Guide to Making Compost at Home

Composting is a process which organic material is broken down into a dark earthlike material which is used as fertilizer for the garden vegetables. The resultant substance is what is referred to as compost. This process is usually preferred instead of buying inorganic manure from garden supply stores. The main reason for this is that the manure or fertilizer that we buy from a store is usually composed of chemicals that are harmful to the environment. Some of these chemicals mix with the rain and we get acid rain as the resultant compound which adversely affects the environment. Therefore, composting at home is an environmentally friendly way of making sure that your garden remains healthy, and the products that are grown in it become as nourishing as possible.

If you are not aware of the procedures involved in composting at home, you need not worry. All l you need is some bacteria, worms, and beetles to make your composting project. Sounds like the kind of thing that would make you scamper for safety, right? Well these otherwise dangerous items are referred to as decomposers, and it is their duty to make sure that the organic scraps from your house are broken down into tiny bits and pieces that your garden can make of good use. If you have a small garden, then it’s not necessary to worry about having a huge composting pile. As a matter of fact, a small bin would be enough for you to keep your heap and let it decompose.

This is a natural process and your role is simply as a facilitator of the process. You can do this by adding organic matter to the pile regularly. This organic matter includes waste from your kitchen and leftovers, the leaves that fall down from the trees in your yard, and any refuse or droppings from animals or pets. By the end of the compost process, all these items are turned into a soil like substance that is easy to mix up with the soil in your garden, and as a result, you get a very fertile garden for you to plant items like vegetables for daily and convenient use. Proper aeration is very important since it plays a major role to assure that the resulting compost is of good quality. In addition, it is important not to use your compost before its ready or else it will give unfavorable results in your garden.

Taking Care of Your Lawn Without Chemicals

If you have your own yard with lots of nice grass, then you probably want to keep that grass nice, green and healthy. However, the way that a lot of yard owners treat their grass is to put on a lot of harsh chemicals or fertilizers instead of employing some simple and natural methods of yard care.

Tips for Chemical Free Yard Care:

Pick the Right Variety

One of the first steps to having a healthy lawn is to plant the correct variety of grass for the area in which you live. For example, if you live in the northern region of the U.S., then you need to buy what is considered a cool season grass seed. These types of grass stay lush and green over the winter, but tend to get brown or go dormant if you get a very hot and very dry summer season. However, if t cools down again, the grass will also get nice and green once again.

If instead you live in the southern part of the U.S., then you need a type of grass seed that is meant to be grown in warmer weather. This type of grass seed grows a lawn that remains all nice and green all through the summer, although when winter hits it tends to get brown and dormant. Once spring hits, it gets nice and green and lush again.

Anyone living in-between these areas can buy either of these types of grass seed, depending on what dormant season you would rather the grass experience. Another possible choice is for these in-between areas to mix the two kinds of grass seeds together to get a lawn that should remain nice and green all the time, with proper care.

Plant Grass at the Right Time

Another thing to do in order to have a nice looking yard all year long is to be sure to plant your grass seed at the correct time of the year for where you live. If you live in the north, then you need to plant your grass seeds in August, otherwise it will just burn up if you plant it in the spring like you might first think you should do.

If the grass is meant to be planted in a warmer part of the U.S., then sow those seeds in the spring and it will do nicely. Just make sure that the dirt is warm and the threat of frost is past for the year.