By: Chris Dailey

One of the largest time consumers in the organic gardening arena is taking care of weeds. Most regular gardeners will go to the store and buy several containers of herbicides and pesticides and weedkiller in an attempt to thwart these evil intruders that will inevitably overtake your garden area and possibly kill off all of the plants that you are nurturing. If you decide to take the time every day to pull the weeds, depending upon the size of your garden area, this could take several hours a day. If you are a working person, this is probably not a good choice in that your time is limited but you do want your organic garden to grow and flourish. One of the easiest ways to combat weeds is with organic compost. Here are a few tips on how to use organic compost to help battle weeds that will pop up in your garden.

Every person has the ability to start their own mulch pile. Mulch is simply the result of your organic waste from your regular eating habits that you place into a pile with soil and other organic materials. Over time, this next year will begin to decompose as a natural process and will eventually lead to a dark brown material that you can place in your soil or on the topsoil as you are about to learn. Composting is the process that actually will create the organic compost that you will need. The mulch is actually the non-processed early configuration of your organic waste as it begins the decomposition process. Either one is fine to use as a way to cover your crop but you may decide on which is better for you based upon the amount of time that you have during the day.

If you are limited by time, one of the easiest ways to use organic compost to prevent weeds is to start a mulch pile several months before you are about to begin planting. Because it would be at the very least unsightly to throw your organic waste on top of your planted garden area, starting a mulch pile so that the composting process may begin, months later you will have, depending upon the size of your pile, enough mulch and compost to begin covering the topsoil in your garden.

There are various reasons that you would like to cover your crop. This could be due to weather or a need to retain water in your garden area, but for this particular purpose, you want to lay on a thick layer of compost on top of the soil on and around your plants in your garden area in order to stifle the growth of weeds.

Weeds are a very prolific plant which can grow in areas that most plants cannot. You might even see them growing out of the sides of walls or on the sides of buildings where it would not be logical for any kind of a plant to grow or have the ability to grow. Weeds, however, are not completely indestructible and do require the same basic needs that most plants require including sunlight, soil, air, and of course water.

By laying a very thick layer of compost on the topsoil of your garden, you will be eliminated in a very crucial element that is necessary for all weeds to grow and that is adequate sunlight. By removing their ability to quickly get to the sunlight, we needs will inevitably die because they cannot get above your thick organic compost layer.

In essence, not only will the mulch keep the weeds from the sunlight but at the same time we’ll provide protection for your crops as you grow them in the form of weather erosion protection and keeping the ground level at an even temperature so that the real crops can begin to grow. Likewise, essential nutrients in the ground that would be taken by the weeds will now be safe as the weeds again to die and only your organic plants begin to flourish.

Therefore, by taking the time to plan ahead and creating your own little system for taking your organic waste outside and placing it into a bin or a covered pile so that it can begin to decompose, you will create for yourself a natural and free layer of protection for your up and coming garden. You could also go to your local store and purchase humus or some kind of composting material in a bag which would also work in the same manner.

The bottom line is that either one will protect not only your plants that you are growing but also give you many more hours of free time that she would otherwise lose trying to protect your organic garden by stopping the inevitability of weed growth.

By: Abhishek Agarwal

Fall is normally the time for harvest as well as planning for the following year. While keeping busy with the fall season, gardeners make it a point to buy tools, bulbs, supplies, gardening stock etc. to prepare for the next season.

Tools : Tools are essential equipments that are required for leaf cleanup process in the fall season. One can also employ leaf blowers to ease things up. However, if you find the noise produced intolerable then you can initiate the kids into a raking party to clean things up amicably. The fall leaves make wonderful compost if put into a compost bin and allowed to rot during the winter season. In case you are not in possession of a compost bin, fall is the most appropriate time to go shopping or it. There are many types of compost bins like round barrels and wooden boxes available in the market.

Bulbs : It may be necessary to pluck out few tender bulbs that may not be able to withstand the winter frost. Other kinds can be planted during the fall to give them ample time throughout the winter to go dormant. So, both digging up and planting of bulbs essentially happens during the fall. You should ideally start with picking out whichever bulbs you may feel necessary and then follow that procedure up with planting the others with the help of special tools designed to make the task easier and quicker.

General Supplies : Fall is also the right time to get the lawn ready for the next season. It is quite common to subject the lawns to fertilizer sprays with weed killers that can assist the lawn to put up with the winter cold and curb the weed growth as well. Many gardeners seed the following years lawn in the fall season itself. To get on with this process, general supplies like tool, bulbs, supplies, gardening plants etc. are required along with some lawn care goods as well.

Garden Maintenance : Once the necessary tools, bulbs, supplies, gardening materials have been purchased, it is imperative to go around he garden and trim the dead plants. If neglected, it can result in deadly plant diseases. Mulches also need to be purchased along with the fall gardening products to get the beds for following spring ready and help the plants to retain their moisture levels during winter. After getting through with all these processes, one should clean, sand and oil the tools prior to taking them away for safekeeping.

Making purchases of the essential items like tools, bulbs, supplies, gardening materials etc. can be a tiresome process due to many other simultaneous activities in the fall season. However, if planned properly, one can do justice to all of them in a satisfying manner.

By: Anthony Tripodi

If you’re looking to turn your garbage into gardener’s gold and do it in a hurry, then you should try a compost tumbler. If you have a compost bin then you know how great it is to add compost to your flower beds and vegetable garden. But making compost takes time and it’s usually in short supply. A compost tumbler is a great time saver when making compost.

