RESOURCES: Soil & Compost Learning how to make good soil that will produce an abundance of nutrient rich food is a hugely valuable thing to learn. Some of the most innovative work on soil nutrition on a garden scale in Scotland is being done by Greenway Consulting. Their pioneering composters and worm tamers, Ron Gilchrist and Sam Jess, have joined the Seed Truck team – here they share some of their knowledge. You can find out more about them at the bottom of the page.
Compost or rot? Written by Sam Jess
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t the heart of every garden is break down rapidly, pathogens and seeds are the soil. Good soil will produce destroyed and woody material are tenderised an abundance of nutrient rich and easily broken down by fungi. Aerobic food where poor soil will composting is a batch process, which can be produce low yield, disease susceptible nutrient completed in 12 to 18 days. No methane or deficient plants. other greenhouse gasses are produced during Healthy soil in itself is a vibrant eco-system this process therefore there is no smell. The made up of trillions of microbes, bacteria, resultant material is a nutrient rich food fungi, protozoa, nematodes and arthropods. product for your garden and will help improve All of which breakdown vegetable matter and soil structure, maintain moisture levels while release locked up nutrients into plant food. helping to suppress plant disease. The constant addition of compost to the soil Anaerobic composting feeds this eco-system and maintains a healthy This is composting without air. Anaerobic rich medium in which to grow food plants. composting is low maintenance since you The addition of chemical products to the soil simply throw it in a pile and wait a couple kills this eco-system. of years for the material to “ROT” down. If Composting, often you just stack your described as nature’s debris in a pile it will way of recycling, is generally compact to the biological process the point where there Look deep into of breaking up organic is no available air for waste (such as food Nature and then beneficial organisms to waste, manure, leaves, live. Low temperature you will understand grass cuttings, paper, etc. interrupts the ) into an extremely useful everything better. composting progress, humus-like substance by as it cannot reach the various micro-organisms - Albert Einstein temperature hot enough including bacteria and to kill pathogens or fungi in the presence of weed seeds. It eventually disallows the oxygen. blooming of decomposers and microbes.
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Aerobic composting
This means to compost in the presence of oxygen and can also be referred to as Thermophilic composting due to the bacteria that thrive in the high temperatures involved in the process. High nitrogen waste (like grass clippings or other green material) will grow bacteria that will create high temperatures in excess of 50 degrees C. Organic waste will
Instead you will get a very slow working bacteria growing that does not require air. Your compost may take years to break down. Anaerobic composts create the awful smell most people associate with composting. The bacteria break down the organic materials into harmful compounds like ammonia and methane. Are you a composter or a rotter?
Sam teaching kids at a Fife Primary about how to look after worms