compost
Plants need certain nutrients in large quantities for them to grow properly. Some (Hydrogen and Oxygen) are obtained from the air and water, but most are found in the soil, and this is where man comes into the equation. As we remove organic matter from our gardens we must replace it with leaf mold, intensively produced garden compost, farmyard manure and green manures.
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Making leaf mould is a cheap and easy eco friendly way to improve the structure of your soil. Organic matter helps plants in the soil to grow strong and healthy, and a readily available supply of such organic matter can be found scattered around your garden. Throwing away and burning leaves is a waste, as you are destroying an excellent material that will benefit your garden greatly. The leaves are decayed by fungi and bacteria who slowly work their way through the leaves, despite the lack or low levels of nitrogen present. Leaf mould is very useful in improving soil structure and even as a seed compost. It's free and easy to use, as the leaves just need to be left to rot before being added to the soil, or spread as a mulch on the surface. Collect as many feaves as you can and place in plastic liners, add a couple of handfuls of grass mowings per liner, moisten and firm down before tying the tops. Leave for a year for mixing with garden soil, or leave for two years to use as a potting compost. The use of conifer leaves is not recommended.
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Making compost is easy, but you need to know a few basic rules to guarantee success. Anything that lived will break down (eventually) into compost, but we need to speed the process up. To achieve this you need to incorporate air, water, carbon and nitrogen into the pile. Carbon will be found in straw, shredded cardboard, newspaper, chopped prunings and hedge clippings (this will also introduce air). The nitrogen will be in the soft garden and kitchen waste. Chop everything up as small as possible andtry to gather enough material to fill your bin, and mix these together. Doing this will ensure you will produce a quick end product of excellent quality.
Ingredients can include anything rottable but with avoidable items like the following:- Meat, fish, cooked food, tough hedge clippings, woody prunings, wood shavings, sawdust, coal fire ash, cat litter, dog faeces, disposable nappies, glossy magazines and autumn leaves (add leaves to the leaf mould section).
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The nutrient value of farmyard manure is difficult to quantify due to the diet of the animals and it's subsequent handling. The best 'all rounder' is horse manure but must be composted before spreading. It is a light textured blessing for activating compost heaps and lightening heavy soils. Puoltry manureshould be used cautiously as it is high in nitrogen and phosphates. It is also a valuable source of sulphur, lime and magnesium. It is best added to the compost heap in thin layers or blended with other manures. Pig manure is also rich, but not as volatile as poultry. Excellent to spread on onion beds in early spring,but be careful as modern pig diets contain high amounts of copper that may reach toxic levels and lock up nutrients. Composted manures, dried and bagged, are available but are very expensive. These should not be used as potting composts as the NPK can be too high for the seedling plants.
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This is an excellent option for importing more organic material into your garden. Normally fast growing and used like a catch crop, green manures should be tried whenever there is a bare patch that is not needed for a certain amount of time. The benifits of growing green manures are:
the supression of weeds
the reduction in nutient leeching in very wet weather
the creation of humus from the green manure
the enrichment of the soil by the addition of nutrients.
There are many to choose from like, mustard - 2 months growing time, crimson clover - 2 to 4 months, winter field beans - 5 to 6 months. A check in any seed catalogue will produce many more with their uses and with growing instructions.