One of the things that usually comes to my mind when planting in containers, pots or in raised beds is if the soil still contains the right nutrient for the plants to grow and give good produce, do I have to change compost every growing season ? or maybe can compost be recycled and reused ? or is it possible to add more to it and still be okay? for that we have analyzed all the possibilities that came to our minds to give you an honest response to all of these questions :

Do I have to change compost every year ?

Depending on the plants that you are growing are they heavy feeders (tomatoes, pepper …) or not , the actual mix that you are using and the size of your growing space but as a rule : compost nutrients will be majorly consumed in the end of the growing season, you need to change it with new compost and use the old one for a different purpose or revive it. 

Now let’s watch this video and go into much more details below :

What will happen if i leave the compost for too long?

Even thought the compost will continue it’s degradation phase for long after being used as a source of nutrients  but most of it’s components will be used by the plants during one growing season and if you keep using the same over and over without any added resources your plants are going to suffer from a lack of ingredients which will limit the growth of them making it easy to catch diseases and won’t be able to produce the healthy veggies you’re used to have, they might even grow and don’t give you any produce.

How to revive old compost ? to use it again.

there are several ways you can revive the old compost and use it in different forms in your garden but before you can do those, you have to make the necessary check to make sure you are not harming your new plantation :

Make sure that your compost isn’t infected : ( do a check )

Disease are really harmful to your plants especially the new planted seedlings, if your precedent plant have died from some sort of diseases or it has been infested with insects then this should be a sign that your compost might be also infected so make sure it doesn’t have some harmful insects or escargots in it.

if it is in perfect condition and just has a lack of nutrients, begin by removing all sorts of roots that must stick in it
(this might be a good chance to verify if some sort of insects or fly has been hidden inside of it).

Introduce some nutrients to it :

There is two main ways to do that :

You can mix the old compost with new freshly produced compost, and they should work fine providing the right nutrient for the plants, as we said even the old compost is still decomposing but in a slow pace so mixing it with a ratio of 50:50 should make a great resource for the plants during their growing cycle.

You can add a balanced fertilizer to your old compost to reintroduce nutrients to it (make sure they are slow release organic fertilizers) read carefully the instructions on the fertilizers because you don’t want to over feed the compost and that could damage your plants.

In what frequency should I change compost ?

this will depend on the surface you are planting in if you plant in a large field separa

ting the plants from each others  or growing heavily in small size containers with a limited soil, you know your garden best but generally in both sides try to add some nutrients in order to get satisfying results

Should I change the compost for my indoor plants ?

For indoor plants, changing the compost to revive the soil is favorable for the plants to grow more and improve their health , you can do this operation once a year for potted plants but try not to shock the plants by removing all the soil from it which will kill the plant, you can do this operation by moving the soil in the pot and adding a extra layer of new compost, most indoor plants aren’t heavy feeders so this should be fine.

How can I recycle compost that is no longer usable ?

If by now you judge that your compost if fully used and it doesn’t have much of nutrients, there are other ways to recycle the compost and still make use of it :

1. you can use it as mulch : compost has the ability to store water and could be a great resource
2. cover your garden from the frost with it
3. use it in parts of your garden that doesn’t need much nutrients

Can I reuse compost from my diseased plants ?

if your compost is tired and begin to catch diseases it’s preferable to get rid of it and do not use it again, because it’s doing to cause you problems and won’t be easily fixed, so we suggest putting it aside from your planting.

Is the compost good for preventing diseases ?

Compost contain some good bacteria that help decompose it and are good for the soil but compost isn’t a cure for plant diseases, it can prevent the plants from catching diseases simply by providing the necessary ingredients for them to grow healthy and be able to resist and face those obstacles, but if the plants are catching some sort of diseases there is no point on putting some compost trying to cure them, it’s a waste of resources and it isn’t going to work.

To summarize it all :

• Using compost for too long could make your plants suffer from a lack of nutrients
• Before trying to revive your compost , make sure there’re no diseases or insects that can harm your plants
• you can revive it by either mixing it with new compost or introducing balanced fertilizers
• if you have taken all sorts of nutrients out of your compost and doesn’t want to add fertilizers you can use it as mulch and cover your beds from the frost
• you can add layers of compost to your pots and bring up the necessary nutrients for them
• compost from diseased plants isn’t usable
• compost isn’t a cure for plant disease it just make them sufficiently healthy to face it.

