The process of how compost is made – and how it benefits soil and plants – is fascinating. It’s also useful, as an awareness can help you create faster compost, better soil and healthy, luxurious plants.
If you’re new to the science of composting, we suggest starting with The Science of Compost – How Compost Happens!
15th March, 2023 Across the world, millions of tonnes of human and pet hair waste are discarded every year. Recycling and re-use accounts for just a fraction of that. Current waste disposal of human waste varies across the world and causes a number of problems. Source: Gupta, Human Hair “Waste” and Its Utilization: Gaps and …
Pet and Human Hair Make Great Compost Finds Study Read More »
The fastest way to turn kitchen and garden waste into compost is aerobic composting. Aerobic literally means ‘with air’ – so as you can imagine, air is pretty important for aerobic composting! In this post, we’re going to dig a little into the science of why it’s important, what happens when it’s not present, as …
Optimizing Oxygen: Understanding the Role Of Air In Making Compost Read More »
Have you ever wondered what does the heavy lifting in your compost heap? The answer is a single-celled microscopic organism that comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be found living in virtually every ecosystem on Earth – bacteria. These microscopic microorganisms are truly tiny (about 500 million times smaller than the …
Composting is a magical process that has been used for thousands of years to improve the soil. Still, there was a time when people worried about what was in compost – in fact, at one point gardeners often sterilised compost before using it. However, in recent years, composting has also been recognized for its ability …
Free Air Space (abbreviated to FAS) refers to the air pockets created in compost piles. In many guides to composting, a huge amount of focus is given the Carbon: Nitrogen ratio. While this plays a role in composting, getting the C:N right is both difficult and less important than you might imagine. In contrast, FAS …
Free Air Space: The Magic Key to Making Compost? Read More »
Soil, when looked after, works wonders. In fact, after years of abusing soil with tractors, chemicals and artificial fertilisers, we are only just starting to learn how well it works when treated well. Much of that wonder comes down to Mycorrhizae Fungi. Contents What is mycorrhizal fungi? Mycorrhizae fungi is a family of fungus that …
You know compost is good for the soil, but do you know why? Chances are you think it’s about nitrogen and nutrients. That’s correct – compost does slowly release nutrients. However, these nutrients often help in more indirect ways than you might think. One way compost does so is by helping soil structure via the …
Composting is a fascinating but complex process that involves chemical reactions, bacteria, fungi and multiple organisms. To be clear, you don’t need to understand the science of compost to be able to make compost! You may find, however, that an appreciation of the subtleties does make you a better composter. What is composting? There’s no …
“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt There was a time when scientists thought agriculture was simple. You added fertilisers, plants used the fertilisers to grow. But the more we study the soil, and the environment, the more we learn about the interconnection between soil, plants and food It’s a fascinating, …
You don’t need an in-depth understanding of composting terms in order to compost successfully. But if you’re keen on developing your composting skills and knowledge, an understanding of key terms can quickly come in useful. In this article we explain many of the terms used in more in-depth guides. Do note we haven’t included bins, …