Some gardeners believe that compost is better than fertilizer because it doesn’t just feed your plants, it also improves your soil. Improving your soil keeps your plants healthier so they grow stronger and more capable of fighting off diseases or beating droughts. Compost is decomposed organic matter and is high in nutrients that plants love. Bacteria and other micro organisms help break down that decomposing organic matter and their short life cycles become part of the process itself. When they reproduce their offspring continue the process while the parents bodies break down and add to the organic matter. It’s nature’s way of recycling.

Creating compost will usually take a couple of months. If you get the ratio of browns to greens right, turn the pile to keep it aerated and don’t let it dry out you’ll be rewarded with fresh earthy compost. The more you tend your compost pile, the quicker your garden waste will become compost. Neglect the pile and it will still become compost but it’ll take a lot longer. For an example of this examine the rich soil in a forest. As leaves and tree litter fall to the ground, there isn’t anyone there making sure it’s the same wetness as a wrung out sponge. But by the time the next season rolls around, a lot of those leaves have begun decomposing and in the process, they’re feeding the trees and the cycle continues without any help from man.

The gardening season can be very short depending on where you live. In the Northeast we have about 4 months of time to grow the flowers, fruits and vegetables that we love. So unless you have a huge bin of compost ready to go on the first day of spring you’ll need some more during the growing season. A compost tumbler is perfect for making compost fast. Now you probably won’t make enough compost to fill new beds but the amount you can make is perfect to give your plants and nice top dressing.

Or if you are a composter with a pest problem, the compost tumbler will keep the critters out of your pile. The most popular tumblers are sealed up and only have holes for air. If rodents or snakes have been problems for you in the past then the compost tumbler is the solution that you’ve been looking for.

There’s a few things you’ll need to do a little differently if you’re used to bin composting. First off, you’ll need to add all the raw materials at once. Don’t continue adding or else your compost will never be done. Add what you want and then start turning. Try to turn it everyday. If not everyday then at least a few times a week. The first few batches will take the longest unless you already have some compost that you can toss into the tumbler. Or you can use a compost activator. That’s all activators really are anyway. Just someone’s else’s compost to help get your pile started. The bacteria and micro organisms have to get in there somehow.

Be sure not to over water when using a compost tumbler. Moisture doesn’t escape as easily inside the tumbler as with a regular compost bin. And most likely your ingredients such as grass clippings or coffee grinds were already moist to begin with.

After about 3 weeks the compost should start to look like compost. It should be an even color and you shouldn’t be able to tell what you put in the tumbler. If your waste is still recognizable then let it decompose a while longer. And don’t forget to smell your compost. It should have a nice earthy smell to it.

If you’re looking for a neat

By: Paula Brett

Have you ever thought about what actually happens when things rot? It may be that, like me, you have got confused reading garden books, as they are usually full of vague meanings for words like `stabilised humus’!

Many of you may think that making compost is an unpleasant or difficult process – well, I can assure you, it’s not!

For a fast track way of changing crude organic materials into humus (something resembling soil) read `a compost pile’. The word humus, however, is quite often misunderstood, together with the words organic matter and compost

Making compost is really a very simple process. It can become a natural part of your yard or gardening maintenance if done properly. If you are mowing your lawn or weeding your flower-beds, making compost doesn’t have to take any more effort than bagging up your garden waste.

To me, astounding as it may sound, handling well-made compost is actually a very pleasant experience. Don’t but put off by compost’s `dirty, nasty’ origins. There is little similarity between the healthy-smelling black or brown, crumbly substance dug out of a compost pile and the garbage, leaves, manure, grass clippings and other waste products from which it began.

To define composting precisely, it means ‘enhancing the consumption of crude organic matter by a complex ecology of biological decomposition organisms.’ Many raw organic materials are eaten and re-eaten by thousands of tiny organisms from the smallest (bacteria) to the largest (earthworms).

The components are altered gradually and recombined. Unfortunately, many gardeners use the terms compost, organic matter, and humus as interchangeable identities. However, there are important differences in meaning that need to be explained.

This organic matter food gardeners are vitally concerned with is actually formed by growing plants that manufacture the substances of life. Most organic molecules are very large and complex – inorganic materials are much simpler. Of course, animals can break down, reassemble and destroy organic matter but the one thing they cannot do is create it.

Only plants can make organic materials like proteins, cellulose, and sugars and they produce this from inorganic minerals derived from air, water or soil. The elements plants use to build include magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, sodium, cobalt, zine, iron boron, molybdenum, carbon, manganese, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen

Thus, it is organic matter from both land and sea plants that fuels the entire chain of life from worms to whales. Because humans are most familiar with large animals, they rarely stop to consider that the soil is also filled with animal life consuming organic matter or each other.

Our rich earth is crowded with single cell organisms like bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, rotifers and protozoa. Soil life forms increase in complexity to microscopic round worms called nematodes, various kinds of molluscs like slugs and snails (some so tiny the gardener has no idea they are even there), thousands of often microscopic soil-dwelling members of the spider family (arthropods), insects and, of course, the larger soil animals most of us are more familiar with such as moles.

The entire sum of all this organic matter – living plants, decomposing plant materials, and all the animals, living or dead, large and small – is sometimes called biomass. One realistic way to gauge the fertility of any particular soil body is to weigh the amount of biomass it sustains.