A well-kept lawn or bright flower garden can significantly add to your home’s curb appeal and value. Of course, maintaining a beautiful lawn or garden in the hot climate of San Antonio can be tough. Keeping up with regular watering and lawn maintenance is important, but it won’t take care of all of your healthy lawn needs. If you want to create a lawn or garden that’s truly well nourished and adds value to your property, it’s time to start a compost pile.
Creating Your Basic Compost Mix
Composting is the process of allowing waste materials to decay so that they are broken down into a nutrient-rich mix that can be used to fertilize lawns, plants, trees and gardens. If you’d like to start composting, you’ll need to buy or build a compost bin. You should be able to find wire, wooden and metal compost bins. Metal bins are generally built to be rotated or turned. Bins that can’t be rotated must be mixed by hand with a pitchfork or shovel about every two weeks.
Starting a compost mix is a simple matter of finding nutrient-rich materials that are readily available on your property. Leaves, grass clippings and manure all make excellent bases for a compost mix. Leaf mold in particular is stellar at holding moisture, making leaves a must add for most home composting piles. Other materials commonly used in compost include:
• Coffee and tea grounds
• Crushed egg shells
• Hay
• Bone meal
• Fruit rinds and peels
• Vegetable scraps
• Garden debris
• Paper
• Peanut shells
• Some food waste
While the possibilities for your compost mix are nearly endless, there are some items that shouldn’t go in your compost pile. Avoid using grass clippings that have been treated with fertilizers or pesticides if possible. Some individuals also prefer to avoid fish and meat as these can smell bad while decomposing and may attract pests. You should also avoid using:
• Bones
• Cooked food waste
• Charcoal
• Cat litter
• Fatty or greasy foods
• Pet or human waste
• Sludge
• Dishwater
• Dairy products
Adding Extra Power to Your Compost
For homeowners who want to take their lawn care to the next level, adding micronutrients to compost is a great step. Nutrient additives for compost are available, but you don’t need to use them to get great results. Instead, you can add important nutrients to your compost by identifying natural, organic materials that contain them. For instance, if your plants are manganese deficient, you might add pineapple or carrots to your compost mix. You’ll be able to look up the nutrient demands of plants and find organic materials that contain those nutrients using any search engine.
Maintaining a beautiful lawn requires a great deal of work. We don’t create compost piles, but we can definitely assist you with the application of organic products for a healthy turf and yard. If you need help with lawn care, the specialists at ABC Home & Commercial Services in San Antonio are here for you. Make a service appointment with us today to learn more.