How to Compost

How to Compost

What is Compost

What is Compost

Compost - How it Happens

Compost - How it Happens

Compost Bins

Compost Bins

Compost - Controling Smells

Compost - Controling Smells

Compost Tools

Compost Tools

Air and Water in Compost

Air and Water in Compost

Compost - Hot and Cold

Compost - Hot and Cold

Compost Activators

Compost Activators

Compost Kitchen Scraps

Compost Kitchen Scraps

Things Not to Compost

Things Not to Compost

Starting a Compost Pile

Starting a Compost Pile

How To Use Compost

How To Use Compost

Manufactured Compost Bins

Manufactured Compost Bins

Compost with Worms

Compost with Worms

How to Compost

How to Compost

How to Grow a Vegetable Garden

How to Grow a Vegetable Garden

How to Claim Your Window Tax Credit

How to Claim Your Window Tax Credit

Prepare Your Garden For Winter

Prepare Your Garden For Winter

Attract Love With Feng Shui

Attract Love With Feng Shui

Plan A Stress Free Remodel

Plan A Stress Free Remodel

Add Functional Indoor Lighting To Your Home

Add Functional Indoor Lighting To Your Home

Increase Home Value With Remodeling

Increase Home Value With Remodeling

Decorating Tips For A Football Party

Decorating Tips For A Football Party

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Winter Orchid Care Tips

Gift A Living Bouquet For Valentine's Day

Gift A Living Bouquet For Valentine's Day

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Fall Pruning Procedures

Fast Fall Garden Clean Up

Fast Fall Garden Clean Up

Garden Tool Maintenance

Garden Tool Maintenance

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Ed Bruske

D.C. Urban Gardeners

www.dc-urban-gardener-news.com  

An award-winning journalist for The Wasington Post in a previous life, Ed Bruske is a Master Gardener and president of D.C. Urban Gardeners, a group dedicated to the greening of the District of Columbia through public education and hands-on volunteer efforts. An accomplished public speaker, Ed focuses his lecture activities on composting and soil ecology. He practices daily organic recycling through composting and vermicomposting at his home about a mile from the White House, where he and his wife are transforming their corner lot into an edible landscape. Ed is a personal chef, caterer and chef-in-residence at The Washington Youth Garden, located at the U.S. National Arboretum in the District of Columbia. He also writes about composting and cooking from the garden on his blog, The Slow Cook, www.theslowcook.blogspot.com.

Compost - How it Happens

Master gardener Ed Bruske demonstrates how compost happens.

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Hi, I am Ed Bruske with the D.C. Urban Gardeners. We are here in my garden today in the District of Columbia talking about composting and you may be wondering how does compost happen. Well, you are going to be hearing a lot if you get into compost about green stuff and brown stuff. Here the green stuff I have in my hand here are actually grass clippings from my yard that I mowed yesterday with my electric mower and here are some leaves that I actually collected last fall and I have been saving for just this purpose and I have chopped them up in a special leaf shredder that I happen to own. You don't have to have the leaf shredder, but it is nice to turn them into little crumbly pieces like this rather than whole leaves. Well, the green stuff and the reason people talk about that so much is because green stuff, leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, vegetables tend to have more nitrogen in them. Nitrogen is what we all carry around with us in the form of proteins. Nitrogen, when you mix nitrogen with the brown stuff, the brown stuff contains carbon and in the decomposition process you want to try and achieve a balance of nitrogen and carbon. So, what we are going to be doing is mixing this at some point in the correct balance for the little microorganisms that like to eat this stuff and break it down into compost. Green stuff is the favorite food of bacteria. Bacteria will eat this and they will make a hot compost pile. They generate heat with this. These leaves, they are more favorite food of different kinds of fungi. Fungi act more slowly and they like to eat stuff that is a lot tougher like leaves, paper and cardboard and what I am going to talk to you about next is how you make that compost bin so that you have a place to build your compost for your garden.

How to Compost

How to Compost

How to Brew Compost Tea

How to Brew Compost Tea

Turning Compost with the Compost Tumbler

Turning Compost with the Compost Tumbler

Using Organic Compost in Your Vegetable Garden

Using Organic Compost in Your Vegetable Garden

Organic Gardening - Making Compost

Organic Gardening - Making Compost

Plant a Tree - Soil Amendments

Plant a Tree - Soil Amendments

Pot your Plants - Putting Soil in the Pot

Pot your Plants - Putting Soil in the Pot

How to Aerate Your Soil

How to Aerate Your Soil

How to Buy the Right Soil

How to Buy the Right Soil

Herb Garden - How to Select Organic Potting Soil

Herb Garden - How to Select Organic Potting Soil