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Making a mixture of compost and soil and fertilizing the science garden |
OBJECTIVES: VOCABULARY:
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Compost
MATERIALS:
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wheelbarrow or bins
BACKGROUND:
any people think compost is soil.
It is not. Compost is
a human way of making nature go faster and creating a product that can add
nutrients to the soil to be used by plants.
Compost is great for mixing into the soil when you are planting a
new plant. It helps a sandy soil hold moisture and nutrients better and
improves clay soils too.
Soil is organic matter plus rocks. The organic matter is from leaves,
bark, dead plants, animals, waste of small invertebrates as well as
vertebrate. Other organisms
like ants, worms, beetles, and fungi (to name a few) eat on the matter and
convert it to humus, which is equivalent to compost.
Rocks are made of minerals (which in turn is composed of elements).
Minerals provide the macro and micro nutrients and they erode into
a useable form.
Compost
can be created faster and the ingredients can be controlled.
It basically produces carbon and
nitrogen. Nitrogen is an
important macronutrients that plants require.
Compost also helps to break up the soil so it can retain water
easily. Most compost is not ready for plants to grow because they are
missing the important macro and micro nutrients needed for plants.
Rocks are made of minerals.
Minerals are made of elements.
As water passes through rocks, the water starts to break down the
minerals to release elements.
It is these elements that are used in the process of supporting larger
plants and organisms like worms that basically eat and dissect soil to get
nutrients.
Please remember that many children do not do gardening and unfamiliar with
tools. You may want to read
“Gary the Gardener” to go over the use of tools. You also might go through
the correct use of tools and how to use them effectively with your body.
1.
Using
compost to enhance soil helps to increase the nutrients.
However, you have to be careful of not adding too much, because it
can change the pH of the soil.
Student learn about pH in the fifth grade, so you can tell students
that too much of a good thing can be harmful.
2.
Tell
students that they are going to make a 1:1 proportion of compost to
existing soil. Hopefully you
can find an area where you can dig some up for the students.
Maybe use a coffee plastic tub and have students put one part soil
and one part compost in a larger bin or wheelbarrow.
3.
Mix
the mixture with a small shovel.
4.
Find
an area either in the garden or around the school yard that you can help
put nutrients by adding the new nutrient rich soil.
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