Control weeds, grow healthier plants, and feed your lawn with nutrient-rich compost.
Once you’ve purchased compost ormade your own at home, what is compost used for?
This versatile garden amendment can enrich soil, improve plant health, smother weeds, and so much more.
Credit:Getty Images / schulzie
In the list below, find out how to use compost to achieve all these garden benefits.
Getty Images / schulzie
1.
Improve Soil
One of the most common ways to use compost is as asoil amendment.
Not only does compost provide nutrients, but it will increase your soils ability to hold moisture anddrain efficiently.
Use compost in planting beds as a side dressing or top dressing.
Simply spread a thin layer of compost on top of the soil in empty beds in spring or autumn.
Then allow the rain to wash the nutrients deep into the soil to your plants roots.
Heavy feeding plants and vegetables often benefit from a side dressing of compost during the growing season, too.
A side dressing of compost can be particularly helpful when applied just before plants set fruit and flowers.
Revive Potting Mix
The potting mix in your houseplant pots or container gardens can get depleted over time.
Compost mulch usually contains a wider array of nutrients to improve your soil thanother types of mulch.
Feed Your Houseplants
Houseplants can become nutrient deficient as they grow and deplete the nutrients in their potting mix.
Instead, you might easily make your own nutrient-rich potting mix to use on houseplants and container gardens.
To make your own potting mix, blend together equal parts of compost, vermiculite, and coconut coir.
Because compost helps soil hold on to water,adding compost to lawnsmay alsolower your lawns watering needs.