Composting: a sustainable, practical and affordable choice
Composting is an excellent good habit to be able to fertilize your vegetable garden, your garden and your plants in a completely natural way with compost, a fertilizer created from organic ingredients and food waste. Taking care of your plants and green spaces is a great way to always wake up with a smile. Watch the video and discover all the things that get you out of bed with enthusiasm!
Composting: what it is and how you can do it too
Composting, also called biostabilization, therefore, leads to the production of a mixture of humified substances, compost, from vegetable waste or animal residues used for agricultural crops or for flowering plants. Compost provides nutrients, improves the structure of the soil and works as a biological activator. The process is slowed down if the material is too wet and if it is too dry. When there is too much humidity, unpleasant rot can occur and the material must be turned and stirred well; if it is too dry it should be watered regularly with the water hose. Compost as a fertilizer is fundamental in natural organic and biodynamic agricultural techniques, defined as sustainable, but also in other types of cultivation, because it improves the quality of the soil, corrects imbalances in the constitution of a soil that is either too compact or too loose, acting as a fertilizer corrective in this operation.
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Composting: the composter
Composting, therefore, not only makes the soil fertile, but allows to limit the use of chemical fertilizers and to reduce waste to be dumped in landfills. Compost has the advantage of being an ecological and therefore non-polluting solution, also contributing to the production of healthier and more organic products. For composting we use the plastic or even handcrafted wood composter, but if there is space and abundant organic material to be recycled, you can opt for the heap. The composter can have a bell shape, hexagonal, truncated cone with a volume ranging from 300 to 900 liters. Its openings are essential, they must be prepared both above and below, so that sufficient air circulates, while the organic waste is transformed. The fresh material is loaded from the lid placed above the composter, the mature compost is taken from the lower openings. The compost bin, also suitable for gardens of villas, also serves to conceal organic materials for aesthetics. It can be hidden with a flowering hedge or with supports for ivy leaves or other climbing plants. There are also more rustic wooden ones suitable for the garden environment. Having no lid, these artisanal composters are covered with sackcloths, straw and leafy branches. The plastic ones are of various sizes depending on the space and the standard amount of waste to be composted. The plastic accelerates the accumulation of heat inside the composter and therefore the composting. To position the composter it is good to choose a place sheltered from the wind and full sun, possibly near a fountain in order to easily keep the organic waste to be composted moist. Placed on the ground, the composter will allow an easy passage of microorganisms and insects useful for the composting process. Earthworms, for example, break up organic material so that it is broken down by smaller organisms that contribute to decomposition.
Composting: the heap
An alternative to the compost bin is the heap, especially if you have more space and if you need to frequently compost large quantities of organic material. Also near the heap there must be a source of water to bring moisture back into the material, especially in summer. It should be placed under a tree of leaves that fall in winter, in order to make the most of the warmth of the winter sun and the shade in the summer. In fact, with the cold the transformation of wet waste slows down, while the exposure to full sun can dry the organic material too much. In summer with a trapezoid heap shape it will be able to better absorb rainwater to compensate for that evaporated due to the heat. In winter, the triangular shape is preferable, to favor the drainage of a certain amount of rain with the slope. With the heap the material is ventilated more; it is possible to stir it better and quickly remove the mature compost. To accelerate the slower transformation compared to the composter, you can cover it with black plastic or use an organic type activator that promotes decomposition and humification. Humification includes various chemical processes, through which organic substances are transformed mainly thanks to the activity of bacteria and fungi in humus.
The compost: fresh, ready and ripe
Fresh compost from 2 to 4 months is still in a transformation phase. It can be used in the vegetable garden in a period still far from sowing or transplanting plants.
The compost ready for 5 to 7 months is already stable; is a fertilizer that has many nutrients for plants, suitable for fruit trees and vegetables such as cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, celery, cucumbers, pumpkins and courgettes. The mature compost from 8 to 12 months, is composed of a black, soft, humus-rich soil, which can be used for sowing, to fertilize peas, beans, carrots, onions, salads, flowers, potted and garden plants and meadows. Before using it, it usually needs to be sieved.
Composting: compostable organic waste
Compostable organic waste includes those from nitrogenous (wet) materials and those from carbonaceous (hard) materials. The former include grasses of the lawn, green leaves, domestic wet available thanks to the separate collection of waste, in small quantities if of animal origin (in excess they give rise to unpleasant odors and can attract mice) and well mixed with vegetables. In this way the quantity of household waste is reduced. In addition, for those who practice composting there are discounts on garbage taxes. Carbonaceous waste includes pruned branches, preferably shredded, dry leaves, straw to be mixed with daily nitrogen waste, such as coffee grounds, tea filters, egg shells and dried fruit, unprinted and coated paper, pieces of 100% natural fabric percent. Every six months the material must be remixed in order to restart the composting. Domestic composting is useful for autonomously disposing of wet waste of mainly food origin. With this method it is possible to manage the separated organic part on one's own with the separate collection of solid waste produced at home. At an industrial level, composting is carried out with precise control of all the conditions necessary for the process, such as the level of humidity and oxygenation, temperature and other factors. The elimination of agricultural pathogens and pollutants such as metal residues is also implemented. From the separate collection of organic waste, therefore, at an industrial level comes a quality compost, convenient and suitable for use in agriculture and to reclaim arable areas. Community composting is implemented with mini plants to use the organic waste differentiated from twenty to one hundred families or canteens, hotels, nurseries and various producers of compostable wet waste, small structures that are very useful especially when there are many municipalities in a territory far from the large composting centers.