If you want to know the best technique to make good quality compost on your own check Our Ultimate guide on composting HERE

As much as I love making compost and it happened that am composting in a bin, last time I noticed some weird White worms in my composting bin, I thought my compost just went wrong and it isn’t working but after taking the time to learn about them I discovered that they are just Maggots and they are not that bad so here’s an article to take you throughout my discoveries.

What you should know about Maggots in your compost ?

Maggots in compost are actually beneficial in most times they eat your scrapes to create compost for you but, if it happens that you are already putting red worms (red wigglers) to do the job, in this case you’re not providing the right environment for them to perform, it’s also a sign for you that your compost has achieved a high level of moisture and you need to put more browns (carbon materials) to make a good ratio  and you’ll notice them disappear gradually

If you want to know more about them here’s a video to explain everything you need to know then we’ll go deeper in the article below :

Where does maggots originate from :

Maggots are fly larvae, usually of the common housefly and also the bluebottle. Flies are attracted to food and other rubbish to lay their eggs, later with the right worm temperature and environment the eggs transform into maggots and get nourished from the food waste they happen to be in.  so you are only going to have them if flies can get to your waste land for that you should limit the flies accessibility to your compost but it isn’t something obvious since you are doing compost outdoor most likely in a pile or a bin and so other than protected bins , you are going to get flies on your wastes and if you’ve ever gone crazy trying to swat flies in your kitchen, then you already know exactly what causes these maggots to show up in your compost.

you could prevent the eggs from hatching into maggots if you keep the ratio of the greens to browns at about 1 third (approximately 70% brown and 30% green) and not too much moisture this way you’re not providing them with the right environment to be in and they likely won’t come.

also if you are keeping your compost still and isn’t aerating it frequently you are much likely to have those maggots in it, they support living in a low oxygen environment more often

Are maggots going to cause any problem for my compost or my plants :

Like I said earlier maggots are not going to cause any problem for the compost itself except for some odor that they are going to create and it may cause a problem for people doing their compost near the house or even inside.

the maggots appear in an early phase of composting in the begging of the process and if you decide to keep them, they are going to transform into flies in the end of their development case to leave your compost, when the compost is ready you won’t find any sort of maggots in it because it isn’t the right environment for them to live in so your plants won’t even have to face them.

How to get rid of them

the good news is you can get rid of them easily , you have to put more carbon materials to your compost until you reduce  the moisture of it , because it is one of the most definitive factors for them to appear.

to speed up the process you’ll also need to put some lime combined with eggshells in your compost pile to hight up the acidity but be careful of PH because it could go really high which might be a problem for your plants, from my experience I just put some pieces of used lime scraps because we use a lot of it and it did work, I heard that some people use 1 cup of lime per 25 cu ft. of compost and it also works perfectly.

Aerate your compost frequently buy turning your compost bin if you’re using one that has the turning functionality, move it and mix it with a Pitchfork or a Scoop Shovel or you can just move it from one location to another as a way to aerate, also you can be using an aerator that works perfectly as a way to achieve deep levels of the pile without moving it.

You can give them as food for your chickens and they will adore them it isn’t a way to totally finish them if you intend to do so but it’s a way to make the best use of them, some gardeners even produce them to feed their birds fishes and some other pets like lizards or sell them to pet stores as food.

how to avoid maggots from the beginning

You can avoid getting maggots but making sure that you are making your compost the right way using the right ratio to keep it clean and achieve the most satisfying results for that I advice you to take a look at my Composting Guide an all included article the takes you through all the necessary steps for a great result click here.

One of the most therapeutic hobbies. Gardening is said to be not only a good exercise for the body, but also a good source of sense fulfillment, and obviously, an opportunity to contribute in your own way, to advocate the importance of nature.

With that being said, Gardening is not limited to those who have large gardening fields with some knowledge you can grow trees in pots and get fruits, you only need to recognize the needs of a plant.

