Plant disease reduction is a common benefit attributed to compost—but is it true. Will compost, added to the garden, reduce diseases in the garden? This is a very complex question that leads to some very interesting discussions about plants, and their diseases.
Compost microbes are micro-organisms (mostly bacteria and fungi) that live in the compost pile and get transferred to your soil when you add the compost to the soil. Many people consider this to be a benefit of using compost. Compost manufacturers even advertise their “special microbes”, sometimes called Effective Microbes.
It is all a myth. Let’s dig deep and understand this important gardening topic.
In past posts I have talked about some of the benefits of compost. It improves soil structure and it adds nutrients to the soil. What about the other benefits like adding microbes to the soil, reducing diseases and eliminating the need for additional fertilizer? Are these real benefits or just gardening myths?
In my last post Compost – Is it an Organic Fertilizer, I concluded that compost was an organic fertilizer and that it adds nutrients for the garden. I’d now like to have a closer look at the compost fertilizer numbers, the NPK, to better understand how and when the nutrients from compost are made available to plants. This discussion will also uncover some interesting facts about reported fertilizer numbers for organic fertilizers.
Compost is good for the garden, in part, because it adds nutrients for the plants. That sounds like a fertilizer. But almost everything you read says that compost is NOT a fertilizer. Something doesn’t make sense—let’s have a closer look at this myth. Is compost an organic fertilizer?
I was doing some reading about compost and compost myths and I asked myself, do I really know what compost is? I thought I knew. I had certainly read a lot about it, and I have been making it for over 40 years. I started by Goggling the definition of compost and it quickly became clear that the popular dictionaries on the net don’t agree on a definition. In fact they contradict one another. It became clear that this simple question had a more complicated answer.
The posts for the next several weeks will be dedicated to composting, making compost and composte‘, if you prefer that term. I’ll unravel the truth behind this black gold.
Since it is Christmas, I thought it would be appropriate to write about the birth of a myth. Gardening information is full of myths–untruths that seem to take on a life of their own. As part of my effort to understand these myths, I also want to understand how myths get started. The history of most myths has been lost but every once in a while I am able to find evidence that clearly shows how a myth is born.
Understanding how a myth is born can be very educational. It provides insight into how the human mind works. It also trains you to spot future potential myths and to better evaluate the information you are reading. So let’s celebrate this holiday by peering into the start of a myth.
It’s that time of year again, winter is coming. We close the windows and doors of our home to keep out the cold, and in the process, we lock in all kinds of chemical pollutants. Never fear, a few air-purifying plants will help with that problem. This must work since all kinds of home magazines, newspapers, and websites tell you it works. Headlines like “the 10 best plants for removing pollutants in your home” appear daily this time of year. How well do plants work at cleaning the air in our home?
In my last post I talked about fertilizing container gardens containing a soil-less mix. In this post I’ll look at some aspects of selecting the right soil.
Pruning trees and shrubs in late summer is NOT recommended because such pruning causes new soft growth that can’t harden off before winter. You will find this advice everywhere, but is it correct?
Rodgersia is an exceptional plant for the garden. They are true giants that will make a statement that your visitors will remember for quite some time. The problem with this genus is that the species are fairly similar to one another, resulting in many misidentified pictures on the internet. In this blog post, I hope to provide a simple way to help you identify your plants.
Bokashi composting, also spelled bocashi composting, is a new way to deal with kitchen scraps. The proponents of the system claim that it has a number of benefits not found in more traditional composting methods. In this blog post, I will have a close look at Bokashi composting and separate myth from reality.
