Testing Home Compost Units: Intro
Part one of a study being conducted by the Sacramento Master Gardeners testing various composting units and methods.
Duration : 0:3:20
Grow Your Own Organic Vegetables
To grow enough food to sustain a household requires a huge amount of land so if you are going to grow vegetables you may as well do it organically by not using any pesticides or artificial fertilisers. You might just be growing for fun but this is also much cheaper than buying organic food, for which there are many benefits.
You can grow your own food free of any chemicals and pesticides using compost from recycled materials. Organic growing is entirely safe for you, your family and the environment. You can make your own compost very easily from more than half your household waste. Construct a compost bin from four wooden posts, some chicken wire and cardboard. Empty into it any wasted food, peelings and all sorts of paper.
Dedicate a small patch of land that gets the sun almost all year round; avoid being near buildings or fences as heavy metals, paints and chemicals can taint the soil and hinder growth. Be sure to get rid of any debris such as rocks, get rid of any weeds by hand and move any wanted plants to somewhere else. Turn the soil so it is loose and allowed to absorb air and moisture.
Spread organic material such as leaves, dried grass and fine plant material from a non-pesticide garden over your chosen area. Either buy or borrow some good quality compost or dark crumbly soil from under forest trees and spread it thinly over your patch. This will provide your soil with all sorts of organisms and beneficial life forms that will work the soil for you if you give them the chance.
Mix the top three inches of soil and organic material to help them work. Keep the soil damp but not soggy, never walk on the soil, when you are working with the plants, use a kneeling board. Obtain some vegetables in small square pots, commonly available from garden centres. Place the bulb and its roots in a small hole, deeper than the size of the bulb itself. Cover with plenty of organic material and water.
When your vegetables are planted you will only need to check them on an infrequent basis, making sure the water level is good, soil is rich and debris is clear. If you want to use them, pick them shortly before as without the chemicals they will decompose fairly rapidly.
You will need to be wary of lawn weeds and lawn moss as these can damage your vegetables but otherwise don’t worry too much as the soil will look after itself.
Garden Compost
Next video in this series: http://www.monkeysee.com/play/395-garden-compost-what-is-compost
Duration : 0:1:42
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The NEW EarthCare Composter from Segura Trading
This brand new compost bin tumbler was designed for extreme portability, ease of use, cleaning, and quick on the go setup and take down. http://www.ourcrazydeals.com/compostbins.html
Duration : 0:0:32
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Gardening Rhythms: Making and Using Green Manure in yout garden and compost
Gardening Rhythms – Host Paul Holowko shows how to use Green Manure in your garden and compost to help your plants to grow.
Duration : 0:6:42
Amending the garden beds… ..rock dust, compost, worms!!
Amending the beds for a new crop! We’re using rock dust, compost, and tons of WORMS!! We’re using Azomite, as a rock dust, it’s full of ancient sea life and a very powdery, fine dust!
You can find it locally or online, from places like groworganic.com
You can also create your own rock dust from crushing rocks, or source it at local rock yard. The more diversity the better…
For more information on soil…check out SECRETS OF THE SOIL” by Tompkins and Bird.
Duration : 0:2:36
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- rock dust for gardens
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- worms transfer into garden
How to Till Your Garden – brought to you by Troy-Bilt
Tips on tilling your garden with compost, peat, humus.
Duration : 0:2:49
Fundamentals Of Organic Gardening Products
Of course, you have to be in touch with the fundamentals of organic gardening products to fully take advantage and properly use the new agricultural technology products and methods when they finally come to the market and the gardening community, respectively.
First of all, you have to know how build the soil to make it as accommodating to the plant as possible. There are many substances that include this, namely: mulches, cover crops, manure, compost, and ground-rock mineral supplements. With this in your soil-nurturing kit, it will be a cinch to cultivate your plants and make your garden as beautiful as possible by using natural and/or organic methods.
How to Make Compost the Easy Way
Making compost is similar to cooking dinner for your family. You need a recipe, the correct ingredients in the right amounts, the correct temperatures and time to let it all simmer. The entre will be a load of sweet smelling, dark brown rich loam that you can feed to your plants with pride.
Composting is the controlled decomposition of organic matter. If left alone, this process can be extremely slow, but by following the directions and by using a compost tumbler, you can speed up the process considerably. The following ingredients are necessary:
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Water
However some materials will not work in backyard composting. Most backyard systems will not reach high enough temperatures necessary to kill the pathogens and vermin present, so certain items such as meat scraps, dairy products and pet droppings are not advisable.
High carbon (brown) sources are necessary to generate heat. High nitrogen (green) sources are necessary to allow the decomposing bacteria to thrive.
Browns are high carbon materials and may include;
Dry straw, hay and grass clippings
Fallen leaves
Newspaper – shredded is best for rapid decomposition
Greens are high nitrogen materials and may include:
Green plant material such as garden residue, fresh hay, grass clippings, and weeds
Manure; such as horse, cow, chicken, or mushroom. Do not use pet droppings
Fruit and vegetable waste. Egg shells are excellent
Seaweed (rinse well to remove any salt)
Coffee grounds and filters
A few leaf species such as live oak, the southern magnolia and holly trees are too tough and leathery for decomposition, also avoid all parts of the black walnut tree as they contain a plant poison that will survive composting. Experience tells us to avoid using poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac in your compost.
Another ingredient which is often overlooked is moisture. Water the pile just enough to keep the contents moist but not saturated. In a couple of weeks, the pile should heat up to approximately to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature many of the weed seeds and harmful organisms will be killed.
A compost bin or tumbler is ideal for the small garden. A tumbler will give you the quickest results due to the ease of aerating the compost, so figure at least 8 to 10 weeks for good compost to be ready to use. Spin the compost tumbler at least once a week. This will keep the compost aerated, in as much as it is necessary to provide oxygen to the mixture to achieve good results.
If at this point the temperature of the compost has dropped, turn the heat up by adding more nitrogen in the form of greens such as grass clippings or leaves from your produce trimmings, if manure is available it will get things cooking again. New material can always be added to the mix, although it will slow the process down.
Home composting uses a variety of techniques, from extreme passive (cold) composting (throw everything into a compost pile and leave it alone) to active (hot) which consists of monitoring the temperature and turning or rotating the pile on a regular basis.
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Product Review: Big Round Compost Bin
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/compost.html
This big round compost bin is an excellent composter for your lawn. It can hold a whopping 18 Cubic Feet of material – that’s about 135 gallons! In addition, this compost bin is also made from recycled plastic, so it keeps in the tradition of reusing materials (just as you will be reusing food scraps to make fresh black gold for your lawn).
This composter is a wonderful addition for your garden. It embles quickly, and you will be well on your way to composting like a pro in no time. It also comes with a guide to composting, just in case you have any additional questions.
For more information on this composter, please visit the web address listed at the top of this video description. Thank you, and happy composting!
Duration : 0:1:47