Composting for an Organic Garden

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Composting for an Organic Garden – What You Should Know

Compost and mulch are two of the best things you can give your garden. Although low in nutrients, compost worked into the garden is the premier natural fertilizer. This rich, organic material provides the most even distribution of nutrients and actually serves as a healing agent for the soil. Mulch laid down on top of the soil keeps in moisture, smothers weeds, and adds organic matter as it breaks down.

Compost is any organic matter that has been allowed to decay into humus so that it can be used for fertilizing and enriching soil. When dug into a garden bed, compost increases aeration and helps the soil retain moisture and nutrients. Compost improves the root environment so much that it is better for plants than commercial organic fertilizers that contain more nutrients.

How do I make compost?

There’s really nothing special about making compost. It’s a natural process that has been taking place on the forest floor for as long as there have been forests. Human intervention simply speeds up the decomposition process. Yet composting is the ultimate in recycling.

Composting guide

Organic waste from the lawn, garden, and kitchen is kept out of the landfill, converted into a useful form, and put back on the soil to produce more organic material. The transformation from life to death and back again takes place in the backyard compost pile.

Suggestions for Filling Your Compost Bin

It’s okay to toss things in at random, but try to keep a somewhat even mix of “green” and “brown” ingredients. Green ingredients are anything that was recently alive, like corn husks or stray plants pulled from the garden. Brown ingredients are items that have been dead awhile, like sawdust or the leaves you rake in the fall. Green things have more nitrogen, while brown things have more carbon. The microbes that will be feeding on your compost pile need a mixed diet of carbon and nitrogen. Some gardeners set aside bags of leaves in the autumn so they’ll have enough brown to mix with all the green that will be thrown in the compost bin come summer.
Active composters will want two bins or piles, so one can cook while the other is being filled. But in this case, cooking means “stirring occasionally.” Turning is necessary for an unlayered compost pile, both for aeration and to combine the green and brown ingredients. If you have a bin, use your pitchfork to give the ingredients a good stirring. If you have a pile, the best mixing method is to move the whole pile over a couple of feet, one pitchforkful at a time. It’s not as bad as it sounds, especially if you keep your pile under 3 feet high.

The more you mix your ingredients, the quicker you’ll get compost. A couple of good stirs a month will keep those microbes happy and healthy. But don’t worry: The microbes will still work, although more slowly, even if you forget to turn your pile.

Using Compost

Sooner or later, you’ll have compost. You’ll know it’s ready when the individual ingredients, such as leaves and apple cores, have disintegrated beyond recognition. The resulting humus should be crawling with earthworms – gold for the soil.
Compost is generally dug into the soil. Distribute the compost evenly on the ground. Then take a spading fork and dig it into the ground. Lift the soil and compost together, and then turn them over together. Read all about mulches.