We’ve scoured the web, sifted through the rubbish, and hand-picked the best tips and information on how to compost we could find. Enjoy!
We continually add to this section, so please check back often. Also, you can share tips and ask questions over at our Composting Forum page.
Welcome to COMPOSTING 101, Planet Natural’s go-to guide for turning what unsuspecting folks call yard waste into garden magic. Here you’ll find all you need to know about the best ingredients, containers, techniques, time-honored wisdom and common mistakes that will let you build the healthiest soil your plants will ever see.
It’s time to let you in on a little secret: this type of soil building is the perfect lazy person’s gardening project. Unlike weeding or double-digging, which take lots of time and physical effort, a compost pile pretty much takes care of itself. Build it right, and it will transform your growing expectations. (more…)
Natural fertilizer and pest control from the birds that give us eggs and companionship.Our friend the gourmet cook likes to talk about the flavor of fresh eggs as opposed to those you might get from the supermarket. He became so obsessed with using eggs only days old, rather than weeks (or even months), ones produced by backyard chickens with a well-rounded diet that, well, he eventually got some birds of his own.
He’d give me a half carton of his cherished product when the laying cycle was at its peak and those backyard eggs were indeed excellent. Everything you look for in a good, truly naturally nourished egg is there, especially that rich, gooey flavor. He claims that not only are his quiches and other egg dishes better (his hard-boiled eggs are divine) but that his eggs are the key to his baking success. (more…)
The world is learning the value of improving soils and growing without chemicals.As organic gardeners, we’ve long known the value of maintaining healthy soil. It’s the key to successful growing and the means to avoiding the use of harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Keeping our garden soil in top condition by adding plenty of compost and other organic matter, using cover crops and mulch to protect it, and doing all we can to promote healthy microbes, fungi, and other living organisms that promote the restoration of nutrients, goes a long way in assuring successful gardening without environmental harm.
Organic gardeners know that soil is alive and must be treated as a living organism. Treating it with harmful chemicals and poisons, otherwise known as herbicides and pesticides, takes the life (and therefore the productivity) from the dirt in which our crops grow. (more…)
Mice in your compost bin can be a problem year-round, but especially in the winter.We love mice, as long as they’re in a children’s book. Out in the real world? Not so much.
Mice are associated with everything from Lyme disease to hantavirus. Many of the diseases they transmit are harbored in their feces and it’s hard to top the disgusting feeling you get finding tiny, black mouse cylinders all over a kitchen counter. Don’t think the disease potential is bad or only doesn’t happens outside the dusty southwest? Read this poor fellow’s story (spoiler alert: he survives).
You probably do a good job keeping mice from inside your home. But keeping mice out of your compost is a different proposition. (more…)
Short-takes on natural gardening topics we’re following.As we enter a new month, your (mostly) timely, inquisitive Planet Natural blogger takes a minute to catch up on a handful of issues.
–Oregon GMO Labeling Vote: The final vote count is in and Oregon Initiative 92 to label products that include genetically modified ingredients is so close that a recount, scheduled to start December 2, has been called. Initial reports from The Oregonian on the day after the election had the measure failing narrowly. That margin — 812 votes or 0.05% of the total — turned out to be closer than imagined and now the race is too close to call. This is encouraging news, no matter what the final tally shows. Corporate forces, as usual in these votes, vastly outspent the pro-labeling side and the closeness of the Oregon vote suggests that they’ll even have to spend more to spread their misinformation. (more…)
A years-long relationship yields some composting lessons.We’ve always been fans of compost tumblers. We’ve had one, then two around for a few years now. Everybody likes them. They keep the composting process contained and out of sight, an important improvement (as our neighbor sees it). And they corral the sweet smell of soil production, a smell that some — see “neighbor” in previous sentence — don’t find to be the sweet perfume that comes of making organic soil amendment like we do.
Of course the real reason for having a tumbler has to do with efficiency. Done right, a compost tumbler can turn out one, two, or three and more batches of compost yearly depending on where you live and the length of your growing season. (more…)
The best soil amendment, rich with organic material, can be made right at home.Compost is an essential element in organic gardening. Compost is made of decomposed organic matter that can be used to improve the health of garden soil. The compost adds humus, organic matter that cannot be broken down any further, to the soil. The humus aids in nutrient and moisture retention in the soil and also changes the density of the soil. Composting is not only beneficial for its soil-building properties; it also greatly decreases the amount of garbage that can end up in a landfill. The compost ingredients are naturally decomposed and reused instead of being thrown away. Compost can also help reduce the amount of toxins in soil due to pesticides or fuels. The compost can regenerate this soil and prevent the spread of the toxins to other plants and into water sources. (more…)
Faster composting for all your lawn and garden uses.It’s a common complaint among us gardeners this time of year, and not just this time of year: We need more compost. When you’re working it into your garden soil, side dressing the plants in your borders and the transplants in your vegetable patch, even spreading it in the lawn to insure a healthy, weed-smothering and pest resistant carpet of green, well, you can go through a lot of compost rather quickly. You don’t want to skimp. But its hard not too when you have so many places in your landscape calling out for rich, organic soil amendment and only a limited amount of production capacity. (more…)
Welcome to COMPOSTER Connection, Planet Natural’s comprehensive source of information on the making and using of compost. The Connection provides first-time composters with everything they need to know to get started and be successful. Experienced composters will find new techniques and detailed information on the practice and science of composting. Just getting started? Go to the “Making Compost” section below for the basics. Ready to jump in? Visit Planet Natural for our complete line of composting bins and tumblers, tools and supplies.
When I started composting several years ago, I was like a lot of gardeners: I knew that compost was good for my garden, but I had no idea why. (more…)
Food waste as well as lawn and garden wastes never see the landfill.Recycling programs that include composting yard and garden wastes, difficult to find 20 years ago, have become the rule in America’s urban centers. And, as of 2012, 100 American cities include food and kitchen wastes in their composting programs.
Cities that now compost food wastes include Portland and Salem, Oregon, San Francisco, California, and Boulder, Colorado. And their number continue to grow. The cities of Los Angeles and San Diego allows their waste haulers to compost food waste from restaurants and hotels. In 2013, then New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg launched an ambitious campaign to recycle the city’s food waste. This would include not only waste from restaurants and other commercial interest, but from residents as well after pilot programs discovered a surprising rate of interest among households. (more…)
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