WILD VALLEY FARMS
  • Home
  • WHY WOOL?
  • Products
    • Home Garden Products >
      • Wool Pellets
      • Intelli-Soil
      • Super Compost Tea
      • Intelli-Mulch
      • Nurtiwool Pots
      • Woolly's Frost Guards
      • Scented Soap
    • Bulk Landscape Products >
      • Soils
      • Manures
      • Terra Zest
      • Colored Mulches
    • Commercial Products >
      • Processing Wool Pellets
      • Bulk Wool Pellets
      • Spore Block
  • Dealer
    • Become a Dealer
  • Store
  • Healthy Gardening Blog
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • In The News
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
  • Return Policy/Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Healthy Gardening

how to's  & Tips for your garden

Are There Differences in Compost and What are They?

4/17/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
A habit of adding compost to your soil has many benefits, but understanding how it works and what makes up the best type of compost can be confusing. Here’s a breakdown of the some of the benefits of using compost, what composts are made up from, and the different types available.

What is Compost?

Composting is decomposed organic material derived from 2  main components: "Greens” & “Browns”. It is made up from the layering, mixing- to provide oxygen for microorganisms to breath and break down the materials, and heating over time to kill seeds and pathogens of these two component categories.  ​
Picture
Picture

Benefits of Using Compost

Studies show that using compost improves color, helps tomatoes and other plants stand up to common diseases. While considered a soil conditioner rather than a fertilizer, compost helps feed soil with a slow release of beneficial nutrients over time. It is best to add compost to soil each year to improve the overall soil structure. Compost also helps soil to retain moisture. Our Terra Zest is mixed with wool for an added benefit. Try adding wool pellets in with your soil for the added benefits of water retention, porosity, more nutrients and slug & snail control.
Picture

What are a the differences in compost?

The main difference in any compost is feedstock or the materials that you start with.  You need "Greens" and "Browns" or Nitrogen and Carbon, there are many different sources of "Greens" or Nitrogen.  ​
​Common Nitrogen sources include:
Picture

  • Table scraps- Are great for a home composter, however be careful not to use foods that have a high sodium content, or that are really acidic unless you want your compost to be acidic.  The best compost is always made using the same ingredients, that you know will make the compost you want. Using scraps from your table will usually make different compost with each batch, so be careful to which plants you apply your compost.
  • Yard Waste- or "Green Waste" if it comes from your yard and is chipped up to small pieces can make a nice compost, this compost may take longer to "cook" and not be high in nutrition unless you add some extra nitrogen source.  If you are not sure where the yard waste has come from as an example yard waste from the landfill, be careful in using this compost as some of the yard waste that has come in may have been sprayed with herbicides that can last in the compost for up to two years. clippings may, if not cooked long enough introduce seeds of other plants.
  • Manures- manures come in many different ways, some may be high in nutrition and some may not. Some may have high salts, some may not.  Again it is best to find a good manure source that you like and then use that source, so you can keep your compost batches as much the same as you can. Manures can also introduce bacterial pathogens. Those available Commercially are chemically treated to kill bacteria.​

With all compost the feedstock should be mixed at about 30:1 ratio, Carbon to Nitrogen then "cooked" and turned for about 6 months.
Picture
Why miss an opportunity to increase your soil's fertility and nutrients for growing? Soil that has compost regularly added to it becomes rich, dark, and wonderfully crumbly and often requires less fertilizer.
Picture
Picture
Wild Valley Farms premium organic and all natural TERRA ZEST is a special blend of manure, sawdust, and hydroscopic fiber (wool). We combine these products carefully to ensure your plants, lawn, trees or garden vegetables can get the full nutritional value needed for root development. Our premium Terra Zest will help your soil retain moisture and works as a slow release fertilizer that lasts all year long, unlike chemical fertilizers that only last for a few weeks, and our Terra Zest won’t burn your lawn or plants. It is safe for use around children or pets immediately after use. Screened through a 1/4 inch screen so no trash, big rocks, or other garbage.
Picture

We sell our premium Terra Zest  and Golf Course blends by the cubic yard in bulk truck loads and  in 1 & 2 yard tote bags.  One cubic yard is about a pick up load and will cover about 162 sqft 2 inches deep. ​
Order Today!
2 Comments

What Zone Am I?

4/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Will this plant survive in my area? We've all asked this question before. Here is an explanation of US Plant Zones that can help. The Morgan area where we're located is a Zone 5, while most of Utah is a Zone 6.

Check out this interactive map to find out which Zone you live in. Just type in your zip code.

Picture
Picture
0 Comments

What is the Difference Between Compost and Mulch?

4/6/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
The terms ‘mulch’ and compost’ are often used interchangeably and there is some confusion about what each is and the differences between the two. Many are confused about when and where to use them. In this article we’ll cover these questions and give you a better understanding about when, where, and how to use compost and mulch in your garden and flowerbeds.
Picture

What is Mulch?

Mulch can be any matter, organic or inorganic,  that you put down on top of your soil. Materials used for mulch include everything from crushed rock and plastic sheeting to wood chips, discarded newspapers, pine straw, grass clippings, leaves, and straw.

