Receive New Gardening Articles By Email (Free Introductory Offer!)
Just sign up below to receive our new gardening articles full of handy hints for your garden. Your email address will not be shared and you can unsubscribe automatically any time - but we don't think you will want to!
Note: This free offer may end at any time.
Newest Additions
More Gardening Info
Bonsai for home or garden
Gardening Articles
Gardening Ideas By The Barrowload
Perfect Your Garden This Fall With Irrigation Supplies
See more in Gardening Methods
Traditionally speaking, the coming of the fall season has always been a delight for those who enjoy taking in the sights and sounds of nature. During this festive season the leaves of our trees change color and fall to the ground. While many people may view this as a minor inconvenience or frustration, with a little elbow-grease it’s extremely simple to turn those pesky leaves into healthy, nutritious compost for your garden or lawn.
The first step to making effective compost is to gather the leaves so they don’t harm your lawn. Either use a rake or leaf-blower and gather all the leaves on your property into one area. Leaving the your fall leaves spread across your lawn can actually cause your grass and smaller plants to suffer root rot and promote the growth of dangerous molds. For this reason, it’s important that you clear away fall leaves even if you aren’t planning to compost them.
The second step in the composting process is to break down the leaves. The easiest way to do this is by using a shredder or chipper. If you don’t have one of these available you can use a common lawnmower to shred the leaves. If you do choose to use a lawnmower be sure to attach a bag for collection. The breaking down of the leaves is an important process that facilitates the fast decay and natural breakdown of the leaves. The more finely shredded the leaves, the more efficiently they’ll compost.
The decomposition process is long and arduous. In some extreme cases a single batch of rich compost can take up to two years to mature. For this reason it’s very important that you give yourself every available edge in facilitating the decomposition process. To help give your compost a suitable texture and consistency for mulching you should add in additional supplemental materials such as coffee grounds or egg shells. This blend will provide the perfect balance of carbon and nitrogen for mulching.
It’s important to maintain your compost by churning and mixing the compost every few months. This process allows fresh oxygen and air into the compost and helps facilitate the natural breakdown process of your compost materials. Diligent care and maintenance will produce a rich and thick compost that will last for many seasons and help your garden truly blossom! Once your compost is sufficiently broken down into a mulch-like consistency, it’s time to lay the mulch to prepare your garden or lawn.
Once the compost has fully matured it’s time to spread it on your lawn. Spreading the mulch should be done evenly and not cut your lawn or soil off from oxygen. If the compost is packed too tightly it will retain too much moisture and won’t allow the easy passage of air and oxygen.
Using an irrigation system such as drip irrigation to facilitate the blending of the compost and soil is a safe way to slowly introduce a rich mulch to the regular soil of your garden.
When growing a garden you should be diligent and caring using Drip Irrigation and the adequate environment necessary for plants to flourish. This includes composting natural sources of nutrients for your plants to facilitate their growth and bolster their development. Additionally, providing Irrigation Supplies will be key to getting the most out of your home garden. Drip Irrigation will be an important part of the nutrient spreading process as well as providing adequate sources of water to your garden.
More Gardening Articles
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
For Your Garden
Gardening Heaven
What's Hot
Don't miss your chance to sign up for our gardening newsletter - it's up there on the left!