While the overall appearance of a composted mulch is probably the greatest driver regarding its acceptability in landscaping, its ability to feed the soil and the plants grown within it should not be overlooked. Top: Applied composted mulch at Voices Academy, Morgan Hill, California. Photo courtesy Beto Ochoa, GreenWaste   Ron Alexander Mulching is a well-documented horticultural and agricultural practice. It provides a variety of benefits including improved moisture conservation, reduced soil erosion, weed suppression, and lowering soil temperatures. When using carbon-based mulches versus materials like stones and chipped tires, it also provides organic matter and plant nutrients to the soil, as well as carbon to feed microbes and other creatures living in the soil. In landscaping and home gardening, mulches are also used for aesthetics purposes. However, with t...

Following these instructions, and using an app to help with the calculations, will save you months of experimentation. Top: Understanding your feedstocks also requires understanding their characteristics. Photo by Doug Pinkerton Jorge Montezuma Composting is an art and a science and necessarily involves trial and error, especially in the beginning. It is an iterative process of tweaking variables until you find what works well for your operation. A key variable that must be determined is the composting mixture recipe. One way to shorten the trial-and-error time involved in finding the right mix is to begin with an ideal starting composting recipe, which can save you months of experimentation. To use a golf analogy, it’s a first great swing that can get your ball on the green rather than in the woods. This article is about how to determine your ideal starting compostin...