Compost Info Guide
Compost Tips, Composting Aritcles, Compost Bin reviews and much more...
Composting Articles:
- How to Compost
- Worm Compost
- 10 Tips for Better Compost
- Fast Compost
- Good Ingredients
- Green Materials
- Brown Materials
- What not to add
- Building a Pile
- Using Compost
- Measuring Moisture
- Compost Maturity
COMPOST BOOKS: RECOMMENDED READING
Here's a selection of our favourite books on composting, soil building and gardening. There are so many good books out there and this is by no means a complete list. Please let us know your favourite books and we will add them to our list!
Let it Rot!: The Gardener's Guide to Composting
If you can only own one book on composting, this is it. Covering just about everything gardeners need to know about composting - it's very thorough. It's written in a very funny, readable format that covers all kinds of different composting methods. It's the kind of book that's as fun as it is informative. Recommended for everyone from beginners to experts.
Easy Composters You Can Build
A wonderful little book (tiny actually) with lots of good, simple instructions for building compost bins. Great if you want specific instructions for building compost bins and other structures but you already have lots of information on the composting process itself. That's why I bought it!
It's also very inexpensive and usually sells for around $4.
Start With the Soil: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Improving Soil...
I seem to use this book more than any other composting or soil improvement book. I found a copy at the local discount bookstore during my very first year of gardening and it has served me really well over the years. It has great useful information for beginner and intermediate gardeners on building and maintaining soil fertility. It has chapters on humus and soil health, composting, vermiculture, and how to manage your soil for the needs of different plants. This is a great book if you want a good introduction to all aspects of building your soil.
Joy of Gardening, by Dick Raymond
This is one of my all time favourite gardening books and with tons of step-by-step photos showing the author's test plots. It's a really enjoyable read. It was from this book that I first found good practical information about cover crop (green manure) gardening. Dick Raymond is known in the USA for his national TV series, "Garden Way's Joy of Gardening". The author does use chemical fertilizers but the information is easily adaptable for those who are more organically minded. There are lots of innovative methods for improving your soil and getting incredible yeilds from a small space. The focus of the book is primarily on vegetable gardening and the information on cover crops is unique for a mainstream gardening book. Highly recommended!
The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener
This book is like a composting textbook. Everything you wanted to know (and more) about the history, methods and science of composting. A bit too technical and detailed for beginner composters but fascinating for technical types and those who wonder about what's really happening in their compost - including the chemical reactions taking place and other fascinating stuff that's going on behind the scenes.