by Margaret Shauers

Created on: January 22, 2008

Composting is healthful for the environment and for your garden soil. This is true whether you buy a round container and chemicals to make the process go more quickly, or just section off a bit of ground and do it the old fashioned way.

The old-fashioned way is to cordon off an area of soil. Mine is next to my trash can. Then layer a bit of soil, a bit of refuse (food scraps, leaves, ashes if you use a charcoal grill, etc., even finely shredded newspaper if you have a large compost area). Drizzle on a bit of fertilizer now and then to nudge the process along. When it doesn't rain, spray it all with a garden hose, and by next spring you will have usable compost. I blocked mine off with old bricks. You can nail together a serviceable frame of old planks or other woods, as well.

At least once a week you need to turn the compost, more if it rains a lot and the bottom soil might mold. I used an old fashioned pitch-fork to turn mine. This is something made easier with the turning bins, but I keep my compost fairly flat so it's not a large chore to turn it.

Obviously, every scrap of refuse you recycle to feed the soil benefits your own family and the world. The only thing you shouldn't put into compost is your old garden refuse when you clean it up in the fall. This can be full of insects that you don't want to perpetuate. Since most areas ban burning, check and see if your community has a site just for leaves, garden refuse and the like. Many do. These are long, long term compost areas and over the years the insects will die off. Usually, by the way, these sites are great places where you can get compost. Locally, we can load up as much as we want for no charge. Since sewer refuse often is cycled through these sites as well, the compost is ultra-rich.

Do be prepared for a few volunteer cherry tomato plants from any compost (at least if you ate cherry tomatoes). You might even leave a few of them in your garden; I had a fine crop from three plants that volunteered last year. And dropped cherry or roma tomatoes are something I also let compost directly into the soil. You almost always get a few plants the following year and all of mine have been productive (larger tomato varieties may grow, but seldom bear fruit).

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