How to make high-quality compost in the country? How to speed up the decay processes. compost rules

Compost is an indispensable component of nutrient soil in the garden of any gardener. In addition, it is also recognized as the most affordable fertilizer in terms of costs, since the main component of its manufacture is waste. That is, it is made practically out of nothing, because in any garden there will always be some kind of waste.

You just need to know that in order to get a complete nutrient for the soil, it must be properly prepared compost heap... After all, compost will not only fertilize the soil, but also serve as an improver for its structure, looseness and ability to retain and absorb moisture.

What is compost

In order for the garden to be well-groomed and give good harvest, it just needs to be fertilized. You can do this with the help of chemical fertilizers, or you can get by with your own free, useful and safe remedy.

Compost is a natural organic fertilizer that is produced by fermentation by earthworms and bacteria.

To obtain such fertilizer, a compost heap is laid. Often it is done by simply digging a hole in the ground, but it is better if it is a specially equipped place - a composting place.

Compost boxes are made in the form of closed or open containers, but you can also purchase special ones. plastic boxes equipped with a lid and a door.

Prepared compost is placed in the holes before planting garden crops in open ground or for planting in greenhouses. Or it is scattered over the site before planting seed and slightly mixed with the soil.

What is compost made from?

Many people think that for composting it is enough to dump all kinds of waste in some corner of the garden. Time will pass, they will perereut, and fertilizer will turn out. But this is far from the case.

To get safe and healthy compost, you need to build the right compost heaps, so there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, the composition of such a heap. It can include:

• ash, chalk, charcoal, eggshells;
• mowed grasses, straw and hay;
• sawdust and tree debris;
• vegetable food waste;
• weeds and healthy plant greens;
• bird droppings and animal manure;
• compost stimulants.

Composting dimensions

The composting components are put into the composting bin. Proper composting does not release into the soil harmful substances and does not cause any inconvenience with a strong unpleasant odor.

It is important to respect the size of the compost, otherwise it will be difficult to create a comfortable temperature and humidity regime for the compost. Optimal dimensions heaps are one and a half meters in width and as much or more in length. If you make a bunch smaller, then it will quickly lose moisture and will not be able to warm up well. This will lead to the fact that the composting process will take a long time.

No compost

Before making a compost heap, you need to know that you cannot add to its composition:

• disinfectants and chemicals;
• the remains of weeds with seeds of long germination periods or the roots of creeping plants, since they do not lose germination during composting;
• the remains of coated glossy paper, rubber, textiles, as well as animal bones and stones - all these substances do not decompose in the compost;
• human feces and waste from domestic animals, which may be contaminated with worm eggs;
• diseased plants that are affected by pests and fungi, for example late blight, - such residues are necessarily burned in the garden;
• food waste of animal origin, which triggers decay processes and causes a persistent unpleasant odor.

Open composting device

You can perform a composting, as they teach advice to gardeners in specialized publications, in the following way:

1. Prepare a composting area. To do this, you need to choose appropriate place at the end or middle of the vegetable garden and level the ground. Shaded areas without direct sunlight are best suited for this purpose.
2. Then enclose the area required for the compost with boards, shields or slate sheets. Or put together a wooden box with slots for air exchange. Can be fixed on metal supports special garden mesh. It can be one container or two separated by a partition, one of which will be filled in the current year, and the second in the next.
3. Dig a hole half a meter deep and pour a drainage layer on the bottom. For this, you can use sand, gravel, large wood residues. It is imperative to make such a layer, since it is impossible to allow the water that will wet the compost heap to collect in the compost bin. It should drain from the compost bin without obstruction.
4. Then, on the drainage layer, it is imperative to lay the finished mature compost of the past or the year before last in a small layer. This is necessary to supply the ingredients of the heap with bacteria, with the help of which the compost is fermented.

Making a closed compost

More reliable and solid construction than an open compost is a closed compost bin. It is built with walls that have slots for ventilation, and with a cover that will allow you to mix the compost. Such a compost heap in the country house has a neater appearance, does not interfere with the aesthetic perception of the space. As a rule, such a container is made of plastic, which does not lend itself to decay, does not fall apart and will last a long time.

To install the ventilation system, pipes are inserted into the box, which are protected with a net so that they do not get clogged with compost.

