Beginning Definitions

Organic matter is anything that was once alive. This encompasses a range of objects from a dead bacterium to a dead whale, from fallen leaves to gasoline. For your garden you'll be mostly concerned with having organic matter in your soil including dead leaves, grass, roots and microorganisms and bird, insect, cow, horse and frog poop. Most experts recommend between 4% and 6% organic matter in your soil for healthy soil. You'll need to have your soil tested by an expert if you want to determine soil organic matter, but if your plants are healthy, don't worry about it.

Mulch is a layer of material placed over the soil to hold in water and discourage weeds while allowing nutrients and air to enter the soil. Most commonly it is an organic material that takes a while to decompose. Mulch can be straw, leaves, bark, newspaper, wood chips. It can also be inorganic such as rocks, recycled tires or plastic. I don't recommend plastic mulches. They hold in too much moisture, they don't allow nutrients or air through, and they eventually breakdown making a mess when you want to remove them. The ideal mulch allows air, water and nutrients to enter while suppressing weeds. Too much organic mulch can be just as bad as plastic mulch. If you place to much mulch down (more than 2") you can cut off the soil from the air, water and nutrients. In addition, a good mulch should slowly break down and provide nutrients to the soil. Rocks won't do this, but they can provide water to the soil by encouraging dew in the early mornings. And they're permanent, which after the initial expense can make them cheaper in the long run.

Compost is decomposed organic matter. It smells like dirt, should have lots of beneficial fungi in it and a low level of nutrients. One inch of compost a year should provide all the nutrients your annual flowers and vegetables need. Most gardeners use too many fertilizers. You can either sheet compost or pile compost. Sheet composting is burying your organic matter in the soil or under your mulch and letting it breakdown in situ. Pile composting is probably what most people do. They make a big pile of organic matter and let it decompose. Pile composting can be further broken down in to two types. Hot (or fast) vs cold (or slow). (There's actually warm composting also) Hot composting requires more nitrogen to heat up the pile and the pile decomposes in about 2 weeks. But it's not finished, it still needs to cure through a cool phase for about 2 months. Some of the byproducts of hot composting aren't good for your garden. So even if you have one of those composters that heats your pile up, you still need to let it sit for a couple of months before using it on your garden. Cold composting takes anywhere from a few months to a few decades. Cold piles don't have as much nitrogen, so they don't become as hot. Most natural composting is cool composting. Think of the leaves on a forest floor. They break down naturally at a cool temperature.

Go To Page: 1 2 3