Choosing the Best Compost Mix for Your Garden

Gardening can be all kinds of fun, particularly if you are able to raise some amazing looking plants. However, in order to do that you will need to feed those plants as well as possible. In order to do that, you will need to learn the process for choosing the best compost mix for your garden. It's not really that difficult, at least if you keep these guidelines in mind.

• What's the mix? One of the most important steps in choosing the best compost mix for your garden is to know the nutrition requirements for your various plants. These nutrition requirements will allow you to know what range you will need to look for on your compost mix. Generally speaking you will want to find, or create, a mix that has a ratio of about 30 parts carbon to every single part of nitrogen. The closer you can get to this ratio, the better off you will be.
• How moist is it? Good compost needs to be moist, without being too wet. Basically, you want a mix that is damp to the touch, but not soggy or muddy. If you are making your own mix, you will need to pay particular attention to the moisture level of your compost and take the appropriate measures to compensate. However, if you are purchasing premade compost you will need to check the moisture level prior to purchasing.
• Make your own. If you are thinking of making your own compost, make sure that you start of using reputable recipes before you start. Additionally, you will want to make sure that you have the proper tools to actually make it. This means that you either have a compost tumbler, or that you have a dedicated area for your compost. Either way, make sure that you regularly turn your compost to help mix it together.
• Multiple sources. For those who decide to use a compost pile, instead of a compost tumbler, you will need to have more than a single pile. Doing this will allow you to have an almost continual source of compost, particularly if you stagger the start date on each pile. While using a tumbler can help provide compost a bit quicker than by using a pile, you may want to consider using more than one tumbler. Just a with multiple piles, multiple tumblers will allow you to have multiple sources for your composting needs.

In large part, when choosing the best compost mix for your garden, it will be up to you to determine what the best choice is. While these guidelines can help you get in the right neighborhood of what will work, only your experimentation (your trial and error) will allow you to figure out which recipes and mixes will work the best for your particular garden.