The advantages of a closed compost heap are that it allows heat to accumulate quickly and retains it well. From this, pests die, and the fermentation process takes place faster.

Another plus is that in these containers it is not necessary to comply with the mandatory proportions of the constituent ingredients. You can dump a variety of acceptable waste, residues and grass in any convenient amount in the heap. It is only important to mix all this systematically.

How to make a compost pile

For the correct preparation of the ingredients of the heap, you must:

1. Prepare the necessary components, chopping them as finely as possible. Branches can be broken, but plant residues chop up with a shovel. The smaller the compost parts of the heap are, the faster the compost will mature.
2. Lay the components in layers, the thickness of each of the layers should be up to 15 cm. In this case, it is imperative to alternate the stacking of food waste, wood residues and green mass of plants.
3. Layers can be applied with manure or droppings, or commercial liquid fertilizers can be applied. Compost stimulants are also used at this stage. It is better to use cow or horse manure as manure for a heap, and chicken droppings are the best bird manure.
4. From above, the pyramidal compost heap is covered with straw, spandbond, planks or plant stems. This is necessary for free air circulation. Often, gardeners cover the pile with polyethylene, but this is not recommended: when covering plastic wrap overheating of the compost will take place without air access. And this is fraught with the appearance of a putrid, unpleasant persistent odor.

Maturation of compost

The preparation of compost and the duration of its maturation is in direct proportion to which fractions have compost components and which fermentation mode is set. In general, fermentation and composting takes a very long time, the minimum period is several months, the maximum is two to three years.

The finer the fractions of the embedded components are, the faster the composting will take place. It is also important that the temperature inside the compost pyramid is close to 60 degrees or higher. This will not only speed up the process of decomposition of ingredients, which occurs with the help of bacteria, but will also help to eliminate the possibility of germination of weed seeds as much as possible. Also, at such a high temperature, harmful insects die.

To ensure the correct fermentation regime, it is important that good moisture and air exchange is ensured inside the pyramid.

Providing fermentation

In order to speed up the composting and fermentation of the compost heap constituents, it is necessary to perform the following actions:

1. When hot and dry weather sets in, the compost pyramid must be watered. Moreover, the water should wet all the layers of the heap. This process is most conveniently performed from a large cross-section garden hose, because a large amount of water is required.
2. Watering the heap should be done in the morning, in this case, during the day, the wet compost will have time to warm up well, and the process of active decomposition will start.
3. How to water the compost heap? Water her usual warm water, but from time to time it is necessary to add a compost stimulant to the water or to insist in it with fresh manure.
4. The compost needs shoveling a couple of times per season. This helps bring the well-fermented inner layers up. In this case, the upper ones move inward.
5. Also, when mixing, the compost is saturated with air and gets rid of accumulated gases.
6. With the onset of cold weather, the compost needs to be insulated, while the process of active composting is prolonged. For warming, the pile is sprinkled with humus or peat, and then the tops from the harvested root crops, sunflower stalks or fresh straw are placed on top. This year, plant leftovers will keep warm, and next year they will serve as ingredients for a new heap.

Fallen leaves compost

Separately, it should be said about compost from fallen leaves, popularly known as "leaf earth". How to make a compost heap from fallen leaves?

Fallen leaves are taken as the basis for such compost. The advantage of this approach is that at the end of autumn the leaves lose minerals, and only lignin, tannin and hemicellulose remain in their tissues, which are valuable ingredients of humus. And the downside is that these components are overheated rather slowly, which prolongs the composting period. The foliage of oaks, beeches, chestnuts, willows and plane trees contains a lot of tannin. Therefore, their leaf mass should not be used for laying in a heap, but only for its shelter.

Leaf compost matures much longer than usual, about two years. But gardeners make it because it is very valuable in that it improves the quality of the soil. It also contains micro-fungi inside that decompose hemicellulose and lignin. And this becomes useful for those garden plants in which the roots interact with the fungal microflora in the process of symbiosis.

To get a good composting result, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. When creating a compost, it must be borne in mind that microorganisms come from the ground, so you need to arrange it in a clean space where no chemicals have been used.
2. Adding valerian officinalis, yarrow, chamomile and dandelion to the pile of herbs speeds up composting.
3. To accelerate fermentation, bioconcentrates are added to the compost. In this case, a so-called fast compost pile is obtained, which can mature in three weeks.
4. You need to know that the high content of fresh coniferous sawdust in the compost significantly reduces the potassium balance, therefore, at the stage of readiness, such compost must be enriched with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.
5. The presence of green constituents in the compost should not exceed one third of the total volume, because herbs ferment slowly and can rot. If it turns out that the bulk will consist of grass, then it must first be dried in the sun.
6. The highest quality compost is obtained using a variety of components. Not only organic components should be present, but also mineral ones. For this purpose, the compost heap is supplied with superphosphates, dolomite flour, complex mineral fertilizers.
7. It should be borne in mind that manure is a concentrated fertilizer, so its content in the compost should not exceed 10%.
8. For better stability and increased air exchange processes, the compost heap should be laid in a conical or pyramid-like manner.
9. In order to ripen the pile faster, ingredients containing a lot of nitrogen are added to it, such as straw, legumes or legumes.

Garden compost is good and beneficial in every sense. For plants, compost applied to the soil is an excellent organic fertilizer saturated with essential trace elements and humus. For soil - a natural conditioner, soil structure improving agent that has a loosening and moisture-saving effect. Layered on top of the soil, compost is excellent organic mulch which suppresses the growth of weeds and helps to retain moisture at the plant roots. Living garden dwellers appreciate the compost heap. This is an excellent "dining room" for birds and small insectivorous animals, as well as a place of mass habitat and reproduction of earthworms, which (along with bacteria and fungi) actually decompose organic matter, producing compost.

No need to burn waste when producing your own garden compost garden pruning, old leaves, paper, packaging and cardboard, poisoning the surrounding atmosphere and neighbors with smoke. No need to buy synthetic fertilizers and quality garden soil. It would not be an exaggeration to say that making and using your own compost makes the gardener's life much easier and contributes to conservation. environment... Waste gardening and the use of garden compost instead of hazardous and expensive chemical fertilizers are important parts of the organic gardening concept.

The word compost comes from lat. componere and compositum and means mixture, something put together. Compost is a composition of organic matter decomposed under the influence of microorganisms, which is used to improve the structure of the soil and fertilize. Not to be confused garden compost with ready-made soil mixtures, which are often sold in garden centers under the name "compost".

Fast way compost production

If you put bark, tree branches, cut grass, leaves ... and what else comes to hand in the garden in a heap, and leave it all for a while in a secluded corner (so as not to spoil the view), then in the end all this someday will rot and turn into high-quality compost. This process will only take several years. This is the so-called slow (cold) method of composting.

In contrast, the fast (hot) method takes about 3-6 months and is provided by several indispensable conditions: air access, nitrogen availability, humidity and heat (the temperature in large industrial compost heaps can reach + 85ْC!).

Compost production at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Branches, wood, grass cuttings and other garden waste shredded in a garden shredder are mixed with horse manure from the Royal Stables in Knightsbridge. All this is stored in huge compost piles, which are regularly moistened with settled rainwater and turned over. The volume of production is impressive: 20 tons of manure and 100 tons of garden waste are used weekly! The process takes 10-12 weeks. The results are also impressive: Kew recycles 99% of its own garden waste, and all of the compost obtained is used to further the prosperity of the Botanical Garden. Here is such a constant cycle of economical ecological production! All this is presented to the public, here you can get detailed instructions composting your garden

In the UK, gardeners are encouraged to produce compost at local council level. Here you can buy the equipment you need to create compost at significant discounts, as well as get the information you need.

1. You need a boardwalk or plastic construction for compost production, installed in a specially designated place. Advantages wooden structure for the production of compost in that it is breathable and maintains good ventilation... Such a design can be purchased at a garden center or made by yourself. For a successful process, the volume of the wooden structure must be at least 1 m3 (1x1x1). The plastic container, in turn, retains heat well and is more mobile, it can be used in different places in the garden. Any composting system should have an opening top or lateral surface(some plastic baskets have no bottom or the bottom is removable) for easy access to ready-made compost.

2. Lay at the very bottom about a 10 cm layer rough stuff- straw, hay, twigs or spruce branches. This is to ensure drainage and air access.

3. Lay the compost material in alternating layers. For example, on a layer of vegetable or fruit waste, put a layer of shredded paper, then a small layer of cut grass, then a layer of dug up annuals, then a layer of last year's leaves, and so on. It is important that the green ("wet and soft") layers alternate with brown ("dry and hard") layers - this will provide ventilation, speed up the process, and in the future - a good texture of the finished compost. Never push or compact the contents as this will disrupt the composting process.

4. On top of each layer, you can add some soil or rotted herbivore manure to speed up the composting process. Garden centers sell special "accelerators" of compost formation, you can use them. The decomposition reaction is also catalyzed by fresh cut grass and legumes, which collect nitrogen in their root system. Significantly improve the quality of the finished compost plants rich in useful substances: nettle, comfrey, yarrow, dandelion and others.

5. Keep your composting system covered to maintain proper moisture levels and keep warm. Plastic baskets usually have a top already, but for homemade wooden baskets, you can use garden sheeting, a piece of old carpet, or something else. The ideal temperature for compost production is + 55ْC.

6. From time to time, turn the contents over, providing air access to the resulting compost

Rotating compostaries are a relatively recent invention. Such designs make it possible to produce compost in a short time (according to the manufacturers' statement in 2 - 4 weeks) due to uniform distribution material and heat inside the container. The gardener only needs to rotate the structure twice a day, which is not difficult at all with the help of a special handle. The volume of this model is 340 liters. The price for it, unfortunately, remains too high for now: 300 British pounds (about 600 US dollars)

7. In dry weather (in open board systems) or when brown materials are prevalent in the contents of the compost heap, watering should be used to maintain the required moisture content of the compost. Avoid stagnant water in the compost system, this will disrupt the decomposition process

8. Unpleasant odors from the contents of the compost bin indicate that something is broken and the process is not working properly. The smell of ammonia (ammonia) or rotten eggs indicates an excessive amount of nitrogen-containing (green) substances in the compost heap and a lack of oxygen. In this case it is necessary to add carbonaceous (brown) materials.

If you did everything correctly, then after a few months the contents of the compost heap should acquire Brown color and a fresh, sweet earthy smell are signs that your compost is ready for garden use. If you filled the system gradually (which is most likely with an established continuous production), then you should start choosing the finished compost from the bottom. The higher layers will thus move downward, making room at the top for new material.

The right garden compost beneficial in every sense. For plants compost applied to the soil is a good organic fertilizer, saturated with essential trace elements and humus. For soil compost is a natural conditioner: it improves the structure of the soil, loosens and retains moisture and fertilizers at the plant roots. Spread out in a layer on the surface of the soil, compost will serve as an excellent organic mulch. Living garden dwellers appreciate compost heap deservedly. Compost pit- an excellent "dining room" for birds and small insectivorous animals, as well as a place of mass habitat and reproduction of earthworms, which (along with bacteria and fungi) actually deal with composting recycling organic matter.

At making garden compost with your own hands there is no need to burn garden pruning waste, old leaves, paper, packaging and cardboard, poisoning the surrounding atmosphere and neighbors with smoke. No need to buy expensive garden soil or potting soil. Thus, preparation and application of garden compost not only makes life easier for the gardener, but also contributes to the protection of the environment. Waste-free gardening and composting, mulch and organic fertilizers instead of synthetic fertilizers are important components of the concept of organic gardening.

Photo above: here in the UK, gardeners are encouraged to practice composting at the level of local councils. With significant discounts you can buy boxes (containers) for compost and also get the information you need

What is compost

Word compost comes from latin componere and compositum and means mix, something put together. Compost is a composition of organic substances decomposed under the influence of microorganisms. Compost used to improve the structure of the soil, as well as fertilizer and mulch. Not to be confused garden compost with ready-made soil mixtures, which are often sold in garden centers under the name compost .

Composting: the quick (hot) way

If folded into one bunch (pit) bark, tree branches, cut grass, leaves, annual weeds (not during flowering!) and other garden waste and leave it all for some time in a secluded corner of the garden (so as not to spoil the view), then in the end all this is when- something will rot and turn into high-quality compost... This process will only take several years. This is the so-called slow (cold) composting method... Unlike him, fast (hot) method of composting takes about 4-6 months. To make compost quickly will have to provide in compost pit or compost bin the following conditions:

1. availability of fresh "green" materials containing nitrogen
2. presence of dry carbon-containing "brown" materials
3. Availability compost accelerators
4. oxygen access to compost container
5. constant humidity compost mixture
6. heat (temperature at industrial compost production reaches + 85 ° С!)

