THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19632, 10 May 1927, Page 14

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

THE COMPOST HEAP. ■ ■■ ■■ BY S.T.R. pairing the past few years the compost heap has come to be .considered an essential part of the garden, as, indeed, it is. No gardener who has any claims, to that-, designation- should be without facilities of some sort for- disposing of hi? garden refuse to the best advantage.' ; There are - two methods of disposal .which are practicable. - The first means is to burn the refuse, but there are several drawbacks to this procedure. For one thing, the smoke from a rubbish fire often 'proves objectionable, arid besides this the ashes usually are not nearly as valuable from a fertilising point of- view as the product of the 5 other method. This second method consists of a compost heap, by means of which a greater quantity of plant food is obtained. ■ V " There are several advantages attached to the use of the compost System besides that just mentioned. For instauce, it requires very little attention, and, it might be said, its action is automatic. Thus the material is converted into plant food with practically ho bother, whereas a rubbish fire needs to: be ; ;attended to,. Furthermore, it is not everybody who can safely and conveniently light a rubbish fire, while, on . the other hand, an out-of-the way corner of the garden may readily be converted, into a compost heap. In this., way: that which would otherwise be an unoccupied portion pf the plot is •utilised to form what, although not a beauty spot, is a decided acquisition. Disposal of Rubbish. The' compost heap furnishes a very handy means for disposing of all refuse such as hedge clippings, lawn mowings and fallen leaves. During the autumn season the quantity of fallen leaves, is great where there are many trees, and when these are lying about the garden they provide an unsightly spectacle. Certainly they will' decompose where they lie, but it is much to be prefsrred if they are gathered up and placed on the compost heap where they will provide plant food to be,applied to the soil at w more opportune time. During a more or less continuous spell of wet weather, it is advisable when weeding the plot to gather all: the weeds together instead of allowing-..them to remain on the ground. This is done because the wet condition of the soil encourages the weeds to take root again and se render the weeding almost useless. The Weeds which have been collected may be thrown on to the compost heap, where they will be converted into food for plants.,., In this way the food of which one crop was robbed by the weeds will he returned to the soil,; and although the original crop will not in all probability receive any of this, yet some other crop will be benefited-' Danger from Weed Seeds. Care must be taken tc exclude any seeding plants from* the compost- heap, otherwise the heap will merely be a medium for spreading thousands" of. weed seeds al) over the garden. It is;, sometimes a difficult matter to decide whether a weed with a flower stalk is actually seeding or not. Some vvoeds when only h'alf developed at the time of eradication " will ripen i and possess full vitality. It will be seen, therefore, that, the gardener requires.; to be cautious when cases of weeds in a more or less advanced state of " seeding" come under his notice. A word or two about the management of the . compost heap might possibly be of assistance to gardeners in this direc tion. As was stated before, the compost :heap accomplishes its object automatically and'consequently it'does not require much attention. There is a method, however, by which .-the action may be accelerated,' sometimes to a considerable extent. The process which goes on in thd heap 'is known as nitrification, and i»; is by means of this'process that the material which is thrown on to the heap is converted r: through three intermediate .stages into plant food in the form of nitrates.' During this process, which is canned on by bacteria, a certain amount of acid is produced and this hinders the , action of the bacteria. If this hindrance ho removed the process will be carried on at a greater rate, which should be the object of the gardener. Thus the application of lime to the compost heap will serve as an accelerator. Liberal dressings should be made at, fairly frequent intervals, jis it is not likely that the ,h»ap will 'suffer through being limed too heavily. • Utilising Compost. It might be as well, perhaps, to add a note concerning the use of the decayed material from the compost heap. As more refuse is added at fairly regular intervals, it cannot be expected that the whole of the compost will be ready for use at any one time?-.;;.In:;; order ;-t&/ gains access to, the material which, has- decomposed at any time when it is required, the ' uhdecayed refvtse oh; .one half of the s heap should be scraped badk->on to the- other portion. The decomposed compost ./may, then be forked up and spread over the plot where it is wanted" . It is preferable to put the compost through s coarse sieve in order that it may spread more evenly over the ground, and will incorporate with the sot! more uniformly. If possible the compost heap should be covered over in order to prevent the rain from leaching all the value out of the compost.