Composting

Making your own compost is a great way to recycle home and garden waste.  It's good for your garden, good for the environment and fun to do!  You can make compost in a regular free standing pile or in a compost bin.  Either way, the basic steps are the same.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials
Organic materials used for composting are separated into two groups: brown material and green material.  You'll need about equal amounts of both for your compost pile.

Brown Material is high in carbon and includes wood ashes, coffee grounds, tea bags, bark, paper towels and bags, shredded cardboard, dry leaves, hay, sawdust, woody prunnings and newspaper.

Green Material is high in nitrogen and includes old plants, grass clippings, fruit peels or cores, coffee grounds, crushed eggshells, seaweed, and vegetable scraps.

Once you have your material, be sure to break everything down into small pieces.  This gives decaying organisms more surface area so they can work faster and speeds up the composting process.

Step 2: Build the Pile
Once you've got all your green and brown organic material, it's time to build your compost pile. 

Start with a 3" to 5" layer of dry, brown organic material.  Cover the brown material with a 1" layer of garden soil and a light layer of fertilizer.  There are several composting fertilizers available.  One of the best is Espoma's Compost Starter.  It's an organic fertilizer that helps accelerate the decomposition.  After that, lightly water the pile.

Next, add a 3" to 5" layer of wet, green organic material.  Again, spread a 1" layer of garden soil over the green layer, sprinkle enough compost fertilizer to cover the pile, and lightly water everything.

Repeat this layering until the bin is full or your pile is about 3' wide and 3' tall.  Be sure to end with a brown layer on top. 

Step 3: Turning the Pile
After you've built your compost pile, let it sit for 10 to 14 days.  After that, you'll need to turn the pile to introduce more oxygen.  Using a pitchfork or shovel, mix the pile up so the stuff on the outside moves to the inside.  Your pile should feel as moist as a wrung out sponge, so add water if you need to.  Turn the pile every 10 to 14 days.   The compost will be ready when the middle of the pile has cooled and everything looks dark and crumbly.  Now it is ready to be used in your garden!



Spin Bin
One really convenient way to compost is to use a compost tumbler, like the Spin Bin.  A tumbler makes composting fast, easy and tidy.  You fill the bin just like you were making a regular compost pile.  When it comes time to turn the pile, just flip the tumbler.  The Spin Bin is made from 100% recycled plastic and can easily hold up to 60 gallons of material!

 

Fungus Prevention

What crazy weather we are having!  Wow, what happened this spring?  We went from snow to ninety in no time and now it looks like we are in for cool and wet weather!

Rapid and dramatic changes in temperature and moisture promote fungus, including powdery mildew.  So, how can we get out in front of these problems?

The easiest and best way to prevent fungi as well as bugs, weeds and disease is by simply following good cultural practices and maintenance.  Most plants can take care of themselves if they are properly watered, trimmed and fertilized.  Pests, disease and fungi tend to attack weaker plants and love to hide in wet, soggy soil, so be sure to keep your plants healthy through good watering, good soil and good fertilizing.

For your lawn, treat it now with Colorado's Choice WaterSaver Lawn Food.  WaterSaver is the only lawn fertilizer product which combines great organic fertilizer with both a wetting agent and the beneficial organisms mychorriaze.  The wetting agent helps water and nutrition penetrate more deeply into the lawn's root system.  Mychorriaze works to fortify the root system so it can fight off lawn diseases like brown patch, rust, dollar spot, necrotic ring spot and powdery mildew.





For roses, annuals and perennials, try Bayer's All-in-One Rose and Flower Care.  This great product contains a balanced 9-14-9 fertilizer, plus a systemic insecticide and fungus control.  All-in-One will feed and protect your roses and flowers for six weeks per application.  We use it at the store all the time and it's even endorsed by the American Rose Society and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade!

For more information about planting shrubs and other garden topics,
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