Photo on the left: rotating compost bin - device for quick compost preparation at home... According to the manufacturers, getting ready-made compost in such a container possibly after 2 - 4 weeks. Fast composting ensured by uniform distribution in compost container, moisture and heat. The gardener only needs to rotate twice a day compost container with a special handle

How to make compost

1. Install compost device(see below) in a specially designated area of ​​the garden.
2. Lay down approx. 20 cm "brown" material for drainage and ventilation.
3. Add to compost, alternating evenly: chopped dry "brown" materials(branches of trees and shrubs, paper, cardboard, sawdust, bark, straw, hay, shavings, wood ash, dry leaves); moisture-containing "green" materials(kitchen waste, grass cuttings, weeds, algae, tops, green manure); compost accelerators(EM effective microorganisms, special preparations for accelerating compost, rotted herbivore manure and bird droppings, urine, ready-made compost, earthworms, garden soil, etc.). Significantly improve quality compost plants rich in nutrients: nettle, comfrey and other green manure crops, yarrow, dandelion (not roots or flowers!) and others. The alternation of "green" and "brown" layers ensures the penetration of air into compost heap, uniform and balanced maturation of compost in a container, and later - structural, fertile, correct compost... Never push or seal the contents, this will interfere with air circulation in the compost bin... Over time, the mixture will go down and you can add waste to the container. When compost bin has already been filled to the top several times, you can stop filling it and move on to the next one.
4. Stir and shovel from time to time compost forks for better air access and uniform humidification compost... Maintain moisture maturing compost in a box using watering. However, avoid stagnant water in compost container. Bad smell ammonia (rotten eggs, rotting) from compost container speaks of an excess of "green" materials and a lack of oxygen. Add to compostary brown waste and stir the mixture.

After a few months, the contents compost heap should acquire a brown color and a fresh, sweet earthy smell. Compost ready for use in the garden.

Compost pile, bin or compost bin?

Benefits of open wooden box for compost is that it allows air and moisture to pass through and maintains good ventilation. Compost box you can buy in a garden center or make yourself from boards and metal mesh. Volume compost bin must be at least 1 cubic meter. In fact, such a device is placed in wooden frames compost heap(see photo above).

Photo: industrial compost production at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London). Shredded garden waste is mixed with horse manure from the Royal Stables in Knightsbridge. The mixture is contained in huge compost heaps, regularly moisten with settled rainwater and mix, turn over. Volume compost production Kew is impressive: 20 tonnes of manure and 100 tonnes of garden waste are used weekly! The composting process takes 10-12 weeks. The results are also impressive: Kew recycles 99% of its own garden waste and all that compost is applied for the further prosperity of the botanical garden. Here is such a constant cycle of economical ecological production! All this is presented to the attention of visitors to the botanical garden. You can also get detailed instructions for composting in your garden here.

What else can you compost?

1. Raw vegetables, fruits, cereals
2. Leftover food, meat waste (only in closed compost containers!)
3. Unpainted and untreated chopped wood
4. Fresh herbivore manure and bird droppings (only in slow compost heaps)
5. Bird feathers and down, pet hair
6. Paper: napkins, shredded newspapers *, printer paper *, packaging, cardboard
7. Shredded natural fabrics*: cotton, silk, linen, wool, etc.
8. Evergreens (only in slow compost heaps)

What not to put in garden compost

1. Large and hard meat bones
2. Feces from humans and carnivores (including domestic animals). For safe composting human feces need a special compost toilet... Dog feces can be recycled into compost systems with worms... Cat feces are generally not recommended for composting
3. Ash from burning coal in a stove or fireplace
4. Flowering, seeded and perennial rhizome weeds
5. Garden waste affected by diseases and pests
6. Insect pests, their eggs and larvae
7. Garden waste after using herbicides (unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer)

* In the EU and the US, newspapers and other printed materials have been free of heavy metals and other harmful additives in ink for decades. Recycling newspapers in compost recommended here by leading environmental organizations ( HDRA Garden Organic and etc.). The same applies to fabrics. If you are in doubt about the composition of paints in your country, do not add these materials to compost

Any garden or garden land needs regular feeding. Own compost provides plant nutrition with environmentally friendly organic fertilizer, which does not require costs. Special knowledge and skills are not required for harvesting humus, and the benefits for the garden are very tangible.