In this blog, we are gonna provide you with tips and technics to master your container gardening that might help from the beginner to the expert. 

Decide on what you would like to grow?

In choosing what to grow, you must specifically consider your time, your lifestyle, and your needs, as these define the extent of commitment you can give your garden. For example, if you want your pots to be decorative In that case, you pick ornamental plants. However, if your idea of a hobby is simple being happy-go-lucky, with no commitments, just come and go, it’s either you think it all over again or choose low maintenance plants to grow in your pots. In this way, you only have to water them once in a while.

Many container gardening enthusiasts choose to grow what they need in the kitchen. Also, several of the kitchen experts are now growing their herbs in their very working area. This is probably a good way to combine your passion with your work towards pleasurable functionality. For these people, good and common options for container gardening include certain herbs, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes but like explained earlier, you can grow whatever you like.

Fertilizers are needed in keeping the soil able to nourish your plants, thus they are always part of your gardening essentials. It is critical to maintain the level of organic matter in the soil, from where your plants grow, which cannot go too low on the nutrients.

Fertilizers can vary from organic to synthetic fertilizers. Some gardeners even add sand or clay to their soil to balance it out. But most of the time gardeners add a different substance that brings balance and fertility to any soil types of soil which are organic matter.

Organic matter is anything that was once living, whether plant or animal. It is what feeds the worms and microbes that make soil come alive like leaves, kitchen scraps, and manure. In other words, compost. Here you can find step by step guide to composting.

The other good things about organic fertilizing are that it could be really cheap and that it has long-term and stable effects on the soil, as opposed to the synthetic type of fertilizers. Such steady longer effects make it even more suitable for container gardening, as you will not likely have to till the soil as you are to do that in ground gardening. 

On the other hand, you have inorganic fertilizers that are made of chemical substances supplied to the crops to increase their productivity. The fertilizers contain the essential nutrients required by the plants including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. They enhance the water retention capacity of the soil and also increase its fertility.but the miss-use of that chemical substance can lead to some serious issues considering that they are most of the time toxic and can lead to killing your plants and soil if you miss-use them. we recommend using compost instead.

Load The Container Properly

When filling in container, composted soil is placed at a height of two to four inches. If you are planting sprouts, then you should give them a few inches of space around the roots. However, scattering the seeds even across the platter will do the job if you are planting seeds. One suggestion to be more practical with growing herbs is to keep two or three containers of each plant going at once, so that when you’ve clipped one plant, you will have another one ready to keep you covered on your next meal.

If you are considering grouping various plants in one container, remember that the plants should have the same needs on the amount of water. Therefore, they must be planted in such a way that their roots are not on the same levels, and that those that should be driest are closest to the surface.

Tomatoes, however, are easy to over-water. So before watering them you should check the soil. If the soil is moist, then wait till the moment when it becomes dry and only then water. It is best to water around the base of the plant, rather than through the leaves.

When it is time to harvest from your plants, you would want use the apt scissors to snip the leaves or vegetables. In order for you to do this, clip the leaves around the base of the plant first, so that it will continue to grow and fill out. You may now enjoy the freshest herbs you could ever get, and that is straight from your very own container garden. Rewarding as it sounds, it would feel better in reality. 

Tomatoes.

As always, the right container size is crucial in growing tomatoes. So is such consideration essential in growing different variants? To grow the smaller variants of tomatoes, containers with around 6-liter capacity at the least are advisable, while for the larger ones, a minimum capacity of 10 liters should be used for one. A high recommendation is given by experts on growing cherry tomatoes instead of the big ones, as they more easily grow and ripen, giving you the best of what you may need from the crop. Varieties of vince cherry tomato you might want to include are black cherry, gardener’s delight, sungold, and sun cherry premium, while some examples of dwarf bush ones are minibel, micro tom, tom thumb, balcony red, and balcony yellow.

