Using compost correctly in the garden
Contents
If you have room for a compost heap in your garden,
you can easily produce inexpensive and valuable plant fertilizer.
But how can you tell that the compost is ripe and then - where to put it?
Compost is one of the top fertilizers among gardeners because it is particularly rich
in humus and nutrients - and also completely natural. A few scoops of mixed
compost provide your garden plants with sufficient amounts of calcium (Ca),
magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) and also improve the soil
structure in the long term because they enrich the soil with humus. If you have
created one or two compost heaps in your garden, you can help yourself to "black gold" at regular intervals.
But beware: precisely because compost is such a valuable fertilizer,
it should be used wisely and in the right proportions.
Making good garden compost
To speed up the rotting of your compost and thus the composting process,
you should alternately add solid (e.g. lawn cuttings) and loose components (e.g. leaves).
If the compost is too dry, you can water it with a watering can.
If it is too wet and smells musty, you should add shrub shavings.
The better the waste is mixed, the faster it matures.
If you want to use the compost already in a few months, compost accelerator can be added.
It provides the nitrogen needed to decompose low-nutrient waste such as wood or autumn leaves.
Finally, when you take mature compost from the garbage can or heap,
sift it through before using it so that no coarse remains such as eggshells or pieces of wood land on the bed.
Use a large-area sieve or a homemade compost sieve with a mesh size of at least
15 millimeters. Ripe, sieved compost is especially important for sowing beds in the
vegetable garden, because here you need a soil that is as fine-crumbly as possible.
When is the compost ripe?
Compost develops from the stratification of various garden wastes,
such as shrub cuttings, grass, fruit and vegetable remains and leaves.
Microorganisms decompose the waste and gradually form valuable humus soil.
It usually takes just under six months before so-called "fresh compost" can be harvested.
This is particularly rich in quickly available nutrients,
but is very coarse and can only be used as mulch for existing plantations.
It is not suitable for sowing beds, because it is much too sharp for the delicate seedlings.
Also, do not work fresh compost into the soil, as there is a risk of rotting.
Depending on its composition, mature compost can be obtained after about ten to twelve months at the earliest.
Now the components are mostly dissolved and result in a fine crumbly humus soil.
The nutrient content of ripe compost decreases the longer it stands.
Therefore, use the finished ripe compost as quickly as possible.
The stage of rotting can be checked with a cress test.
iStock/Zummolo Fresh compost is only roughly decomposed and still contains many solid components
Basic rules for fertilizing with compost
In general, you can use compost as garden fertilizer all year round.
Large-scale initial fertilization with compost is carried out in spring,
when the plants in the garden begin their growth phase.
Then regular re-fertilization is carried out throughout the year until autumn.
In principle, the more nutrients a plant requires, the more compost can be applied.
Magnificent perennials and highly emaciated plants receive plenty of compost during the growth phase,
while wild perennials and forest edge plants receive considerably less.
Bog plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas do not tolerate compost at all because it is usually too calcareous.
Plants that like to grow in barren soils such as primroses,
horned violets or adonis florets also get along well without the natural fertilizer.
If you use compost in the garden, make sure that you work it in as shallowly as
possible with a rake or cultivator.
You need this much compost
The exact amount of compost required can of course only be determined after a
precise soil analysis - and even then, the values are still approximate, because the
nutrient content of the compost also varies quite a lot depending on the source material.
Nevertheless, there is a rule of thumb for the use of compost in the garden:
flowering perennials, which are very hungry for nutrients, should be supplied with
about two liters of garden compost per square meter throughout the year,
ornamental shrubs half this amount is sufficient. For some fast-growing or strongly
flowering ornamental plants, compost is not sufficient simply because of its low
nitrogen (N) content. Therefore, an addition of about 50 grams of horn meal per
square meter is recommended for these plants. Compost can also be used to
fertilize lawns. One to two liters per square meter are usually sufficient
Flora Press/Royal Horticultural Society Work the compost flat into the soil
Initial fertilization for new planting
To give hungry ornamental plants - especially woody plants and perennials - a good start,
you should mix the excavated material with up to a third of ripe compost when planting new plants.
If an entire bed has to be replanted, you can enrich poor sandy soil with up to 40
liters of compost per square meter.
It supplies the plants with the most important nutrients for up to three years,
after which time fertilization is required.
Compost in the kitchen garden
You can use compost as fertilizer not only in ornamental gardens,
but also in orchards and vegetable beds.
After loosening the soil in spring, rake the ripe compost flat into the upper layer of soil.
Particularly grateful for a compost fertilizer are heavy eaters such as zucchini, pumpkin, potatoes, cabbage and tomatoes.
These need up to six liters of ripe compost per square meter.
A little less, namely a maximum of three liters per square meter of bedding area,
is needed for middle eaters such as lettuce, strawberries, onions, spinach, radish and kohlrabi.
The weak eaters among the vegetables should be mulched with a maximum of
one liter of compost - but here you can also do without compost if you have
previously grown strong eaters or middle eaters on the bed.
The weak eaters are mainly herbs, but also radishes, lamb's lettuce, peas and beans.
In autumn, fruit trees or berry bushes are happy about a mulch layer of compost on the tree disc.
Compost for pot and bucket
Ripe compost can also be used as fertilizer for flower pots and balcony boxes.
To do this, mix one third garden soil with one third ripe, sieved compost.
Depending on the plant, one third sand and/or peat (or peat substitutes) is also added.
If you prefer to use your own vegetable or flower seeds in seed boxes,
you can also use compost to enrich the soil.
This soil for growing young plants should not be too nutrient-rich, so a
compost/soil mixture in a ratio of 1:4 is recommended.
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