Is Your Compost Really Compost? - 27 East
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Is Your Compost Really Compost?

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A handful of the Hampton Gardener’s homemade compost after about a year of “cooking.” The ingredients included shredded leaves, chipped tree limbs and branches, grass clippings and kitchen scraps. This is black gold for your garden.

A handful of the Hampton Gardener’s homemade compost after about a year of “cooking.” The ingredients included shredded leaves, chipped tree limbs and branches, grass clippings and kitchen scraps. This is black gold for your garden.

Even the simplest compost pile needs to be layers of organic material that will be transformed into humus in three to 12 months. If the pile isn’t properly started, turned and tended, it will turn cold and possibly anaerobic. This leads to a dead composting effort.

Even the simplest compost pile needs to be layers of organic material that will be transformed into humus in three to 12 months. If the pile isn’t properly started, turned and tended, it will turn cold and possibly anaerobic. This leads to a dead composting effort. ANDREW MESSINGER

Commercial and municipal composting operations produce both mulches and composts. These are good for a number of garden applications but don’t assume that they are

Commercial and municipal composting operations produce both mulches and composts. These are good for a number of garden applications but don’t assume that they are "organic" or tested for their contents and quality unless you see the certificate. Bagged compost products should carry certifications as well. ANDREW MESSINGER

Autor

Hampton Gardener®

I have a neighbor to the east and another to the west. Both claim to compost. But do they really? Composting for my western neighbor involves putting the fallen fall... more

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