If you grow your own garden, or grow any kind of plant, you can benefit from compost. Compost is decomposed organic matter. All organic matter decomposes and those materials provide nutrients and growing medium for plants. In a compost pile we are trying to speed up the natural process of decomposition. By providing an optimal environment for the microorganisms, insects and worms the material can be decomposed in a few months rather than a year or more in the natural decompostion process. The decomposition we want in our compost pile is aerobic decompostion. That is, we want our materials to decompose in the presence of air. anaerobic decomposition is more useful in biodigestors for the production of methane gas. Anaerobic decomposition is what is responsible for the foul smell that can come from a compost pile if not properly maintained. In order to maintain your compost pile you need three things: 1. organic material 2. water 3. air. The ratio of carbon and nitrogen is important in your organic material and can be maintained by putting a variety of materials into your compost pile. If you put mostly yard wastes that are high in nitrogen as I do, you can add high carbon materials, such as shredded paper (think junk mail) or paper roll tubes to balance things out and keep the pile healthy and decomposing quickly. You need to also keep the pile moist. The air come from turning the compost pile on a regular basis. If you don't have the room for compost piles in your yard, barrel composters and small worm bin composters are available to buy or build and all provide valuable nutrients for your plants!Here are some links if you are thinking about a composting too:
http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/solwaste/branch_technical/compost.htm - Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality site on composting
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/basic.htm - EPA composting site
http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/composting.htm - UA's Cooperative Extension composting site
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm - Build your own worm bin composter
http://www.solidwastedistrict.com/projects/bin_barrel.htm - Build your own barrel composter
Hey there Chris!
ReplyDeleteWhat are the sides of your "compost corrals" made out of? It looks like some sort of green netting? I am working on this same project in our yard, so I would love to know the finer details!
It's actually chicken wire that I got from Lowes. The tight weave of the chicken wire or poultry netting helps keep things inside when you are turning the pile. I set a few landscape timbers in the ground and stapled the chicken wire to them. I also used a few zip-ties to bind the wire to the t-posts.
ReplyDeleteLOVE it! That was the detail I needed. I have some old timbers I just pulled out of the driveway. I wonder about the crisote though? I do want to use my compost in the organic garden...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight! I really enjoy your blog!!
If the timbers were from prior to 2004 the preservative used for pressure treating wood then was CCA, which has a certain amount of arsenic in it. OSU did a study that concluded that no significant amounts of arenic were leached from landscape timbers used for garden beds. The link here is from NC State but the research is from OSU... http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/vegetable/treated_lumber.html
ReplyDeleteIf the timbers were produced after 2004 then no arsenic. But even if they are CCA treated posts there isn't much to worry about. Most of my beds and the compost pile posts are from after 2004, but I do have some older posts that I have used without any concern about arsenic.
That is wonderful to know! Thanks for all the tips :-)
ReplyDelete