth of bacteria while kelp and humic acid will promote the growth of fungi. Sometimes sphagnum peat moss or hay is added as a source of protozoa. After brewing is complete ACT should be applied to the field as soon as possible to ensure that the tea is applied to the soil when the microbes are most active. ACT is applied to the soil to boost populations of biology and increase the rate of biological activity in the soil. Sometimes ACT is sprayed on leaves as a disease preventative but the effectiveness of this application is debatable. It is important to use unchlorinated or dechlorinated water when making ACT, since chlorine will kill beneficial microbes.

  11. ahikanana Says:

    Nice piece of White House history

  12. Rene F Says:

    Organic gardening is a total myth. there is no such thing. The last organic gardening on this Earth was in N.W. Europe 400yrs ago before the rich landowners forced villagers off the land with the enclosure acts. They even used their own excrement on their fields. They were doing so well they wouldn't work for the rich, so the Tories ( Republicans)stole their land from them.

  13. HotHipsOfShakira Says:

    Foliar feeding (spraying the leaves of the plants) with a dried kelp product, such as maxi-crop, or fish emulsion (Neptune's harvest is the least stinky of all the fish emulsions) will get you some quick growth organically. I use a mix of both on my crops especially in the late winter/early spring before the soil wakes up and also whenever the crops look lees than thriving,

    i know you can get fish emulsion products at almost any hardware store, finding powdered kelp is harder and i have only gotten it through on-line sources

  14. thefrenchman6998 Says:

    Produce shipped from far away is not only tasteless but also less nourishing by losing the vitamins from the moment it is harvested.

  15. ajamrani Says:

    Loved the video! I didn’t realize that there used to be such extensive edible gardens at the White House. iliketolearn is right that the Obamas putting in a garden at the White House would send a great message. And the video was sure right about out of season produce (usually shipped from far away too) is generally tasteless.

  16. dazyreme Says:

    I never knew about this thanks for sharing!

  17. jbarnicoatmsw Says:

    I agree with everyone, sort of….some peat & sand would be a good thing, and more manure wouldn't hurt, either. Keep in mind that raised beds are different in the way they retain moisture. A loose, fluffy soil may need to be watered more, but will be a great growing medium. Just don't get too skimpy with the topsoil, you need the colloidal material to transport nutrients to the roots! As you gain experience, you'll probably find that you want different types of soil from one bed to the next. For example, while most root crops love a very sandy loam, legumes and nightshades (tomatoes) prefer it a bit heavier. Have fun, and experiment! In gardening, as with baseball, there's always next year to improve on what we learn now! Good Luck! ~Joe

  18. iamaslayerinside Says:

    Compost is the natural decomposition of dead and waste matter. Before any compost is bagged for sale it must go through a sterilization plant to prevent the spread of noxious bugs and deceases and weed seed. On that basis you can put as much of this on your garden as you like.
    Organic simply means that no artificial fertilizer has been used to enhance growth rate, and the compost comes from such a source, so decomposition "naturally".so go ahead, veggies will love it.

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