Composting: A Basic Know-how

This is one of my sequel  from my earlier blogs about importance of going Organic and the real meaning of going organic. In this blog I want to share some thoughts about Composting.which is an integral part of Organic Gardening.

The word Compostcomes from two Latin roots, “Com” means “together” and “Post” means “to bring”. So basically compost means To bring together. You have to bring together various things and mix it altogether to form a compost.  Composting is based on the principle of return. As humans we reap things from the earth in the form of produce. But we are not alone, there are many other life forms besides ours that comes into play and make the total cycle run. Giving back to the earth is as vital as taking from it. Composting is a way of using up what we have in abundance to repay a long standing debt to the earth. 

Why Composting:

1.       Compost not only contains the major elements that your plants need for the ultimate growth such as Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium(NPK) but also the trace elements that are sometimes overlooked by the gardeners such as Boron, Cobalt, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum and Zinc. The more varied the material used to make compost is greater the variety of nutrients your compost will provide.

2.       The release rate of nutrients are suitable to your plant's need. In the spring when the plants just start growth, the microorganisms in compost release the nutrients slowly. As the weather starts getting warmer plants growth become more rapid and so as the release rate of nutrients from the microorganisms. It is the nature’s way of controlling the release rate of nutrients.

3.       Compost increases the water retention capacity of the soil, as it holds water up to 200% of its dry weight.

4.       Compost add micro-organism and larger creatures such as earthworms and insects, which are natural soil builders.

5.       Compost binds with cadmium and lead and thus neutralize the toxin present in the soil and prevents plants to take up those material.

6.       Acts as a pH buffer as you can lower the pH by adding compost made from acidic raw material such as oak, saw dust etc.

Different type of organism generally present in the compost:

1.       Microorganisms:

Bacteria

Fungi

Actinomycetes

2.       Macro-organism:

Earthworms

Insects

Spiders

Nematodes

The rule of thumb for preparing compost is it should contain 2 parts of vegetable matter(grass, leaves, straw etc) and one part animal matter(manure). The greater the number of material in the compost the more the type of organisms will be at work. You can use any material to prepare composed just remember, the material should have just two qualities: (a) it should be bio-degradable, (b) it must contain things that is usable and available to microorganism.  

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