When preparing the pot and the soil, remember that the roots of tomato plants need to breathe. To facilitate this, you may add around 15% of perlite in your growing mix. Also, you may create small holes on the sides of the pot so that the roots receive a sufficient supply of air. Aside from holes on the container, support may also be provided for bush tomatoes with the use of stake or strings. The watering technique is also important. What to keep in mind is to saturate the entire area of soil you can see; otherwise, you are merely wetting the topmost layer. Other than watering, an important way to keep the tomatoes growing is feeding it with compost or tomatoes feed. You may dilute the tomato feed with double the amount of the recommended water, so you can distribute the feeding into an increased frequency, and less quantity in each feeding. Link to tomatoes feed

Herbs.

Herbs are preferred by many to be grown in containers, not only because they look stunning in those pots, and they are easy to access and move when cooking, but also because they are much easier to manage and to make the most out of when they are grown there. Examples of herb that can be grown in pots or similar containers are Nasturtium, forest green parsley, Genovese basil, lemon balm, and lemon thyme.

Herbs always offer the closest thing to instant gratification in your garden. They are among the easiest edibles to grow, and you can start harvesting little snippets of seasoning almost right away

A small number of herbs are summer annuals (basil, dill, and cilantro being prime examples). These mature quickly and can be planted every 30 days to ensure a fresh supply: heat-loving basil and dill in the warm months, cilantro in spring and fall. But most herbs are low-maintenance perennials including rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, lavender, savory, chives, tarragon, mint, and fennel meaning you can plant them once and harvest for years (parsley, a biennial, lives for two growing seasons). Some herbs, such as rosemary, can grow to the size of an armchair, but if you’re short on space, you can pack several different perennial herb seedlings in a single-window planter and they will grow just fine, albeit dwarfed.

Window planters are Ron’s favorite places to grow herbs. For convenience, install a few in your kitchen window. “You can cut [herbs] right there when you need them,” he says. This is a garden that nearly anyone can manage.

Legumes 

Like greens and herbs, legumes grow vigorously with minimal effort. English peas and sugar snap peas like the cool weather of early spring while most beans should not be planted until mid or late spring when the weather warms up.

Most beans and peas grow on a short vine and require a trellis, The options are endless, and the vines are light and short-lived, so you don’t need to worry about building something sturdy or permanent. The most important thing is guiding little legume seedlings toward the bottom of the trellis (once they’ve latched on they will pull themselves up). Alternatively, plant “bush beans,” which have been bred to grow in a short, stocky shape, eliminating the need for a trellis.

extra herbs

Lemon balm, a lemon-scented herb is a fast-growing plant, is best grown in a container, as it could overtake whatever space is reserved for it. In growing this mildly sedative herb, seeds are sown indoors for six weeks before the last frost and are lightly

covered with average, full-drained soil. To keep them bushy, you may cut plants during the growing season to provide your kitchen with fresh foliage for different recipes.

Lemon thyme, known for its intense lemon aroma, is best grown in the full sun within average-well drain soil. Similarly, with lemon balm, this herb could appear rather messy on the ground, so its best to be grown inside a nice container, from plants, and not seeds. Lemon thyme must hibernate outdoors, and be trimmed back to its livelier form during spring. You may cut back its stems to trim during the growing season.

Generally, in harvesting herbs, as the rule goes, the more you pick, the more you’ll get. When you keep pinching most of those healthy plants, you help them become bushier, thus prettier.

Bonus: Helpful Tips

Now if you are deciding to grab some pots and selecting some seeds and plants and soil, it is also important that you know some dos and don’ts, which can help you enjoy your experience in container gardening. Others have made mistakes; you cannot afford to repeat them. Others have paved the way to your success; learn from them.

Plants drown too;

keep them safe. Water is good for plants; that’s a fact. Water is good for you too; in fact, it is a necessity. But hyperhidrosis is something you do not wish for yourself. While you are trying to keep yourself hydrated, you only do so in moderation. Your plants can drown too. If you over-water your plants, their green leaves may fade to yellow, and your plant turns weak. Before this could even happen, pay attention to your soil; it may be too wet. In this case, adjust by transferring the container to a spot where the soil can dry a bit, just enough not to completely dry them out. know how much you should water. Different plants have relatively different needs pay attention to not dehydrate them, In order for you to know that you are watering enough, make sure you see the water above the surface of the soil, and not merely allowing the former to just wet the latter at the topmost layer.

Keep your garden disease-free.

