Wildlife gardeners can create healthy soil, decrease the amount of waste going to landfills, lessen our dependence on fossil fuels, and create welcoming habitats for wildlife in the soil by learning how to compost.
Chris McLaughlin joined me in an interview about all things compost.
Chris is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting, a Master Gardener, a garden writer, and she blogs at A Suburban Farmer.
I’m so thrilled that she is going to let me pick her brain about all things compost. We chatted for almost two hours about gardening for wildlife, why compost is so important, how to start and maintain your compost pile, and how she saves a lot of money because she composts so much.
There’s way too much good stuff to listen to all at once, so I’m going to break the interview down into good bite-sized chunks.
In Part One, we’ll explore:
- Composting and wildlife gardens
- Why composting is so important
- How to decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills
- How to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels
- And more.
Listen to Compost and Healthy Soil:
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Download Compost and Healthy Soil (MP3)
In Part 2 we discuss how to start your compost pile, what’s the difference between “greens” and “browns,” why carbon and nitrogen are so important in composting, and whether or not you must perform a soil test.
In Part 3 Chris tells us how she became an “accidental” organic gardener, what to do with fallen leaves, and gives a very funny speech about using rabbit poop in your organic garden.
What would you like to know about compost? Are you already composting?
[Music from the amazing Kara Barnard. "Blackberry Blossom" from the album, Fret Hopping in Brown County. Thanks, Kara!]
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About Carole Sevilla Brown
Carole ~ I had the best time chatting with you about composting and all things gardening. Thank you for this podcast, I enjoyed every minute of it!
Best,
Chris
Great post! Every week, I buy lots of organic fruits and vegetables, wash them carefully and then I prepare them for cooking. I pull off the ugly leaves, I remove the flesh from the rind, I cut off the ends, I remove the outer layers, etc. I use only the most tender and tastiest parts of the vegetables for my clients.
This leaves a large pile of organic kitchen scraps that is perfect for composting, I’ve been saying I need to compost, for a long time. This year, I’ve joined a CSA with Sang Lee Farms and I expect to get large quantities of fruits and vegetables that will create piles of kitchen scraps for composting. Well this year, I’ve taken another step to be greener by purchasing a composter and setting it up behind my shed.
Thanks for making it look so easy.
Namaste,
Chef Vanda
The Organic Personal Chef
Chef Vanda recently posted..Make The Most Out Of Your Kitchen Trash
Chef Vanda, I love my CSA! There’s nothing like a delivery of just picked fruits and vegetables! They taste so much better than anything that I can get at the grocery, and they were not trucked all over the country.
I’ve been composting for a while now and I’ve found that a compost pile that is actually touching the dirt will break down the materials faster, but only if you turn it regularly and make sure that it is moist. It’s a lot easier to do that in a tumbler than taking out the pitch fork once a week.
Bill Brikiatis recently posted..Do Tumbling Compost Bins Work