Gardening is a highly therapeutic hobby that can help you to enrich your lifestyle. You can improve your garden, create a charming place to relax, and even grow tasty foods. If you are looking to grow fruits and vegetables, you’ll need to create the best compost pile for your garden. For a few hints and tips, check out these.
1 . Equal carbon and nitrogen
To create the best compost pile, it’s vital to use an equal amount of carbon-rich and nitrogen-rich materials. These are often referred to as greens (nitrogen materials) and browns (carbon materials). Greens include materials like coffee grounds, eggshells, grass clippings, manure, and vegetable waste. Browns are materials like sawdust, dead leaves, paper, wood chips.
If you add too many green materials, you’ll end up with a compost pile that’s too soggy. However, too much brown material means the pile will take too long to break down. The microorganisms in a pile need carbon for energy and nitrogen for the process of protein synthesis.
2. Consider moisture levels
To create the perfect compost, it’s important to consider the right moisture levels. Having equal green and brown is the first step to getting this right. Besides this, add some water to the pile if you notice that it’s too dry. You should also keep your pile protected from the rain to get overly wet and soggy. Getting the right moisture consistency is really important!
3. Turn your pile
Your compost pile needs enough oxygen; the oxygen will help the materials to break down fast. Inside the compost, there’s a certain bacteria that helps the decomposition process, and this bacteria needs plenty of oxygen. Once the bacteria has consumed all of the available air, it will die off. If you turn the pile, you’ll give the microorganisms fresh oxygen to thrive. You can use a shovel or a rake to turn your pile (or purchase a compost tumbler if you prefer).
4. Shred your carbon materials
As we’ve established, brown materials can take a little longer to break down. Due to this, it’s wise to cut and shred these into little pieces. You can use a shredder or a good pair of gardening shears. The green materials can go straight in as they are. With the perfect compost pile you can improve your garden in no time.
5. Avoid these materials
Certain materials should be avoided when you are creating a compost pile. A few examples include meat or bones and fish scraps. These can attract pests and make your pile super smelly! It’s also not a good idea to use any perennial weeds or diseased plants. If you use these, you might spread the diseases in your pile. Never put pet manure in your pile if you are using the compost to grow food.
You can nourish your garden with the best compost pile and start growing some yummy fruits and veggies. Remember to use Natural pesticides; these will keep your crops safe while warding off pests at the same time.