Rich, moist compost mixed in with your soil promotes the easy movement of air and water throughout the community.
If you want healthy plants, you need healthy soil. Whether you’re growing flowers, fruits, vegetables or any other greenery in your garden, feed your soil with nutrient-rich compost and your soil will feed your plants.
Just like any other ecosystem, your soil is a living community. When yours is healthy soil, microorganisms and macroorganisms move in, attracted by the same elements your plants need to grow and thrive:
- Air
- Water
- Minerals
- Humus
Though chemical fertilizers can provide some of the necessary nutrients your soil needs, they don’t provide for them all. In fact, chemical fertilizers can do your soil more harm than good. When it comes to healthy soil, it serves you best to know your history – specifically the history of composting as it is still the most efficient, affordable way of feeding the earth.
In nature, leaves and other organic matter decompose on the ground undisturbed, nourishing the soil and its plants. In your yard or garden you clear away this debris, but instead of discarding this vital source of nutrients you can turn it into nutrient-rich compost and work it back into your ecosystem where it belongs.
THE EVOLUTION OF HOME COMPOSTING
Not only can you compost leaves and yard trimmings, but food waste too. Home composting has evolved from the traditional churn-and-turn method to today incorporating living matter in the form of worms and grubs to aid in the decomposition process. In fact, use a grub composting bin and your food scraps can be broken down into compostable material in as little as two days!
You can work compost into your soil before you plant or spread it over the top afterwards. Either way, your rich, moist compost mixed in with your soil promotes the easy movement of air and water throughout the community, while also providing the nutrients necessary to the health of your soil and plants:
- Nitrogen
- Carbon
- Phosphorous
- Potassium
- Sulfur
- Iron
- Zinc
- Copper
- Boron
- Manganese
Of course, healthy soil not only ensures healthy plants, but also saves you the time, money and energy you would otherwise spend trying to mimic what nature already does best naturally – breaking down organic “waste” into a rich source of food for the earth and its vegetation. Composting is also the smartest way to reduce your waste.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mezuni/2205003791/
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