Much of the country is set to begin tilling under their summer gardens and preparing for next growing season. A major part of this preperation usually involves the time-honored, battle-tested, gardener's best friend: compost.
Composting has been an unwritten must for home gardeners for quite some time. In fact, in places like San Francisco composting has become a legal must as well.
The addition of properly prepared compost will make any soil better. It increases nutrient levels that can be depleted during the growing season. It helps support all the beneficial organisms present in soil that plants need. It creates the perfect soil texture for the growth of nearly every plant. There isn't enought that can be said about composting.
However, sometimes the process can be a bit intimidating. Have no fear though. The process can be as simple as throwing all your compost materials in a pile and forgetting about it. While we probably wouldn't recommend this method, it can be done.
So what is compost? Quite simply, it's a lot of rot. Kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, garden waste, and basically anything else biodegradable thrown into a pile and given a little water will decompose; that is, rot. This rot is compost, and it is super rich in nutrients and beneficial organisms.
But there is a right and wrong way to produce compost, and a good compost pile will require some care on the part of the composter. This is where some can get hung up. The Internet abounds with "recipes" for great compost, implying that to get great compost requires following a complicated list of requirements and/or ingredients. This certainly doesn't have to be the case.
To prepare compost you essentially need to strike a balance between two things: carbon and nitrogen. Gardeners affectionately call these components the "brown" and the "green," respectively. Brown is fiborous, carbon rich sources like paper, dead plants or weeds (hopefully that have not gone to seed), autumn leaves (be careful because these can mat together and retain moisture), heck, even sawdust. Green is live or fresh plant material, like garden waste, kitchen food scraps, or grass clippings.
Throw these things together in a roughly equal mix and make sure the pile receives adequate water and air. In no time you'll have garden ready compost, especially if you are turning the pile or otherwise providing further aeration than the mix alone will allow. Here is another great composting how-to article.
Of course, "throw" these things together is a bit of an understatement and there are plenty of variables, from building or buying a compost bin to pile placement, that a gardener can tweak. But the result will always be the same; happy soil and happy plants.
