Home & Garden Information

Composting In Vegetable Gardening

If after a soil test you discover that the soil you want to use for vegetable gardening isn’t adequate, the best thing to do is to add compost. Doing so may not guarantee that you will have a tasty harvest but it can drastically help the environment. For this to work, you need to know what materials can be used to make compost.

• You can get them from alfalfa meal, blood meal or a compost starter because they are rich in nitrogen and have microbes.
• After cutting the grass, you can use the clippings as well as food scraps and manure as they have both carbon and nitrogen for quick decomposition.
• Coffee grounds are also ideal composts. Just drop them in and then let the earthworms take care of the rest because we can also rely on nature as an ally.
• If you are at the beach, algae and seaweed can also help. Just make sure the salt is washed off before mixing it with the soil.
• Hay or straw also works. This should be checked for weed seeds because these may soon sprout out from the ground and you have to remove them manually.

Now that we have mentioned the things you can use as compost, it is only right to mention the things that can’t be used. These include animal fat, ashes, pet droppings and plants that have been exposed to herbicides or pesticides. You have to keep in mind that you are trying to keep your vegetables free from impurities and do it right.

The only time you can say that the compost is ready for use is when it feels, looks and smells like rich dark soil. It is usually half the volume of the materials you placed inside but it is now much denser. The compost must be embedded into ground at least 2 to 4 weeks before vegetable gardening begins. This will give it enough time to mix and stabilize with the soil. If there is still some left in the bin, you should aerate it regularly so air spaces are created which reduces the smell. Remember, it has to remain damp at all times but not saturated.

Composting is just one of the techniques you can try for vegetable gardening. Vermicast, companion planting and mulching are the others. You can also use these simultaneously to help your crops grow.