Carter’s Garden Blog

FALL is one of my Favorite times of the yearly ! Cooler weather, planting, gardening, fire pits, football 🏈 and all the family gatherings – Wonderful!

We are finishing up a beautiful Fall Color Show! But, like they always say – Fall color is here today & gone tomorrow…

All this beautiful color has gave way to the incredible yearly leaf 🍂 fall… That’s why Fall is a GREAT time to start a compost pile!  All those leaves + all the plants and grasses that we have to cut back + all of the upcoming holiday food scraps = a great supply of FREE usable components in an ‘all natural compost pile!

We have organic vermicompost and supplies at Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

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  its natural! Plus you can use it instead of chemical fertilizers to feed your veggies & other plants.

Make your leaf cleanup meaningful & productive by starting a compost pile or two.

PLUS –

•  Compost improves soil structure & texture, plus it 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.

Keep it simple. Layer your lawn clipping, leaves & kitchen scraps to make great FREE compost!

It’s easy to get started
-Bag your grass clippings and mulch up all those leaves for the compost pile!

-Save your kitchen scraps and add them to the compost pile! Kitchen scraps are 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 non-tumbling compost bin, be sure to mix up the contents so that the pile gets oxygen and can break down well. It helps to 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!