If you got bad land on the site where you don’t want to grow anything, enrich it. It is easiest to bring black soil, but it is not always possible to get it, especially in the city. To bring in abundant chemistry is also unprofitable: in the end, you yourself will consume it. One thing remains: to make nutrient soil ourselves. Or rather, to learn how to make healthy compost. It is only ignorant people who are afraid of compost pits, because they think that they emit a stench that spoils the air throughout the site. In fact, compost does not smell if it is properly laid and bacteria activity is maintained. How - we will understand in more detail.
Place for compost pit and its arrangement
So, first of all, a convenient place for the compost pit is selected on the site. As a rule, they give her territory at the back of the garden, behind the outbuildings, where the appearance of the heap of waste will not spoil the general landscape. The only caveat: look during heavy rains, where water flows. It should not run towards the well (if there is one), otherwise the products of rotting waste may get there, which will affect the quality and taste of the water.
There are two options for arrangement: you can dig a deep hole and put raw materials for compost into it, or knock down a wide box with a removable wall from wooden planks for ease of use.
Pit Technology
A deep pit is more convenient in that all the plant material hides in the ground and does not hurt the eyes, but the compost in it takes longer to prepare and it is more difficult to mix. If only this option is suitable for you, arrange the pit correctly, because oxygen and ventilation are necessary for the normal decomposition of organics. And dense earthen walls and the bottom will not let in any air. Therefore, the hole is dug as follows:
- They take out the soil no more than a meter deep, three meters long and a half wide.
- 20 cm from each side retreat from the walls of the pit and knock down a wooden box by digging 4 columns in the corners and nailing planks to them.
- The distance between the planks is about 5 cm, so that all layers of compost are ventilated.
- Divide the pit into two equal parts with a wooden shield to fill only one half.
- The bottom is thrown with thick branches of trees, bark, spruce branches and straw (whatever you find). This will be a drainage that removes excess moisture and helps the compost to ventilate from below. The height of the drainage layer is 10-15 cm.
Plant waste is stored in one part of the compost pit, but during the season they are thrown several times from one half to the other to saturate the heap with oxygen.
The pit can be made half in the ground, and not deepened completely, then it will be easier for you to turn the contents and air access will improve
Compost box manufacturing
The second option for compost bookmarking is in a box of unpainted wood (or factory plastic). In appearance, it is absolutely identical to ordinary boxes, only several times more. When creating the frame, do not forget to leave the gaps between the boards and make one side removable, so that it is more convenient to lay and mix the raw materials. Alternatively, you can hang the door.
The plastic composter has bottom perforated doors on each side, through which the content is ventilated, but you will have to moisten the waste yourself
Since such constructions are usually done for many years, the floor can be concreted and drainage can be laid on top (such as in a pit). Some owners put wooden or plastic shields at the bottom. True, over time, the tree will become worthless, but nothing ever lasts.
Now it remains to fill the prepared place with the right raw materials, which will decay into high-quality compost.
Two compost compartments located nearby are convenient in that you can throw waste for ventilation from one to another without clogging the surrounding area
Features of proper waste disposal
Healthy raw materials
In order for your heap to rot successfully and turn into nutritious soil by the new season, you need to throw only plant waste into the compost: leaves, mowed grass, the remains of root crops and fruits, sods, weeds, finely chopped branches of trees and shrubs.
By laying waste from your own garden in a compost pit, you thereby solve the problem of plant waste removal and get fresh, high-quality soil
To make the compost even more nutritious, put in it everything that you didn’t eat yourself: the remains of soups, coffee grounds, tea leaves, yesterday’s salad, etc. In short, put another container for plant waste in the house next to the garbage bin, and You will be surprised how quickly it will fill up. Old cardboard boxes, newspapers (black and white), worn items from natural materials (cotton, wool) are suitable for compost.