Uses & Benefits of Mulch

Picture
Buy Mulch Now
Mulch can be laid down on top of compost or topsoil 1 to 2 inches deep, usually in late fall & early spring. Mulch can help to cut down on your gardening chores by helping suppress weeds and hold moisture in your soil.   This sheltering layer also protects tender plants from frost and cold in winter, and from evaporation and heat stress in summer. In addition, mulch helps moderate soil temperature, keeping a porous surface to allow water to get to roots and prevent soil erosion.
Many people like different looks for mulch around their home, mulch comes in a variety of colors to fit in with your home and give the look you want.  
Mulch Colors

Cautions for Mulch

Most Mulch is made from ground up wood.  It is important to note that green waste Mulch can introduce pathogens or disease.  Green waste mulch or mulch made from chipped up trees should also be composted.  Sometimes people will take chipped green wood from a tree taken down in their yard and use the chips as mulch this practice many times introduces pathogens to new trees or other plants.
At Wild Valley Farms, our products are kiln dried so the color last longer and no pathogens.  Take a look a our mulch here.
Picture

What is Compost?

The Division of Agriculture gives a great definition of compost.  Compost is the biologically active material that results from decomposition of organic matter under controlled circumstances.
Many people call a lot of different things compost and so there are a lot of differences in what people understand as compost.  To make compost you must have the correct ratio of carbon to Nitrogen which is about 30:1, the materials must be made into a pile and must maintain 50% moisture.  The pile should be turned often to add oxygen to the center of the pile, so that the microorganisms can breath and break down the feed stock materials.  
A compost pile should reach an inside temperature between 140-160 degrees fahrenheit and this temperature should be maintain for at least three weeks.  This cooks out 99.9% of any seeds and kills all pathogens.  The whole compost process should take 6 months or more.
Compost Ratio
Picture
Picture

Uses & Benefits of Compost

Adding compost  improves soil structure. Compost is considered a soil conditioner, rather than a fertilizer, but more importantly, it can retain and make existing nutrients more readily available to plants. 
Our premium organic and all natural Terra Zest is a special blend of manure, sawdust, and hydroscopic fiber (wool). We combine these products carefully to ensure your plants, lawn, trees or garden vegetables can get the full nutritional value needed for root development. Our premium Terra Zest will help your soil retain moisture and works as a slow release fertilizer that lasts all year long, unlike chemical fertilizers that only last for a few weeks, and our Terra Zest won’t burn your lawn or plants. It is safe for use around children or pets immediately after use.
It is screened to remove any debris, then carefully tested to make a uniform product for you and your customers. 
Compost can be blended in with existing soil prior to planting, added to containers and spread on top.
Picture
Picture

Cautions for Compost

Manures that aren't composted usually are high in salts which can burn your plants, manures can also introduce weeds into your gardens.  Dried manure is not compost!

Manures with some bedding(sawdust or straw) material but that is not turned or doesn't have the right moisture will be full of pathogens(diseases) that can harm or kill plants.

Green waste mulch or mulch made from chipped up trees should also be composted.  Sometimes people will take chipped green wood from a tree taken down in their yard and use the chips as mulch this practice many times introduces pathogens to new trees or other plants.

Landfill compost can be really cheap and it is usually composted well, however landfill compost can be really dangerous to add to your garden or yard.  Because there is no control of what is in the feed stock materials.  If someone takes their grass clipping from their yard and have used "Weed and Feed" in the last two year that broadleaf killer will still be there and can kill your garden plants.  Landfill compost many times will have heavy metals and broadleaf killer residue which is why nurseries will not sell landfill compost.
Learn more about compost in our article Are There Differences in Compost and What are They?  
Also learn more from our friends at Gardeners Path

Gardeners path
Buy Compost Now
Picture
2 Comments

    Archives

    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All
    Compost
    Compost Tea
    Fun Friday Facts
    Gardening Basics
    Meet Wild Valley Farms Who Are We?
    Meet Wild Valley Farms - Who Are We?
    Mulch
    Planning Your Garden
    Wool Pellets

    RSS Feed

Product Categories

Home Garden Products
Bulk Landscape Products
Commercial Products
Terms and Conditions
Return Policy
Picture
Picture
Picture

[email protected]

Hours:
Monday - Friday  9:00AM - 6:00PM
Saturday  9:00AM - 12:00PM
Sunday  Closed

Phone:   435-400-4373

 6000 E. Croydon Rd.   Croydon, UT 84018
Photos from blumenbiene, lundyd, James St. John, moonlightbulb, vastateparksstaff, blumenbiene, Ajithpoison, chatirygirl, iainmerchant, blumenbiene, thinkactlove, blumenbiene, TheChili.Life, daryl_mitchell, idovermani, Kent Wang, grits2go, TinyTall, saiberiac, drbooya, Ben+Sam, Red Moon Sanctuary, Michele Dorsey Walfred, FoodCraftLab, imke.sta, blumenbiene, blumenbiene, katherine.shill, Los Angeles County Arboretum, ednl, noricum
  • Home
  • WHY WOOL?
  • Products
    • Home Garden Products >
      • Wool Pellets
      • Intelli-Soil
      • Super Compost Tea
      • Intelli-Mulch
      • Nurtiwool Pots
      • Woolly's Frost Guards
      • Scented Soap
    • Bulk Landscape Products >
      • Soils
      • Manures
      • Terra Zest
      • Colored Mulches
    • Commercial Products >
      • Processing Wool Pellets
      • Bulk Wool Pellets
      • Spore Block
  • Dealer
    • Become a Dealer
  • Store
  • Healthy Gardening Blog
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • In The News
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
  • Return Policy/Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy