Mulch and Composting
What You Need
Materials
For annual flower beds and vegetable gardens:
Lawn clippings or leaves from deciduous trees and shrubs
For trees and shrubs:
Wood chips, lawn clippings, sawdust, leaves from deciduous trees and shrubs, pine needles or manure
For pathways and play areas:
Wood chips or sawdust
Tools
• Shovel
• Wheel barrow
• Rake
• Work gloves
What To Do
- Spread your mulch in the garden, around the base of the tree, or in the path or play area. Rake smooth,
- Place mulch around the tree as illustrated in the diagram. Mulching trees helps keep moisture in the soil and protects plants during cold weather.
Why Compost
Composting is an easy way to transform your landscape trimmings and your fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps into a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil amendment. Gardeners refer to composting as “turning your garbage into gold” because it saves landfill space, conserves natural resources, and improves soil quality.
In Georgia, yard trimmings have been banned from landfills since 1996. Organic waste such as yard trimmings and kitchen scraps represents about 36% of our waste stream. Recycling organic waste is a natural way to reduce the amount of wastes going into landfills and it conserves natural resources. Compost is Recycling, it:
- Saves you money by lowering garbage bills and replacing the need for commercial soil amendments.
Helps your garden and container plants by improving the fertility and health of your soil.
Saves water by helping the soil hold moisture and reducing water runoff.
Benefits the environment by recycling valuable organic resources and reducing the use of fuel to transport yard trimmings off site, and process them on a large scale.
Compost Mound: What You Need
Materials
• Shovel or pitchfork
• Work gloves
Building a Compost Mound
Find a good location and pile your yard waste in a mound about 3 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet. If you cover the pile with a layer of soil, it will keep in moisture for the microorganisms and soil animals working to make compost.
Adding Wastes
Add wastes as they become available. Non-wood materials, such as grass clippings and garden wastes work best.
Note: When composting fruit and vegetable, open piles should be monitored to keep out rodents. Call the DeKalb Extension Service and ask for the flier Compost Bin – Rat Excluder.
Maintaining Your Compost Pile
It is best to have two piles. After the first pile is large enough, stop adding organic material and let it work. In the meantime, add your wastes to the second pile.
Make sure the pile is moist, especially if it is covered with soil.
You can turn the pile to speed up composting. Compost should be ready in three to four months if you turn the pile, or in about one year if you do not turn the pile.
Several types of compost bins can be seen at:
Fernbank Science Center Compost Garden
186 Heaton Park Drive
Atlanta, Georgia
DeKalb County Extension Service has compost demonstration sites throughout the county.
This information has been provided by:
DeKalb County Extension Office
4380 Memorial Drive
Decatur, Georgia 30032
(404) 298-4080
For more information about composting please visit the Keep DeKalb Beautiful website.
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