When buying plants, stay away from those that need resuscitation. Choose healthy ones. When some parts of your plant fall off, make sure to take them out if it does not qualify as compost. It may infect the entire plant/plants in case you mistakenly commit this. Also, keep your plants away from weeds, pests, and animals. Although you grow your plants in containers, there are still chances for your plants to experience this, so just in case you see some little crawling beings, simply yank it off to keep your garden clean and nice. 

Stay away from frustration.

Consider your lifestyle when planning to start maintaining container gardens. Is this something you can put your commitment on? Do you have time for it? Think of this endeavor as a commitment. Can you manage to keep up with it possible demands this may ask of you? In cases where you need to leave without prior notice do you have a plan of action while you are away? In case you travel a lot and leave the house most often than not, there are solutions to your dilemma.

First solution:

you may either go for an automatic drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation is said to be the most effective method of irrigating, much more than sprinklers. This drip system is said to be very convenient because it not only wastes much less water, it is also said to be easy to install, easy to design, and able to reduce the disease of plants brought about by a certain level of moisture of the soil. The mechanism of this type of irrigation lies in that the water soaks directly into the soil prior to it can run off or evaporate. Another mechanism showing its efficacy is that the water is applied only when needed, rather than spread everywhere. Perfect for your potential away-from-home concern.

Second option:

to solve your problem in case you cannot be home to water your plants is the use of self-watering containers or sub-irrigation is said to be a method of irrigating your plants in which the water is accessed from the bottom, allowing the water to soak upwards towards the plant through what referred to as called capillary action

These solutions, especially the second one, are actually feasible approaches, but in case they seem to be too expensive for you or not doable for you, you can always choose plants that do not need as much water to survive. It’s your choice. 

Get your guide on how to create compost now, u know why you should? cause your plants will love it.

Don’t forget to drop a comment down here to let us know what are you planning to grow on your containers

Composting is a superb technique to reproduce the life cycle that nature has been doing for millions of years, It is the best way to take scaps from your trash (minimize waste). not only that, compost provides all your plants with the best organic fertilizer that they will adore.

Follow our easy steps to create the legendary “black gold” in no-time. 

Why should you compost?

Because a rind is a terrible thing to waste and it will also make a free and wonderful organic fertilizer, that will fill your garden with nutritions. 

Here are some other benefits to it:

-Composting will minimize your waste and the amount of garbage you throw away 

-Your garbage will be free from organic materials, which means no odor from it.

-You’ll contribute to a better planet by reducing methane gas that is being caused by garbage. 

NB: we made the whole list of benefits in the end of the article.

What are the things that you need to start composting?

Primarily your compost is going to have 4 supplies which are: scraps “greens” and Garden waste  “browns”, combined with air and water those are all free provisions that are abundant in your kitchen and garden so that the living things in your compost would have the perfect environment to perform. 

List of the compostable wastes:

List of greens

• Green leaves and grass clippings 
• Vegetable trimmings
• Old vegetables and fruits
• Green plant pruning
• Weeds (without seeds)
• Old flower bouquets and houseplants 
• green grass hay
• Used tea bags
• Coffee grounds (including filter)
• Animal manure (from herbivores such as chickens, rabbits, horses) 
• Algae; kelp
• seaweed
• Citrus peels (chopped well) 

Bonus: Onions and Garlic are part of the greens but you should think twice before including them to your compost. it’s known that these vegetables may repel earthworms, which are a vital part of a healthy garden.

List of browns :

• Dried grasses
• Cardboard (including egg cartons and toilet paper rolls) 
• Paper towels
• Newspaper
• Shredded documents
• Oat hay; aged hay
• Straw
• Dried leaves (shredded)
• Chipped wood (natural wood)
• Sawdust
• Wood ash (not coal ash)

What NOT to Compost

you may want to avoid composting these items , they tend to make your compost smelly and it will most likely attract animals and pests, here’s a list of these items:

• Anything containing meat, oil, fat, or grease
• Diseased plant materials
• Sawdust or chips from pressure-treated wood
• Dog or cat feces
• Weeds that go to seed
• Dairy products

So to provide these four resources for them you’ll fill your bin with: Green materials(source of nitrogen) and Brown materials (source of carbon). Now, enough oxygen will be a suitable place for aerobic bacteria which are the hardest-working bacteria in the compost pile. If there’s very little (or no) air in your pile, their freeloading cousins will directly move in. Along with them comes their stinky baggage (and you don’t want that, right ? )

Water needs to be at around 40 percent moisture, which is about as wet as a wrung-out sponge, to let oxygen circulate (more than 60% you’ll be welcoming anaerobes right away.

