May 29 is National Learn About Composting Day! Here are some great library items to check out:
Bob's Basics: Composting by Bob Flowerdew
"The best fertilizer for your organic garden is compost. It’s easy to make, economically friendly, and teeming with nutrients. If you are not composting, you should be! In this highly useful full-color book, Bob Flowerdew takes you through all the steps necessary to make a rich compost pile best suited to your needs. Composting is a highly comprehensive guide that goes over all the steps, from building a bin to collecting material to maintaining and adding to the finished product."
Composting for the Absolute Beginner: How to Improve Your Soil for Better Organic Gardening by Dede Cummings
"In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the various methods of composting and how to adapt them to your home and garden. With full-color photographs and easy-to-follow instructions, this will be an essential addition to every gardener’s library. With growing concerns about the use of pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs in mainstream gardening practices, more and more families are turning to their backyards to grow their own food using methods they know are safe. The need for clear, straightforward instruction on organic gardening techniques has never been greater."
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting: Turn Your Organic Waste Material into Black Gold by Chris McLaughlin
"Waste not, want not. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Composting takes readers step by step through the process of selecting the right compost container, filling it with the right "ingredients," maintaining the mix at the right temperature and humidity, and using the end product."
Compost Science for Gardeners: Simple Methods for Nutrient-Rich Soil by Robert Pavlis
"With breathtaking clarity, Compost Science for Gardeners demystifies composting practices and helps readers determine the best technique for their unique situation. This comprehensive science-based book is your key to building healthier soil and growing better plants. Using plain language and easy-to-follow instructions, this essential resource distills and blends the latest scientific research with the author's many decades of knowledge and experience into manageable form, debunking a host of common gardening myths along the way."
How to Build, Maintain, and Use a Compost System Secrets and Techniques You Need to Know to Grow the Best Vegetables by Kelly Smith
"Some of the best fertilizer on the planet can be made with your very own garbage. Starting with something as simple as coffee grounds, old banana peels, bread crusts, and leftover meals, you can start creating a garden with your food waste using the age old secret of composting to build a healthy, happy garden. You will be walked through the process of recognizing and using the end product as effectively as possible. For anyone who has ever considered composting as a viable means by which to feed their gardens, this book is for you."
Bokashi Composting: Scraps to Soil in Weeks by Adam Footer
"Bokashi is Japanese for "fermented organic matter." Bokashi composting is a safe, quick, and convenient way to compost in your kitchen, garage, or apartment, using a specific group of microorganisms to anaerobically ferment all food waste (including meat and dairy). Since the process takes place in a closed system, insects and smell are controlled, making it ideal for urban or business settings. The process is very fast, with compost usually ready to be integrated into your soil or garden in around two weeks."
All synopses are from the publishers.
Too busy soaking in the nice weather to make it into the library? Here are some books on Libby about composting. Or watch this composting masterclass on Kanopy.
