Comments on: Organic Gardening Tips – Organic Composting

By: Lynn Blevins

Lynn Blevins — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:21:10 +0000

Interesting how the organic food movement has changed the meaning of the word organic for most of us. From my college days I think of organic as carbon-carbon bonds (as in organic chemistry), but now we all think of it as “not sprayed”.

If you want to get technical about the phrase “organic composting” I would think that it means composting with all materials that are grown or raised organically (as in certified organic). Using the word “organic” to imply “of plant or animal orgin” or “containing carbon bonds” isn’t necessary since composting itself requires such materials.

In regards to synthetics in compost, some will break down completely or to inert substances, but some will not. For example, if you introduce a synthetic that contains a heavy metal into your compost bin the heavy metal will still be there. This is why I don’t put paper with colored ink, particularly conventional wrapping paper, in the compost (some inks contain metals which can help make colors vibrant). Such paper is better off recycled. That’s my waste management style, anyway.

By: Organic Vegetable Growing | Catalan Garden

Organic Vegetable Growing | Catalan Garden — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:06:25 +0000

[...] But, as far as possible you should put back, whatever you take from your vegetable garden. Organic composting is the first priority, to ensure serious volumes of humus and organic nutrients can be used to [...]

By: gintoino

gintoino — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:09:05 +0000

Very good post. I agree with all you wrote. I too consider myself to be an organic gardener and my veggetables to be organic, but I throw everything compostable into the compost hip including newspapper, card and all the vegetable scraps I can get from my friends and family. Also my chickens are fed with nonorganic food and I use their manure . I think this is way better than letting all that stuff go to waste into the garbage bin

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:28:38 +0000

We compost all waste that we can on our allotment but that isn’t enough to keep the soil up to scratch. To top this up I get a truck of organic manure from my friend’s smallholding each year which is mainly horse muck with a little bit of cow thrown in. Be careful sourcing manure from unknown sources though – I always like to check the fields where the animals have been grazing and what hay they are eating because any weeds that they have eaten will be brought along with the muck!
Love your blog! Very jealous of you out there is Catalunya! We were in Sant Maurici national park a year or tow ago walking in the mountains – what a beautiful part of Spain!

By: catalan gardener

catalan gardener — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:48:58 +0000

All the waffle talk has inspired me to find a recipe and make some!

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:03:23 +0000

I’ve just been reading all your posts that I’ve missed – we’ve had a very hectic time this last month! Sorry to hear about the lack of waffle but I bet a bit will show from time to time!