Why is the manufacture of fertilizer useful?

Your own compost in the country is a great source nutrients organic origin. Compost is a product of processing organic material (waste) under the influence of a specific microclimate and microorganisms.

Self-made humus is more profitable and healthier than a purchased mixture of unknown ingredients and brings a lot of benefits.

• Usage compost pit reduces the time and effort to remove a large part of the garbage (tops, plants, wood waste etc.) from the summer cottage
• Compost is affordable means for increase physical properties soil (structuring), as well as organic fertilizer
• Even distribution of humus on the surface of the garden ensures moisture retention and suppresses weed growth
• Cooking humus in the country is a natural process in which organic waste is disposed of, fertilizer is prepared and does not harm the environment

Compost container

There are several options for compost boxes. Plastic container mobile, installed in any chosen corner of the summer cottage, retains heat well. Closed metal bins keep rats, mice and other animals out of the compost that could be attracted to the smell of kitchen waste.

You can make your own compost bin. This most cheap option often used by gardeners. Any available boards or a bar is suitable for making a compost bin. Wood material should not be rotten, otherwise the box may fall apart before the humus is ready. It is also unacceptable to use boards that have previously been in contact with toxic materials, with traces of paint, oil or varnish.

Chemical materials will poison the compost, making it unusable.

The place for composting is selected on a hill or on a flat area, away from the resting place. It is not recommended to lay a compost heap in the lowlands due to the risk of stagnant water. Excess moisture can cause acidification of the bottom layer and ruin the entire process of making humus.

At the chosen place, a box with gaps for regular ventilation gets knocked down. On the prepared vertical supports, 3 walls of the future box are installed from strong wooden planks... The fourth wall of the drawer is removable or in the form of a door in order to be easily removed finished material... To the bottom of the prepared container experienced summer residents lay a special material that prevents the compost from washing out ( old linoleum etc.).

The humus container can be divided into separate cells with an individual door for each cell. Each compartment is filled with compost material at different times. Thus, in one container, two or more compost masses will be prepared at the same time. varying degrees ripening.

Organization of the compost heap

Composting is a laborious process. Collecting material, organizing the place and other subtleties can put off the idea of ​​getting good humus on your site. For quality compost, you can use the following ingredients:

• Fallen leaves, straw, hay, grass cuttings and tops of plants
• Seaweed
• Untreated kitchen waste
• Cow and horse manure, poultry manure (fresh for slow cooking and rotted for quick)
• Paper and natural fabrics (shredded)
• Wood sawdust, shavings
• Thin branches and shoots of trees
• Chopped weeds (no roots or flowers)
• Wood ash

The listed components do not have to be added completely according to the list. Many summer residents have their own time-tested recipe for good compost. It is not recommended to add to compost:

• Plants with traces of diseases and pests
• Perennial and rhizome weeds
• Garden and horticultural waste containing chemicals
• Inorganic debris (plastic, glass, etc.)
• Bones, meat and fish waste
• Synthetic materials

A quick way to get compost

The process takes a couple of months and such production is available from early spring to late autumn. In one season, you can get humus several times. The preparation of compost quickly - with a hot method, attracted the interest of many summer residents.

A 10 cm high straw or hay drainage is placed in a prepared container (box, frame, container, etc.). The material for humus alternates (dry and wet, soft and hard). Each layer is additionally processed with a special process accelerator, which can be purchased in special stores.

Rotted manure and garden soil can be used as an accelerator, but this will slow down the process.

For rapid decay organic materials special preparations containing effective microorganisms (EM preparations) are used. The most common "Baikal M1", "Tamir", "Urgas", etc. The finer the compost materials are, the faster the cooking process will go. In addition to speed, EM preparations improve the nutritional properties of the finished compost.

The slow way to get compost

Traditional and high quality humus is cooked very slowly using the cold method. The long process takes 2-3 years. This method does not require much labor. A place is chosen on a small hill. It is necessary to dig a wide hole 25–30 cm deep. The width of the depression is chosen according to the amount of material that is prepared for compost.

Branches, shoots of trees and shrubs, crushed rotten logs, etc. are laid in the prepared hole. The compost material is covered with earth from above. Cold composting can be done every season by placing a new compost heap.