Ratio: People tend to over-complicate the ratio behind composting but it isn’t big of a deal, you know your compost bin well enough to say that there is a lack of brown or green materials. To produce good compost it is important to have the right mix of ingredients. If you add too much soft, green material, such as grass clippings, the heap may turn into a slimy,  sludge. Put in too much dry, woody material, and it will rot down slowly, if at all. Ideally, aim for a ratio of about 70:30.

Bonus Tip: During most of the year, it is likely that you will be producing more green than dry material, so you will need to look around for dry waste to add. Woody prunings are best, but brown cardboard, crumpled newspaper, and even the insides of used toilet paper rolls all make suitable alternatives. 

How can I set up my composting area?

Depending on what result you want to achieve and how much time you are willing to wait for your compost. Composting tools can vary from commercial Bins, DIY bins to just arranging a pile, these are all technics that work just fine because in the end, the composting phenomena is just going to happen either you control it or not.

Review of commercial bins:

Standard plastic compost bins, they are functional rather than attractive, Along with that, they do hold lots of garden and kitchen waste. They are also the most inexpensive.

If you are concerned about how your compost bin fits in with the rest of your garden, there are more attractive options, including wooden bins designed to look aesthetically good that can be stained to suit your garden design. These are a good choice for smaller gardens where the bin would be on view.

Impatient gardeners may prefer “tumbler” bins. These allow you to make small batches of compost in weeks, not months, by turning the bin to increase airflow, which naturally speeds up the composting process. 

Bring it all together

To sum up the whole process of composting:

1) Find a good place To put your bin, Shady place near the water.

2) Add the ingredients for your compost, The 70:30 ratio.  

3) Water is essential: Remember not more than 40%.

4) Keep things moving, To let oxygen circulate.

5)wait for it, while controlling the previous points.

Still not convinced about the value of compost? 

Here are five more benefits that compost usage offers on your plants and soil :

acts as a disease suppressor.

Researchers have discovered another virtue, which doesn’t get as much publicity as it should: compost is valuable for plant-disease resistance. 

The beneficial microorganisms produced by composting organic materials render plant pathogens inactive. Potato blight, powdery mildew, and damping-off (a fungal disease) are all examples of plant diseases that compost can suppress.

increases the growing season.

Compost improves average soil structure by bringing it to a loamy, friable state. Nutritionally rich soil with good structure is able to hold heat better than poor soil. For the gardener, this means the soil warms up faster and stays warm longer, which allows the gardener to plant earlier and harvest later in the season.

acts as a ph buffer.

For most plants, the most desirable pH is neutral; neither too acidic nor too alkaline. If a gardener is generous with applying compost to garden soil, he or she doesn’t have to worry about the pH levels as much—if at all (unless you have plants such as blueberries that need a more acidic pH level).

saves water.

Compost increases soil’s capacity to hold water by a wide margin. For instance, a dry soil low in nutrients may only hold 20 percent of its weight in water. Comparatively, a dry soil that’s high in organic content can hold up to 200 percent of its weight in water.

reduces water runoff.

Due to the poor crumb structure of soil that’s low in organic matter, it can be washed away easily by storms or even everyday watering. Lost topsoil results in even lower fertility, creating a vicious cycle. But compost preserves and enhances soil structure and helps fight erosion, keeping healthy soil under the plants where it belongs.

Composting is sustainability at its finest for plants and the other living organisms on this planet. In the vegetable garden, it provides structure, adds nutritional value, suppresses disease, increases the growing season, saves money, and reduces water runoff. All of these benefits allow the plants to work at maximum capacity, and that means more vegetable bounty for you! Compost is garden soil’s best friend.