Undesirable ingredients
And now let us dwell on hazardous waste from the point of view of experienced gardeners. It is strictly forbidden to put in the compost the remains of animal products: dead birds and animals, old fat, fats, guts, spoiled milk, sour cream, etc. All this, when decomposed, starts to emit an unpleasant odor and will attract harmful insects, neighboring dogs, cats and crows to the heap . In addition, putrefactive processes in animal remains are slower than in plant ones, and your compost will not have time to ripen by the next season.
But the summer residents did not decide on the marine inhabitants. Some do not add them so as not to attract animals to the heap, while others gladly throw everything that remains when cleaning the fish (heads, scales, entrails) into the compost, motivating it with the fact that they contain phosphorus valuable for plants. Only it is necessary to dig such waste deeper into the pile so that the cats do not smell.
Indeed, fish feeding is beneficial. Therefore, we advise everyone who is sorry to throw away a valuable product: do not lay them in compost, but bury them directly under the trees, in roundabouts. Only dig a hole deeper. Thus you feed the garden, and you will not attract stray animals.
If you knock down a compost box with an opening roof, then feel free to put fish waste inside, because animals will not crawl into such a container
You can not put plastic, glass, metal objects, rubber, water from washes, etc. into the pit. They are harmful to the soil. All paper products on a laminated basis or with color drawings will not bring any benefit. Too much paint and chemicals are present in it.
An undesirable ingredient in compost is the tops of tomatoes and potatoes. In the fall, she is all affected by late blight, and the spores of this disease will be transmitted with compost to healthy plants.
Do not lay in compost and weeds with a beginning or ending flowering period. For example, if a dandelion has managed to form a flower, the seeds will ripen anyway, even if it is picked and placed in a heap. Therefore, try to mow the weeds before flower buds appear.
If you have nowhere to plant solanaceous tops and large weeds that have managed to sow, lay them on a solid foundation (concrete, linoleum) near the compost pit and let dry. Then drop all the vegetation into an iron barrel and set it on fire. Everything will burn, along with diseases and seeds. Useful ash will remain. Add it to your compost pile.
How to pack waste in compost?
In order for the waste to decompose quickly, moisture, oxygen and accelerators of putrefactive processes are needed. You provide the moisture yourself by pouring a heap plentifully in those periods when there is heat on the street. Oxygen will penetrate the compost more actively if you properly decompose the layers of raw materials. So, dry waste (potato peeling, straw, hay, fallen leaves, husks, etc.) should be alternated with green (tops, fresh grass, rotting vegetables and fruits), soft with hard ones, to avoid unnecessary compaction. It is very important that the compost is made from brown and green ingredients, taken in equal proportions. Fresh waste is the main source of nitrogen needed by all plants. Brown ones (i.e. dry ones) act as a layer preventing the compost from sticking together. They are considered a kind of fiber, which makes the soil airier and lighter.
Try to put green and brown waste in equal proportions, since excess green will cause compaction, and excess dry raw materials will suck out nitrogen from compost
If you need compost by next spring - add decomposition process accelerators to it. These can be concentrates bought in a garden store, which must be diluted with warm water and activate the work of beneficial bacteria contained in the preparation.
An excellent accelerator is fresh manure (horse or cow). They find a couple of cakes on the field, plant them in a bucket of water and let them brew for a day or two. Then the prepared solution is poured into compost and the contents of the heap are mixed. If this good is not near your dacha - finely chop the leaves of dandelion, nettle, legumes, pour a bucket of warm water and put in the sun. After day 4, the mixture will begin to ferment. Then pour it into compost.
To avoid nitrogen weathering, the compost pile is covered with a non-woven material or black film on top. When closed, decay is faster, and a sign of this will be the active generation of heat. Inside the compost, the temperature should be at least 60 degrees.
It is extremely undesirable to cling to a wooden crate from bottom to top, because by doing so you will block the path to oxygen, and the quality of the finished compost will be much worse
During the season, they dig a bunch of 3-4 times to ensure uniform rotting of all layers. By spring, plant waste will turn into rich, loose soil with the smell of the earth, which can be applied under trees, mulch strawberries or mix with garden soil to improve its composition.
