Garden compost is a beneficial way of providing plants with the nutrients they need to grow and stay healthy. A compost pile must be kept moist from top to bottom. The organic material in compost will breakdown quickly if kept moist and turned with a pitchfork frequently. You should keep the pile out of the sun for the same reason.
When compost is applied to plant beds and other gardening areas it cleans the soil. This in turn creates a better growing environment by returning vital nutrients back into the earth. Compost can also keep soil from eroding, which prevents toxins from going into rivers and lakes.
Garden compost improves the quality of the soil, thereby reducing the need to buy it at a store. Quite frankly, the compost you make in your backyard is as good and often better than what you'd pay for at a gardening store. Compost helps to contain the fertilizer you do use from run-off. What good is fertilizer to plants if it's washed away during rains and watering?
Compost can reduce the amount of pesticides needed to keep plants healthy. Good compost will slowly release its nutrients into the ground over extended periods of time, sometimes years. Most Synthetic fertilizers break down rapidly and need to be reapplied frequently.
Do you have soil that is compacted and hard to work with? Garden compost can loosen it up and allow the plant roots to spread out, provide good water drainage, and adequate airflow. All are important to a plants health.
Compost is good at stopping the spread of disease and pests that seek out soil that is unhealthy or unbalanced. The benefits you get from garden compost will far outweigh anything you can purchase to add to the soil.
Steve Habib is a researcher on growing and caring for a variety of plants. You can find more insights and groundbreaking research into how to become better gardeners at THE: GARDENERS BLOG To discover more about GARDEN COMPOST visit here.
I often mention that I'm planting more and more shrubs in my gardens. I like the big impact and I love the lower maintenance. But my first gardening love has always been vegetable gardening. Since there aren't too many vegetable shrubs and, even if there were, I have too much wildlife to grow them out in the open, I've been turning my attention to fruits and berries. While I've managed to squeeze in apples, peaches, cherries, quince, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and currants, I haven't had much to show for it this year. The critters are quick and they're not so fussy about letting things fully ripen on the plant.