Thus, after a few years, you can get high-quality organic fertilizer annually.

Properly made compost restores nutrient balance and improves soil structure. Moreover, thanks to compost bin you can get rid of household waste and leaves on the site. And also get free high quality organic fertilizer.

One of the types of environmentally friendly and safe for human health fertilizers used in gardening is compost.

It is an organic fertilizer made from various food and plant waste - plant food residues, cuttings and weeds, branches, leaves, sawdust, bark and other material. Fertilizer is obtained by decomposition of organic waste under the influence of microorganisms at an increase in temperature, which promotes the decomposition process.

The process usually takes place in a specially equipped pit or container and is often accompanied by an unpleasant odor.

Many summer residents tolerate these smells and annoying flies circling over compost pit, for the sake of a universal and absolutely free fertilizer.

A composter for a summer residence can be made independently, or purchased in specialized stores, the main thing is to properly organize its work and observe sanitary standards according to its structure.

What you need to know:

• it is necessary to place a composter or compost pit at a distance of at least 20 meters from water supply sources and at least 10 meters from a residential building;
• it is necessary to exclude the ingress of plastic, protein products, animal and human excrement into the container in order to avoid unpleasant odors and the spread of harmful microorganisms;
• plants treated with pesticides and tops of diseased plants must not be immersed in the composter;
• it is advisable to take into account the prevailing wind direction in your area when determining the location of the compost pit in order to avoid unpleasant odors near the house.

Composter options

The easiest and cheapest way to obtain fertilizer is equipment compost pit.

Each person determines the depth, width and length himself based on the amount of raw materials supplied to it during the summer season. To improve the decay process, it is necessary to organize a good humidity regime and natural air exchange. For this purpose, a pipe with holes for the flow of oxygen is placed in the pit, or the raw materials laid in layers of different density are periodically mixed.

The disadvantage of this type of waste processing is the difficult access to the lower layers - ready-made humus.

Some summer residents simply transport waste to a designated place on the site on a layer of sand or gravel. Over time is formed compost heap... Raw materials are rotted right on the ground.

Often, the pile is covered with a layer of grass or plants and looks like a kind of green mound. Vegetable and berry crops... For the winter, it is better to cover the pile with a film so that it does not freeze.

Sometimes, so that the edges of the heap do not crumble, three vertical walls 1 meter high are erected, between which the heap is located.

The next way to set up a composter is arrangement of a special box knocked out of the boards. It is necessary to leave gaps between the boards for the natural flow of air and the outflow of excess moisture. The box can be one-, two- or three-section.

In the lower part of the box, it is advisable to arrange a door or window through which it will be possible to take out the finished compost.

A more attractive option is considered industrial plastic composter... These are containers with a capacity of 400, 600 or 800 liters with a lid at the top (in large models with two doors) for easy loading of raw materials and one or two openings for removing the finished product.

You can buy a plastic composter in two versions. Summer option used only in warm time before the onset of frost. For the winter, it is cleaned and stored away until the next season. The winter version is a thermo-composter, which can be operated all year round. It is suitable for people who live in a private house permanently. The principle of operation of such a composter is comparable to the operation of a thermos that constantly retains heat.

The neat plastic composter fits seamlessly into the landscape. Models are often equipped with an aluminum mesh bottom basket to prevent rodents from entering the compost.

In models called vermicomposters, the fertilization process takes place in conjunction with the worms. By eating waste, the worms turn it into a black mass that resembles soil.

The presence of a composter on the site helps to solve several issues at once: disposal of organic waste and obtaining excellent fertilizer to nourish the soil.

How to determine the readiness of the compost? First of all, by smell. Finished product smells like forest and mushrooms and never smells like rot. To speed up the decay process, special leavens are sometimes used.

How to use compost? Compost is the source of all essential elements plant nutrition, therefore, it is introduced into the upper layers of the soil, no deeper than 8-10 cm from the surface, when planting seedlings. When landing fruit trees and bushes it is added directly to the planting hole, sometimes mixed with ash. In the autumn, they are scattered under adult bushes to feed the roots.

It is necessary to fertilize the soil annually, otherwise it will be depleted. Therefore, the construction of a composter on summer cottage not just desirable, but rather necessary.