WHY COMPOST? Inexpensive and natural, the process of composting is seen every day on the forest floors. It doesn’t need any help or assistance. Nature does it all on its own. Of course this type of decay takes a very long time. DID YOU KNOW? Up to 30% of an average household’s waste is organic and can be turned into compost. Thankfully with the method of hot composting, a method you’ll learn in this guide, you will be able to turn your kitchen and garden waste into a nutrient rich food for your garden. It is easy to make your own compost quickly and efficiently.
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS You might have thought why bother composting. It’s just going to go to a landfill and decompose anyways. So either way the process will happen, with or without your help, right? True. It will be sent to a landfill, but it’s not going to decompose quickly. And the added cost of bagging the waste and moving it to those landfills adds more stress to the environment and our planet. Composting can help reduce global warming. Landfills are crowded and the waste doesn’t receive the air circulation necessary for proper composting. It isn’t an ideal way for the organic waste to decay as it takes a very long time and landfills are filling up.
DID YOU KNOW? An Environmental Protection Agency guide from 2007 estimated that Americans could keep 140 pounds of waste per person out of the landfill by composting every year. The organic waste will create methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, as it breaks down in a landfill. That methane is being added to our atmosphere every day. When compared to the composting process that you’ll learn about in this guide, the waste will break down aerobically, that is requiring oxygen. This composting method means little methane is produced.
BENEFITS FOR YOUR GARDEN Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous... these are ingredients that will benefit your garden’s soil and they are found in compost. It doesn’t matter if your soil is in poor condition when you decide to begin composting. Adding the nutrient-dense compost will improve even the poorest of soils. This includes clay, sand and silt based soils. Clay Soil can be challenging to work with as it stays wet for longer periods of time, yet dries rock hard. Sandy Soil dries out quickly because of the ease of water drainage through the large gaps between sand particles. This is a problem when nutrients are also draining. Silt Soil will make your life easier. It’s a combination of good water drainage and water holding in moderately-sized particles.
Improve Soil Composition Compost will improve the structure of your soil. It will help your sandy soil retain water and relax clay soils. If your soil is highly acidic or alkaline, the compost will help buffer the soil pH balance. In addition to improving your soil conditions you’ll also be maintaining moisture levels and help protect your garden against disease. DID YOU KNOW? A major benefit of compost is that it binds nutrients and water in reserve. It will actually hold twice its weight in water. It frees the water and nutrients when your plants need it most. This will increase your plants capacity during the dry months and lower your water bills.
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