Compost soil is one of the mainstays of natural garden care. Rich in valuable nutrients and rich humus, the black gardener's gold fulfills important tasks. This guide gets to the heart of how to use compost soil competently.
What uses are there for compost soil?
Compost soil can be used as a natural fertilizer for heavy and low-consuming plants as well as to improve soil in sandy or compacted soils. However, wild perennials and ericaceous plants should not receive any compost.
Natural fertilizer of superlatives
Mature compost soil has all the important nutrients so that vegetables, fruit, flowers, perennials and trees thrive. You can make the natural fertilizer yourself or purchase it ready-made. How to use compost soil for organic nutrient supply in ornamental and kitchen gardens:
- Starting fertilization: distribute and rake over a large area throughout the garden in March
- Heavy-consuming plants: administer two liters of compost per square meter in May and July
- Weak-feeding plants: fertilize with one liter of compost per square meter at the end of May/beginning of June
Wild perennials do not receive compost. The plants react to the concentrated load of nutrients with masty growth and increased susceptibility to diseases and pests. Furthermore, rhododendrons, azaleas and other ericaceous plants have an aversion to compost because the high lime content harms them. Floral hunger artists, such as primroses, cacti and succulents, do not respond well to natural fertilizer.
Ecological soil improver
Compost soil is always there when garden soil does not meet high expectations. Before you invest time and effort in growing vegetables, fruits or ornamental plants, you should improve poor garden soil with compost. This is how it works:
- Dig out sandy or compacted garden soil two spades deep
- Collect the excavated material to the side of the bed or in a wheelbarrow
- Mix in ripe, sifted compost soil
- Fill the bed pit with the improved substrate
The ratio in which you mix garden soil and compost depends on the design and planting plan as well as the local conditions. In order for Mediterranean sun worshipers to thrive in sandy soil, a proportion of 10 to 30 percent compost provides the necessary nutrients. You can give heavily compacted, waterlogged garden soil a plant-friendly structure by adding at least half of sifted compost soil.
Tip
In natural gardens, compost soil serves as environmentally friendly lawn fertilizer. For this purpose, the organic material is sieved so that no rotten components get in and suffocate the noble grasses. A dosage of 10 liters of compost for 10 square meters of lawn has proven to be effective in practice.
