To maintain nutrient-rich garden soil during the spring season, you should sieve your compost before using it. In this way, you remove larger, undecomposed residues, which can make your gardening work much easier. Most of the time, the contents of the compost heap become fine, crumbly and beautiful black soil ready for the garden. However, there are often pieces of moldy oranges or rotten pumpkins that have not yet fully decomposed buried in the mix. You might even find a few twigs or stones in there. So here is a simple method that can help you remove such obstacles in time.
What you should know before sieving your compost
DiePreparing the compost heapcan be an essential step before transferring compost into garden beds or potted plants. Sifting the mixture is an effective way to separate clumps of undecomposed organic matter from ready-to-use hardened compost. This also allows you to aerate the compost, which promotes further decomposition and a healthy soil structure. Use sifted compost in garden soil and finely sifted compost with seed mixes. First, inspect the compost pile to see if it is ripe and ready for sifting. Crumbly and dark brown or black, mature compost no longer resembles the original organic matter and smells like garden soil or potting soil.
Although this step is before the actual oneSpring gardeningis not always necessary, this can give you a better medium without lumps. This ensures that only finished compost ends up in the garden soil. One thing about making compost is that it takes some time to fully break down. Even the most finished compost pile can still contain large pieces of debris that need to be sifted out. For this reason, you can sieve the compost before spreading it in your garden. This saves you the hassle of raking or picking out the larger pieces by hand if you spread the mixture directly over the soil.
Follow simple steps
All you need to do is place a sieve over a wheelbarrow or suitable plastic tray, place a few scoops of compost in it and push the cart back and forth a few times. The finished compost now falls through the wire sieve, leaving behind the larger lumps of soil, which you can then chop up by hand and put back into your compost heap. It is recommended to also add the earthworms found to the sifted compost, as they play an important role in the processes in the garden soil.
The best part is that you can make a DIY sieve easily and quickly. A garden tool like this can be made in about 30 minutes from materials you probably already have around your homestead. Here are simple instructions that you can follow to make it yourself.
Make the sieve for the compost soil yourself
If you want to sift your compost, you can use a 1x1 inch wire for coarse pieces. If you are sieving fine compost, you can make the sieve using fabric wire with holes 1.5 x 1.5 cm wide. The other materials you need are boards that you screw together as a frame for the screen using a drill/driver. Measure the wooden planks so that the frame would fit perfectly on the top of the wheelbarrow or plastic tub. After you've cut your wood to the lengths listed in the cut list, take one of the long side pieces and line it up with one of the shorter boards. Screw the wooden boards together with 3 wood screws and repeat for all corners.
The wire is available in different widths, so all you have to do is cut it to a suitable length for the screen. Once you have done this, you can secure the wire to the frame by hammering iron staples or nails onto it. To do this, place the wire over the wooden frame and make sure that it is perpendicular to the frame. Then attach the wire securely with U-shaped brackets or hammered nails. It's best to place each nail 6 inches apart on the edge, depending on how large your screen is. Finally, you can add a slider by attaching a suitable wooden slat approximately 40cm from the end of the screen, with two wood screws on either side of the frame. Now your DIY sieve is ready.
How to sieve the compost
Place the strainer on the wheelbarrow or plastic tub. Ideally, the screen surface should be made of a 1.5cm wooden framed material and be large enough to fit on a wheelbarrow or plastic tub without slipping down. Then pick up a shovelful of compost and place it on top. First, you can pick up the sieve and sift the compost by moving it back and forth with the wheelbarrow or shaking it well on the plastic tray. Do this until only the pieces that are too large to fit through the holes remain on the sieve. Now remove large objects from the top of the sieve, such as stones, sticks and worms. Place all the earthworms into the sifted compost and break up any larger clumps to add to the sifted pile. Repeat the process until all of the hardened compost is sifted.
