Composting and Soil Improvements:

Compong provides a gt naal resource!

We we live, the soil is black clay (north Texas). We have found that by using a compost, we can almost eliminate the need for commercial fertilizers to grow most vegetables, bs and spices.

Our compost is lined with rail-road ties (4 tall) but is open on one side for easy access. We put hay, table scraps, gan scraps, firewood ash, and man from our cattle and horses in it. The als in the compost are "ned" from time to time. The soil from the compost is gt for starg new plants of all kinds as well as being tilled into the soil of the gan. This organically rich soil helps make the black clay much easier to work and provides nutrients for the vegetables. Neighbors barns and livestock auction houses are gt resources for man. Compong provides an environmentally safe way to transform biodegradable waste products into rich and fertile soil.

For those of you who suffer from a high concentration of clay in your soil, compong is the answer. Compong will supply your gan with a conual source of rich humus that will loosen up clay based (heavy) soils, allowing the roots of flowers and vegetables to penetrate the soil. For folks with sandy soils, compost will perform the opposite function: it will bring soil particles toget and help retain water for plants to use, while ll allowing the soil to "bth."

A few of the best compong als include leaves, shredded newspaper, grass clippings, farm man, gan waste, sawdust and vegetable peelings.
Household biodegradable refuse is not recommended because it's messy and attracts insects & rots. These are items you deffinately don't want to use; bones, meat scraps, cat or dog man, gse, diseased plants or walnut leaves.Te are several companies that manuface compong bins. Anot option is to use scrap lumber, railroad ties or wood pallets. Make s whatever you build is well ventilated to allow for the free movement of moise and air, which will aid in the bkdown process. I use three wood pallets which I stand at right angles to each ot. I tie these toget to hold them in place. This makes it easy to access the compost, which needs to be podically ned to aid in the bkdown stage.

Compost is a dark-colored, loose mixe of well-rotted organic ter that can be used by the ganer to improve gan or potg soil. Any organic ter such as gan waste is a good ingredient for compost.
If soil is hard and crusty when dry or cky when wet, vegetables do not grow properly. Good gan soil is loose, has high water-holding capacity and proper drainage. Put your compost pile in a well-drained a. A shady spot or a place behind bushes will shield the heap from view.

It is possible to accumulate als in a loose pile but it is better to have an enclos for the compost. This could be a pit dug 18 inches into the ground of any length and width or an above-ground struce. Eit type of struce should be divided with a partition. One side can be used for compong al and the ot for usable compost.

A rectangular pile 2 to 5 feet wide, 5 to 10 feet long and 2 to 4 feet high is adequate for most households. If space is not available, a single, tall pile can be used. Fresh al is added at the top and finished compost dug out at the bottom.

Build your compost pile in layers. First add 6 to 8 inches of gan refuse. Each layer of this organic al should be moistened. A little lime also may added to help the process and keep new soil from packing. Add 1 to 2 inches of soil. Repeat this process as compong al is available.

The top layer should be lower in the center to help collect moise. Water may have to be added during dry weat to keep the pile going. Compost als should be moist but not saated.

Turn the pile with a gan fork a couple of times a month to hasten compong. In about a month the pile should be hot in the center indicag it is decomposing properly. If this doesn't happen, the pile may be too wet or too small. Fertilizer or more frequent nings could be needed.
A well-maintained, active pile will not attract rots. When adding food scraps, bury them in the center of the pile.

Soil that is dy for use from a compost is dark, loose and has an "earthy" smell. Most organic als should compost in 4-8 months.

Article By:
Tracker Outdoors
www.tracker-outdoors.com