Do you have your gardening gloves? What about your shovel? Oh, and don’t forget your Workman’s Friend Barrier Skin Cream. Now do you have everything? Good! Then you’re ready for May 29th-national Learn about Composting Day. Yes, that’s right there’s a holiday to mark the importance of composting. To the uninitiated it might look like a pile of rotting garbage in your back yard, but to those who know composting is ‘black gold’. Read on to learn more.
Related: Top 5 Essential Tools for Modern Gardening
What is composting?
Composting is organic matter that has decomposed producing a nutrient rich fertilizer. It is made from a variety of ingredients including kitchen food scraps, leaves, coffee grinds, and lawn clippings. Composting can consist of almost anything other than processed foods. It is an easy, inexpensive, and above all environmentally friendly way to feed your garden.
Learn more about composting
One of the easiest ways to learn about composting is to visit your local farmer’s market. No one knows more about the topic than an organic farmer because their vegetables are grown in this nutrient rich soil. Visiting this kind of market will give you a chance to speak with these farmers directly. You’ll also get a chance to see the beautiful and often tasty results of using compost matter in your garden.
Create a compost pile
To create your own compost pile, start by choosing a spot in your garden and lay down a foundation of sticks. Then mix 2/3 of carbon-based matter (i.e. kitchen scraps, lawn clippings) with 1/3 nitrogen (i.e. newspapers, cardboard). Once a week, mix up your pile of waste using a shovel. If it’s very dry using your garden hose add some water. Your pile should always be damp. To speed up the decomposition process use a tarp to cover the compost as this will trap the heat.
If all of this simply sounds like too much work you can always buy a composting bin at your local hardware store. It will speed up the process.
Don’t forget before you do any work with your compost pile to apply a thin layer of Workman’s Friend Barrier Skin Cream. Our unique formulation will keep your hands moisturized as you work.
Importance of composting
First and foremost composting is environmentally friendly. By using your organic and paper trash you avoid adding it to your local landfill. Using compost in your garden reduces the amount of hazardous chemical fertilizers you’ll use. Additionally, you will be conserving water by improving the stability of the soil in which you’ve planted your flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
The cost of creating your own compost pile cannot be beat-it’s free! All that is required is a little garden space, effort on your part and time. Once you’ve created your pile of organic matter it will do the work for you, by naturally decomposing. It takes only a few weeks to create your own ‘black gold’. Your garden will thank you.
It’s also incredibly fun and satisfying to know you’ve created something yourself. Think about it, you’ve saved trash that would otherwise have gone into a landfill. From there you’ve created something that is sustainable and will produce a nutrient-rich food for your garden.
Composting for All
Reduce, reuse, and recycle, these are the three golden words to being environmentally friendly. They are also the words that can be used to describe composting. What to the uninitiated might seem like a pile of rotting garbage is actually much more. That’s why on May 29th grab your gardening gloves, Workman’s Friend Barrier Skin Cream, and your shovel. It’s time to celebrate Learn About Composting Day.
Workman’s Friend Barrier Skin Cream is light-weight and odorless product. A simple application of our non-greasy, formula means your hands will be moisturized and protected from common irritants.