Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1953-07-02

(Hedr Dr.. Walls on station WGAY
:, Saturday at 1915 p.m.)
HOW TO MAKE
A COMPOST PILE
Compost is fertilizing mixture
composed of such substances as
peat, leaf mold, manure, leaves,
vegetable refuse and trimmings
from the kitchen, any or all of
. these, which have become thor
oughly mingled and decomposed,
usually in heap, called a COM
post pile.
Organic matter is any form of
plant or animal matter in process
of decay. When completely decayed
we call it humus. Plants cannot
make use of organic matter as
such, but only after it is converted
to humus, the end product of fer
mentation and decay.
The efficient gardener can con-
serve much of the organic matter
his soil needs by composing plant
refuse, such as leaves, plant resi-
dues after harvesting diseased
refuse should be burned), lawn
clippings and non-greasy kitchen
waste.
In many suburban areas the
, street cleaning departments of in
corporated towns collect leaves on
the streets and deliver these free
of-charge to anyone desiring them.
If you need leaves contact your
town council if you live in an in
corporated town and see if such
service is available.
To make a compost heap first
make an excavation about Is inch
es Deep, a feet wide and as long
as desired, usually 10 or IL feet.
In the fall when enough leaves
have fallen to make raking
worthwhile, place them in the pit.
Let us suppose this makes a 6
inch layer when tramped down. On
this layer, with bed of this size,
scatter about 10 handfuls of some
fertilizing material rich in nitro
gen, like cyanamid, nitrate of soda
or sulfate of ammonia.
Some folks use a complete fer
.tilizer such as 5-10-5 at the rate
of 100 pounds, equally divided, for
a pile that will ultimately be 125
cubic feet. Next add an inch or
more of garden soil.
When the material is highly acid
as oak leaves, 25 to so pounds of
lime may be added to a pile of
above size, on the layers of soil
AS soon as this layer of leaves
fertilizer and soil is completed, wet
it down thoroughly.
Repeat the procedure when more
material is available until a final
height of A feet is reached.
Keep the sides and ends vertical
Leave top slightly dished to hold
water. Water down in dry weather
Garden refuse and kitchen trim
mings may be buried in the pile
Turn or fork over the pile every
3 months. This lets air into tight
ly packed materials and mixed ma
terials at the outside of the pile
with those on the inside.
Bacteria are the agencies which
cause the decay of the organic
matter in the compost heap. These
are natural habitants of the soil
When it is added you are inocu-
tating the bed. The heterogeneous fer
tilizer and water provide food and
drink for them and the lime makes
the kind of home they like. May
every reader of this column be-
come compost builder, not leaf
burner.
Next week-How to build and
use a cold frame.
USING COLD FRAMES
IN HOT WEATHER
While most of us think of colo
frame as a means of starting gar.
den plants in early spring wher
weather is cool, they also have 6
variety of uses in warm summer
weather.
During the summer, seeds Of
perennial or biennial flowers may
be planted and left in the colo
frame until spring. Or cuttings
of woody and herbaceous PLAN
material can be started and helC
over until next spring. Vegetable!
such as lettuces, radishes, beets
and parsley may also be planted
in the cold frame and held there
until maturity.
In case you haven't included {
cold frame in your gardening
plans, now would be a good time
to build one. They're simple anc
inexpensive to build, and will en-
able you to get a couple of week.
head start on the growing season
next year.
With a cold frame, you can SOW
seeds and protect plants until con
ditions are favorable for them il
Il the open. They can also be useC
to harden off plants started in
doors. Cold frames afford winter
protection for plants on thu
borderline regarding hardness
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