If you have a garden in your home, it is essential to keep it fertile. A fertile garden should have a good soil mix that contains the essential nutrients for the growth of plants and lawn grass. Adding compost to the soil is one of the best ways to enhance its fertility and quality.
There are two types of compost that you can use in your soil, organic and inorganic. You can make organic compost on your own, while inorganic compost is available at landscaping stores. Organic compost is made of natural materials and causes no harm to the plants and crops in any way.
However, in the era of COVID-19 pandemic, you need to take care of your safety while making a compost. Let us check some simple tips to make organic compost during the pandemic.
Use Garden Gloves
Making compost requires you to touch multiple things in your garden. The best way to stay safe during the pandemic is to wear gloves while making compost or working in your garden. You can buy garden gloves from a nearby landscaping store. They are also available on major online stores.
Compost heap
The simplest way to make compost is to pile up the leaves, grass clippings, fruit or vegetable waste at a place and leave it to break down. However, the material from a heap can spread due to wind, and rain. Therefore, it is best to create a boundary around the heat using stones, bricks or wooden pallets.
Compost bin
If you don’t have sufficient space for a compost heap, you can use a bin to make compost. A compost bin works equally well without the need of creating a boundary to stop spreading of materials. You can use a plastic bin or a paper-based container like cardboard. Wash the compost with soap water before using it if you buy it from a store to prevent the spread of any infection.
Add material
You can add only some specific materials to the compost bin such as vegetable scraps, dead flowers, leaves, grass clippings, eggshells, paper, coffee grounds and manure. Never add things like meat, fish, eggs, butter, yogurt, weeds or pet waste into compost. Make sure you wear your gloves while adding material to the compost bin.
Layering the compost
After adding the required materials to the bin, the next step is to layer the compost. Layer one fourth of the bin with brown waste like newspaper, grass clippings, leaves or twigs. They will absorb the moisture from other materials that you layer above them.
After creating the first layers, you can create other layers containing green waste, like vegetable peels, coffee grounds, or any other organic kitchen waste. Cover it again with the brown waste that you used to create the first layer.
To kickstart the beginning of the process, you can add sour curd or buttermilk as it contains bacteria that will start the breakdown of materials. After that leave the container for 5 to 6 weeks for the preparation of compost.
Add small pieces to speed up
Adding anything in large pieces can delay the decomposition of organic material. To speed up the decomposition, you should use small ingredients like shredded leaves, small grass clippings, etc. Don’t use tree branches or bark as it will take months to decompose and you will not be able to use your compost sooner.
Mazzega’s Landscaping has a wide range of landscaping products for gardens, lawns and landscapes in Western Australia. They have a store in Kelmscott that you can visit to buy any type of landscaping supplies. You can also visit their online shop and order any product online to improve soil and your garden.
Final Words
These were some tips to make organic compost. However, as this is the era of pandemic, you need to wear a mask and gloves during the process and wash your hands after completing the task. When you visit a store to buy anything, make sure you wear a mask and sanitize your hands immediately after buying the product. Following the tips in this post can help you make a nourishing organic compost to improve the fertility of your soil.
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https://tagg.com.au/at-least-five-reasons-you-should-wear-gardening-gloves/
