Composting Your Way
to a Beautiful Garden

 
Composting can be described as the ultimate form of recycling. It mimics the natural process and creates a pretty handy by-product for us. A Master Gardener said that pests and weeds wouldn't enter a healthy garden. They won't be able to find the bad nutrients they need if a garden is only producing good nutrients. One way to keep a garden healthy, without using harmful chemicals, is by applying compost to the base of the plants. The general process is to throw the compost items onto the pile, turn is all over with pitchfork once a week, sprinkle phosphate over it every two weeks to stabilize, and after two months, you'll have the perfect, natural fertilizer for your plants. Here are some tips to creating wonderful compost, without taking up too much space in your yard:

* It only needs a minimum 3' x 3' area. It needs to be contained; this could be metal screening, wood stakes, railroad ties, etc. Be creative - it does not have to be a formal compost bin (if you do want a formal bin, Marion County Solid Waste and other County programs sell them for reasonable prices).
* Composting needs equal parts "brown" (carbon) and "green" (nitrogen). Browns are obtained from leaves, wood chips, hair or dry grass clippings. Greens are obtained from discarded vegetables & fruits, green leaves or fresh yard clippings.
* The compost pile should not be too moist (about as moist as a wrung-out sponge that yields no moisture when squeezed - pull apart with a pitchfork and restack if too wet and cover with a tarp in winter to keep out too much rain). It should not be too dry (sprinkle with moisture in summer).
* Compost needs lots of air. It should be rotated with a pitchfork several times a month, preferably weekly.
* If it smells bad or attracts too many bugs, there is too much green. Add more brown.

**Diseased plants, weeds with seeds, pet feces, meat, fat, dairy or oily foods
should NOT be put into a compost pile.**

Reprinted from - "The Waste Watcher" News letter
Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Resource Conservation Management Program

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