Most of our visitor are asking us about how to compost hedge trimmings? Which is the best garden composter ? How to choose the best way for compost hedge trimmings?
Have you been cutting your hedges to get that fine trimmed finish? It definitely enhances the look of your garden and turns it into an impressive view. However, frequent trimming leads to a pile of hedge waste. As a result, you are probably irked with the fact that there is huge quantity of hedge waste. It keeps adding on with every trim. Consequently, the accumulation of these hedge wastes seems like a mountain of green waste. Furthermore, the beauty of your garden begins to decline due to the heap of woody hedge stacking up.
How to Compost Hedge Trimmings Properly?
Although, it is an easy way out to fill up these wastes of trimmed hedge in a garbage bag or burn them in ashes, neither of them is a good idea. Organic wastes have the potential to be converted into ‘Black Gold’ in form of organic manure free from chemicals.
Those who are environmentally conscious and concerned about global warming choose to productively utilize the eradicated part of their hedges. It is better than throwing them out or burning them away. You could also opt to convert them into compost and contribute your bit to the environment.
Eco-friendly Compost
Here, at Best Hedge Trimmers, we try to cover the full process of gardening. Hence, we start from trimming and finish at composting.
First of all, you must understand what compost is. Compost is the process in which waste of trimmed hedges, waste of farm materials is decomposed in pits. The waste can vary from: livestock excreta, vegetables, eradicated straws, weeds, leaves, grass, etc. . The relevant era demands for inducing organic waste to attain high quality soil.
Composting is an eco-friendly and intellectual technique of transforming your hedge waste and other garden waste into a dark, rich and productive soil. Composts act as food for the soil as it energizes it with its microscopic bacteria and harmless fungi. Generally, composting of biological scraps and wastes is a natural process of recycling organic materials. It takes roughly one to three year under normal conditions.
However, if the pile is moist and contains a good ratio of carbon to nitrogen under hot weather condition or artificial heating system, it could take almost three months to turn into ripe compost.
Method of Composting your Hedge Trimmings
Any woody material would eventually rot down as a natural process. It is such as twigs, sticks, bits, barks, branches and also log of trunk if left unattended. However, the delayed process of rotting could release unfavorable fume and take years to transform into compost. The woody stems of hedges make excellent mulch and you can also save a lot of money from buying compost for the soil. Fresh woody stems are easily metamorphosed into compost in comparison to dry and old woody scraps.
Here is the best garden composter available today:
- Speeds up composting - Saves effort in turning backyard waste into compost.
- Effortless turning - Self-Turning, Tumbling feature.
- Easy to assemble.
- Aeration system and mixing bars to speed up composting process.
- Heavy duty all-season construction for year-round composting. UV Protected.
There are different ways to decompose the hedge trimmings depending upon its diameter and the urgency of their requirement for your plants. There are two methods of composting – slow or rapid composting. It is recommended by professional gardeners to allow the decomposition process to complete before use in order to eliminate the phytotoxic substances. These phytotoxic substances have the potential to do more harm to the plant than good.
Read more about best garden shredders available today.
Woody Waste up to 1cm in diameter
If your hedges have slender woody stems that are 1 cm in diameter, you could convert them into organic resource for your garden manure. Toss them into a domestic compost bin or heap for finer texture of compost. In addition to small woody clippings, you could include other green organic matters to rapid the process of composting. The brown woody waste materials are a good source of carbon. Green grass cuttings provide nitrogen which is essential for compost made at home.
Woody Waste from 1 cm to 4 cm in diameter
If the wood of the hedge is slightly thicker and ranges from 1 cm to 4 cm, it is recommended to shred them into short lengths. Avoid stuffing large pieces of wood into the compost bin as it will lead to unsuccessful attempt to compost. Almost all woody shredded materials are rich in carbon and low in nitrogen. In order to accelerate the process of composting, it is ideal to add on grass cuttings because it contains nitrogen. A good ratio of carbon and nitrogen allow the organic matters to become compost. Another procedure of composting is to allow the stockpile of shrub waste to rot in an open space. However, this process is time consuming and probably takes more than a year.
Here is a bit budget offering for garden composter:
- Efficient composter for swift production of compost
- Excellent ventilation and thermal insulation to aid composting process
- Weatherproof and UV stable
- Easy to install, requiring no tools
- Ideal solution for reducing waste collection
Woody Waste beyond 4 cm in diameter
Such thick woody stems of shrubs are incapable of being transformed into compost in a domestic compost bin due to its chunky diameter. It needs to be shredded before it is tossed into the compost bin. You could call upon a professional shredder. Alternatively, you could aesthetically design them into a log pile if you have plentiful space in your garden. However, if you are keen on using thick woody branches of 4 cm in diameter as compost, you could store them in minimized size in the form of wood chips, wood shavings, etc. It would be rather beneficial to add nitrogen rich organic waste along with the shredded wood in the compost bin for best result.
Most Noteworthy Facts About Garden Compost
You probably did not know, but your garden could be recycled and everything that falls off or is pruned can serve as a productive resource. Many researches have proved how beneficial organic matters are for the development of your garden soil. Furthermore, organic matters have been proven to improve the physical properties of soil. As a result they had a positive impact on the yield of the crops.
The increase in infiltration, water retention, microbial activities is vital. The healthful properties were most noteworthy when the soil is blended with chemical-free compost.
You may use composter accelerators if needed. Here is the best one on the market:
- Accelerates breakdown of kitchen and garden waste by increasing bacterial activity
- Uses a blend of bacteria and fungi that improve the quality and efficiency of homemade compost
- Includes nutrients that feed the existing indigenous bacteria in the compost
- Can be used as an additive in any compost bin to assist the composting process
- 1 pack of 12 tablets treats 1,800 litres of compost
When analyzed, it was found that the nutrients in plants were much higher especially due to inclusion of organic compost to the soil. It also increases the production output on a healthier note. Compost made from hedge trimmings reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. It also lowers the carbon footprints and eliminates methane emissions from landfills. An overall conclusion, advocates that composting enriches the soil, helps retain moisture and prevents pests from attacking the plant.
