Compost is a natural material that mulches and amends your soil. It can be used instead of commercial fertilizers and best of all 'home produced' compost is cheap. Compost will improve the structure, the texture and the aeration of the soil, it will increase the soil's ability to hold water to capacity. Compost loosens clay soils and assists sandy soils to retain more water. Compost will make the soil more fertile and will encourage healthy root development in your plants. Compost provides food for micro-organisms, so that your soil is kept healthy and balanced. The feeding micro-organisms will naturally roduce potassium and phosphorus and there will rarely be any need to add soil amendments to your soil.
Compost is the end product of a feeding pattern that involves hundreds of different organisms – bacteria, worms, insects and fungi. These organisms break down organic materials to the rich earthy substance your need for yoru garden.
Compost production is a natural system seen in throughout the world in diverse environments. Dead items fall to the ground and decay, they get broken down by small organisms in the soil and eventually disappear into the ground.
How does it happen?
It is bacterial activity that does the magic and turns your useless rubbish into a wonderful and extremely useful compost material. If you provide them with the right living conditions, they will do their work well for you.
There are two kinds of bacteria, aerobic, these need air to thrive, and anaerobic, that can manage with very little or even none at all. The anaerobic ones typically live in sewers, at the bottom of ponds and in other wet and dinghy places and they give off an awful smell as they do their work. If you compost is too cold and wet, this is the kind you will encourage and this is very definitely the kind you do not want.
You want the aerobic bacteria, they like light and air and warmth. You can easily create their perfect home by varyig the texture of the material in the heap so that air can circulate and if you turn your heap you will reinvigorate them when they have passed their first enthusiasm. You need to provide just enough moisture, too much and they will drown, and by adding accelerators.
As you start building your heap it shold get very hot, it may even steam! The bacteria are working well and feeding on the nitrogen in the material. When the heap starts to cool, this is because the bacteria have used up all the food, air and moisture and having a rest. You have to take care at this stage that the heap does not turn anaerobic.
If you turn it and restore the optimum conditions, your bacteria will wake up again and set to work once more. It may not get as hot as at the beginning but it should produce plenty of heat. When it all goes cold you will have wonderful food for your needy garden and you will be able to start the whole process over again.
