Filed under: General Blog Entry's | Tags: Composting, Fall Gardening, Organic Gardening, Permaculture
Fall is one of my Favorite seasons! Cooler weather, fall planting and gardening and all the great family gatherings and food are wonderful. Fall is also a GREAT time to start a compost pile. All those leaves, plants and grasses to cut back and all of the upcoming holiday food scraps add up too a great supply of usable components in a compost pile!
Starting a Compost pile is quick , easy and won’t cost you anything to get started! Compost is one of nature’s best mulches and soil amendments and you can use it instead of chemical fertilizers. Compost improves soil structure, texture and increases the soil’s water-holding capacity. Compost loosens clay soils and helps sandy soils to retain water. The organic matter in compost provides food for microorganisms, which in turn keeps the soil in a healthy, balanced condition. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus are produced naturally by the feeding of microorganisms, so few if any soil amendments will need to be added.
It’s easy to get started .
-Bag your grass clippings and mulch up all those leaves for the compost pile!
-Save those kitchen scraps and add them to the compost pile. Kitchen scraps are typically high in nitrogen, which helps heat up the compost pile and speed up the composting process. Egg shells, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peels and scraps are good candidates for the compost pie. But DON’T add meat, grease or other animal products!
– With a compost pile, bigger is often better. Heat builds up with a bigger pile, but you don’t want to get much bigger than about 3 feet by 3 feet, if it’s too big it can be hard to work around. Multiple piles may be in order .
– Aerate your compost! If you are composting with a pile, or in a static (non-tumbling) compost bin, be sure to mix up the contents so that the pile gets oxygen and can break down effectively. Insert a few pvc pipes to get oxygen to the core and Turn it with a pitch fork from time to time .
– Don’t let the compost completely dry out. A compost pile needs moisture to keep the composting process active , BUT , don’t keep it too wet.
– Too much of any one material will slow down the composting process. If you have all leaves, all grass clippings or an overload of any other single type of material, it can throw off the balance of the pile. It’s best to keep a balanced mix of green (nitrogen) and brown (carbon) materials.
When ready, this compost will be wonderful for the whole garden!
Good Luck and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
– Mark Carter
Filed under: General Blog Entry's | Tags: pond, Pond info, Pond Maintenance, Water Garden
I always have a lot of people ask me questions about the fall Water Garden, here are a few tips that will help everyone with their Fall Pond Maintenance.
Plant Debris and Leaves: Remove plant debris and other organic matter from you pond ASAP. Leaves and dead plant matter will settle to the bottom of your pond and will cause poor water clarity and many other water quality issues and can be harmful to your fish! This type of debris is also a breading ground for fungi, bacteria and parasites. If you don’t have a dipping net, get one! This will make your life so much easier.
The use of pond netting during the heavy leaf fall can also help you control this AND checking your skimmer regularly during the fall months will keep your pond in proper working order. This will also make your Spring pond cleaning MUCH easier!
Fish Health: When the water temps reach 60 to 65 degrees, it’s time to switch to Low Temp Fish Food! It’s great for their health and you can feed them for much longer into the Fall and early Winter. Check out our special Carter Country Low Temp Koi Food, it’s made specifically for Koi and decorative pond fish and you can feed them until the water temp is 45 to 50 degrees .
Click Here – http://shop.cartercountry.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=68&products_id=1112&osCsid=10f44d5e0a76ba84ac8296c9cccde54c
This is also a great time to start using Carter Country Low Temperature Bacteria in your pond! It’s specially formulated to work in cold water and will help your Pond and Fish stay in great shape.
Click Here – http://shop.cartercountry.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=68&products_id=1111&osCsid=10f44d5e0a76ba84ac8296c9cccde54c
Get out there and ENJOY the great Fall weather!
– Mark Carter
Carter's Water Garden 