Started Playing More in the Soil & Compost
By NailTech
@NailTech (6874)
United States
April 5, 2012 5:17pm CST
I know some people are offended by the term "dirt" so I used "soil" instead which does seem to be better as far as it's use for planting. I was just outside and re-potted some of the outdoor pots again with some half composted leaves and weeds I had in a bucket over the winter. I had read on the Internet right before that to put it on the bottom of the pots half way up and then cover it with the soil, it will save on the soil amount you need to use and the bottom portion will serve as a natural feeding source for your plants when it decomposes even more. So thats what I did. I'm trying to garden more and more organicly without the use of commercial fertilizers. I have another bucket of compost but it is not composted at all yet unfortunately so will have to wait for that maybe another year. I know I'm not doing it right but its better than the horrible sticky stuff my brother uses here that's supposed to be "compost" with the way he puts things in it like buttered corn cobs, sticky plain leftover rice, etc. (Who knows what else that isn't really supposed to be composted!) Ugh. Do you like to do things like that, plant outdoors and use compost? Does it make you feel more calm and happy? What do you put in your compost bin?
5 responses
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Other than meat and dairy, you can compost lots of things. I wouldn't compost banana peels because they're not indiginous to our area. What's wrong with composting plain leftover rice? The corn cobs, they would take forever if not put thru a chipper, so that one I could see.
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Apr 12
Must hve put it in late, the rice instead of right tafter a meal.
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
23 Apr 12
I dunno, the rice feels sticky to me, does it break down like the other things? I'm not sure if it is causing his compost to become sticky but mine isn't sticky at all when i don't use that in it. The corn cobs are used but still have the butter on it from when he adds it to it. I'm not sure butter is good in compost either.
@beenice2 (2967)
• Sackville, New Brunswick
15 Apr 12
We had a hobby farm and worked a lot with the gardening and with field of soya bean, and buckwheat, barley, we are temporarily in town which we hate, and I did indoors planted 2 kinds of tomatoes, and peas. Love farming,Country feed cities!!
@celticeagle (159359)
• Boise, Idaho
6 Apr 12
Dirt is dirt.I put leaves, kitchen garbage(mostly potatoe peelings and kitchen garbage, grass, etc. I have an old book called Let it Rot! It is by stu campbell. One of the main ingredients is MANURE. All kinds. Fish, goat, duck, cattle,etc. It is one of the base activators for the compost. Happy gardening.
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
6 Apr 12
I hear that cow dung helps plants become healthy and fat or something.. Some of my relatives use it- and it does look great. I think it is the best compost. My wife uses fruit and vegetables peelings though- she cuts them into small pieces and just puts them on the soil.
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
6 Apr 12
I don't want to pay for anything right now as I'm worried about some health related bills, but that is a good source of compost. The compost needs to do some breaking down first and if you have some red worms in it they will eat the scrap materials of the vegetables and also produce some very good material for the plants as well.
@petersum (4522)
• United States
5 Apr 12
Compost making is an art. Just as cow dung is absolutely useless until you add straw to it, compost has to have the correct type of ingredients. Too new stuff can burn the roots of the plant.
I have lived in flats most of my life, but I miss the big garden of my childhood. I think about it when I throw out vegetable waste that would otherwise make good compost.
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
5 Apr 12
Yea, the newer stuff isn't that good for the plants, mine just mainly had in it decomposed old weeds and some dried up leaves, some of it actually turned into alittle nice black compost on the bottom of the bucket. I didn't turn it and such over the winter so it couldn't really get the full effect of the composting process. Plus we didn't have such a cold winter either, not that it mattered for that.
I bet you do think of it when you throw that away, of the waste of the vegetable matter that is, it is so precious to the plants.
