Planting bareroot trees

1. Dig the hole for the tree using a spade or shovel. Dig the hole two to three times as wide as the root ball and about 1 inch shallower than the height of the root ball.

2. Remove the evergreen tree from the container and examine the roots. Use your fingers to loosen any roots that are wrapping around the root ball. For a ball and burlap tree, keep the burlap secured to the root ball.

3. Place the root ball in the center of the hole. The top of the root ball should be slightly above the level of the surrounding ground. Add or remove dirt from the hole if necessary. Do not put the tree roots in direct contact with the compost

4. Back-fill the hole halfway with the soil removed from the hole. You may also amend the soil first with organic matter.

5. Finish back-filling the hole. Water again to compress the soil, adding more soil if needed. Do not place soil on top of the root ball.

6. Apply 2 to 3 inches of well rotten black crumby compost (mulch, FYM)or pine bark or leaf mold, around the tree. Keep the mulch about 3 inches from the trunk of the tree. The manure will:

• Avoid weeds from growing
• Keep moisture around the tree 
• Increase worm activity

In Ireland the best time of the year to plant evergreen trees and shrubs is from December to January.

Manure (farmyard manure, compost, plant manure)

Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are trapped by bacteria in the soil.

There are three main classes of manures used in soil management:

Animal manures

Most animal manure is feces. Common forms of animal manure include farmyard manure (FYM) or farm slurry (liquid manure). FYM also contains plant material (often straw), which has been used as bedding for animals and has absorbed the feces and urine. Agricultural manure in liquid form, known as slurry, is produced by more intensive livestock rearing systems where concrete or slats are used, instead of straw bedding. Manure from different animals has different qualities and requires different application rates when used as fertilizer. For example horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens,turkeys, rabbits, humans (sewage), and guano from seabirds and bats all have different properties. For instance, sheep manure is high in nitrogen and potash, while pig manure is relatively low in both. Horses mainly eat grass and a few weeds so horse manure can contain grass and weed seeds, as horses do not digest seeds the way that cattle do. Chicken litter, coming from a bird, is very concentrated in nitrogen and protein and is prized for both properties.

Animal manures may be adulterated or contaminated with other animal products, such as wool (shoddy and other hair), feathers, blood, and bone. Livestock feed can be mixed with the manure due to spillage. For example, chickens are often fed meat and bone meal, an animal product, which can end up becoming mixed with chicken litter.

Compost

Compost is the decomposed remnants of organic materials – usually of plant origin, but often including some animal dung or bedding.

Plant manures

Green manures are crops grown for the express purpose of plowing them in, thus increasing fertility through the incorporation of nutrients and organic matter into the soil. Leguminous plants such as clover are often used for this, as they fix nitrogen using Rhizobia bacteria in specialized nodes in the root structure.

Other types of plant matter used as manure include the contents of the rumens of slaughtered ruminants, spent hops (left over from brewing beer) and seaweed.

Compost

Here are some tips on how to create a good organic compost:

Compost ingredients

1. 'Greens' or nitrogen rich ingredients

• Urine (diluted with water 20:1)
• Comfrey leaves
• Nettles
• Grass cuttings

2. Other green materials

• Raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen
• Tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds
• Young green weed growth - avoid weeds with seeds
• Soft green prunings
• Animal manure from herbivores eg cows and horses
• Poultry manure and bedding

3. 'Browns' or carbon rich ingredients - slow to rot

• Cardboard eg. cereal packets and egg boxes
• Waste paper and junk mail, including shredded confidential waste
• Cardboard tubes
• Glossy magazines - although it is better for the environment to pass them on to your local doctors� or dentists' surgery or send them for recycling
• Newspaper - although it is better for the environment to send your newspapers for recycling
• Bedding from vegetarian pets eg rabbits, guinea pigs - hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings
• Tough hedge clippings
• Woody prunings
• Old bedding plants
• Bracken
• Sawdust
• Wood shavings
• Fallen leaves can be composted but the best use of them is to make leafmould

4. Other compostable items

• Wood ash, in moderation
• Hair, nail clippings
• Egg shells (crushed)
• Natural fibres eg. 100% wool or cotton

5. Do NOT compost

• Meat
• Fish
• Cooked food
• Coal & coke ash
• Cat litter
• Dog faeces
• Disposable nappies

How do I make my compost?

You can make compost simply by adding compostable items to a compost heap when you feel like it. It will all compost eventually but may take a long time and if the mix is unbalanced, may not produce a very pleasant end product. With a little extra attention you could improve things dramatically. 

An ideal mix

To make good compost you need a more or less equal amount of 'greens' and 'browns' by volume. You can also include small amounts of the 'other ingredients' listed above.

How to manage our compost

1. Gather enough material to fill your compost container at one go. Some of this may have been stored in a cool heap and have started to rot slightly. Make sure you have a mixture of soft and tough materials.
2. Chop up tough items using shears, a sharp spade (lay items out on soil or grass to avoid jarring) or a shredder.
3. Mix ingredients together as much as possible before adding to the container. In particular, mix items, such as grass mowings and any shredded paper, which tend to settle and exclude air, with more open items that tend to dry out. Fill the container as above, watering as you go.
4. Give the heap a good mix within a few days, the heap is likely to get hot to the touch. When it begins to cool down, or a week or two later, turn the heap. Remove everything from the container or lift the container off and mix it all up, trying to get the outside to the inside. Add water if it is dry, or dry material if it is soggy. Replace in the bin.
5. The heap may well heat up again; the new supply of air you have mixed in allows the fast acting aerobic microbes, ie those that need oxygen, to continue with their work. Step 4 can be repeated several more times if you have the energy, but the heating will be less and less. When it no longer heats up again, leave it undisturbed to finish composting.

 

In our school garden we turned the compost to give it some air.

A link to know more about compost

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/cold-weather-compost