Making Compost
Adding Nutrients to the Soil
I had my friend Liliana help me add some dead leaves from the trees that are reacting to Autumn, as soon as I crushed them and added some at the top, the worms went crazy and loved it; devouring it. Afterwards, I added water and mixed it gently.
I came across another issue, I need to hold back on the caffiene for the worms, I did some research and it turns out, too much caffeine can kill the worms but is just enough is good for the soil because of it's nutrients that it provides.
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I did some research, and I discovered that coffee grounds serve an abundant source of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus; as well as other miconutrients such as boron, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, and zinc. These are what makes soil plentiful and nutritious. Progressively, I'll add more.
I went to the corner store to buy some worms, there was about 12 worms total per pack. The big compost bin without the seedlings I put 6 worms in there. I had to do some research about vermiculture so I wouldn;t accidentally kill the worms. You cannot drown worms, and accidentally cutting/tearing them won't kill them (from mixing water and new organic material). The only things that can kill worms would be harsh chemicals.
I collected more organic material such as egg shells(had to crush them), old mushy avocados, potato peels, and old mushy strawberries. There were maggots on some of the food that I was breaking down, so it was important to wear gloves. This gave me an important idea for getting some worms so this would speed up the decomposition and they would mix the soil. Then once again, digging up more dirt from my backyard and mixing it with the organic mushy waste.
Over time I collected materials such as, egg shells(had to crush them), banana peels, potato peels, strawberries, and onions. I had to dig up some red clay soil from my backyard and crush/break down the somewhat decomposed organic material.
Started to collect organic material so they could decay over time for when it is time to mix it in with red clay soil from my backyard. This would be difficult because red clay would be iffy to try to mix with the decaying plant/other organic matter.
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Reflection
For future reference, trying to create compost requires some source of heat to speed up the decomposition process. Trying to make compost in the Winter is kind of pointless because the cooling would only persrve the organic material. Storing organic material with dirt/red clay would be more efficient and easier if it was in a bin, the reason why majority of compost is stored in a bin not a pot. |