Composting Gardeners most valuable soil amendment is humus, often referred to as “gardener’s gold” or “black gold.” Composting is the production of humus from selected garden and kitchen waste. Microbes break down organic raw materials into humus, as they do leaves on the forest floor. Composting is a great way to get rid of yard waste an improve soil structure with no negative impact on the environment. HUMUS is organic matter in a form plants can use. It adds small amounts of nutrients. Humus improves structure, water holding capacity and nutrient holding capacity. It cost almost nothing to produce and diverts yard waste from land fills. Humus has an advantage over the use of unprocessed organic matter such as grass clippings, garden debris, leaves, sawdust, and woodchips. Microbes use nitrogen in the single most important in plant growth. Because decomposition depletes nitrogen, nitrogen should be added where large amounts of organic matter that have not been composted are used. These are the benefits of adding humus to garden soil: • There is scientific evidence that fruits and vegetables grown in humus have higher sugar content. This gives them a sweeter taste. • The darker color of humus increases the absorption of sunlight. Highly organic soil warms up faster in spring. • Humus improves the crumb structure of soil, preventing hard crust from forming on the surface. Germinating seedlings can easily push through and roots can easily grow. • Humus attracts earthworms that burrow up from nutrient rich subsoil, depositing nutrients in the topsoil layer.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 21:08:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015