Comments on: Ten Ways Compost Benefits Your Soil

By: Bonnie Manion

Bonnie Manion — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:26:02 +0000

Barbara, just jump in, and do it! Thanks for sharing….VintageGardenGal

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:26:01 +0000

This is my first year of gardening for our home, and also raising chickens. I have just started composting with leaves I have raked up, if anyone has any helpfull tips please let me know. I am very excited to start my adventure in gardening. Last year I always went to the farmers markets(support local farmers) but as we all know this gets costly. so I wanted to start growing my own produce. I know this is going to take alot of hard work, commitment and disaplin, but am will to try if it benefits my family and home. I will be canning and freezing again in the fall. Any ideas will help I am sure!
Thank You,
Barbara

By: karlin

karlin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:51:09 +0000

In some states, cities, and towns you can have the tree trimmings delivered and dumped on your property for free, as long as you have space for the big trucks to dump their load.

Folks this is bark that is already shredded by the big truck shredders. If you leave it piled up for a couple of years it turns into pure compost. You can actually start using it after one year, but you will still have large twigs, etc. in there.

I had about 30 truck loads delivered one summer and it was divine. I let it compost and used it on all my gardens and beds. They charge for this at the sites where they grind up your Christmas Trees and it’s quite pricey.

Do not let them dump around mature trees or it will kill them. The pile will start cooking immediately and it’s a great way to make your soil richer if you have a large garden or property to tend.

By: earlysnowdrop

earlysnowdrop — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:29:24 +0000

I can thank my friend Sheila for starting me down the path to compost. Sheila had a wonderful garden in 1990 in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the corner of her garden was a pile of leaves and greens which she was composting. I thought it was amazing and started my own compost after that.

Today, I have a composter in my garden next to the kitchen. It is an enclosed system because the area where I live is on the border of canyons. That means critters! Any I do not like finding them in my composter.

I love dropping in the green refuse from my meals and from my garden and turning it into wonderful nourishment for my plants.

When my compost is ready to add to the garden, I like to sift it to remove any items (usually something very woody) which has not completely decomposed. I made a nifty little sifter and posted a how to make to my blog several years ago. Here’s the link if you want to see how to make your own. http://earlysnowdrop.blogspot.com/search?q=Compost+Sifter+

By: Sharon Lovejoy

Sharon Lovejoy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:51:12 +0000

Hi Bonnie, This is my second try at leaving you a comment.

Thank you so much for your kind words about my new book. Can it really be happening??? Finally.

Sending all best wishes to you,

Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

P.S. LOVE the list of French titles. My passion is all things French. How can you go wrong?

By: Bonnie Manion

Bonnie Manion — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:38:32 +0000

Amy, you are so right. Backyard composting is a custom mixture, an interesting by-product of your life, what you are preparing for dinner, what is in your garden. Compost is this incredible organic mixture, basically under our very noses. It takes just a little discipline. Funny, my friend just recommended Four-Season Harvest, and Secrets to Great Soil to me today. I was not familiar with either one. Thanks for your wonderful commment….VintageGardenGal

By: Amy blogs @ River Rock Cottage

Amy blogs @ River Rock Cottage — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:46:47 +0000

I started composting last year – I bought a couple of those large black recycled plastic things. They worked pretty good until a heavy wind hit them. Even the one that was nearly full came apart and I had a compost disaster! I just kept the compost in a heap and got rid of the black plastic. In the future, I will probably build my own structure, keep it lower to the ground, and side by side so that I can turn it easier and have one “cooking” while the other is filling up. I would love to see your composter!!

I am fascinated by this topic since I believe that the soil feeds us indirectly all the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals our body needs and that this is the best way for us to assimilate them (as opposed to taking supplements by the handful!). The soil feeds the plant which feeds us. Whatever is in the soil will determine how that plant nourishes us. Currently, I’m reading Eliot Coleman’s book Four Season Harvest. He explains composting very succinctly and in terms that are easy to understand. I also have Rodale’s book on Composting which I hope to read next (I think it will be much more technical, but hopefully a great help).