New Way to Look at Compost

Community Contributed

By Joe Kennedy

There are a few ways of looking at making compost that some of my gardening friends have passed on to me over the years. Here’s just one. When you make compost with kitchen fruit and veggie scraps, you don’t have to do it the usual way the book talk about. There’s another very easy, very plant-enriching way to do it.

Just empty the scraps on the ground next to the fruit tree on any of the large veggie plants like collards, pumpkin or eggplant that you are growing. Then level the pile a little and make it an even thickness. Then scatter the dirt over it an inch or so. Then put a few handfuls of wet, torn up newspaper on top for the earthworms and beneficial insects. No put some newspaper or cardboard over the whole thing. Wet that down also. There should be no seams or holes in the cardboard for light to get in. This is important because weeds or grass will be attracted to the sunlight and will grow like crazy even with the slightest bit of light. Also earthworms hate the light.

Finish the site with something over it to hold the cardboard from blowing away. Use a large piece of cardboard or cut an armload of grass and place it on top. Large flat rocks are even better. Earthworms will show up eventually. Beneficial microbes will reproduce immediately. Bacterial and fungal life will thrive in this warm moist safe environment.

This lazy man’s way of composting is a safe balanced fertilizer. It acts as a mulch because it eliminates weeds and preserves moisture.

I wish all of you folks the best in all things. Hopefully this Fourth of July will be a little quieter because the loud explosions traumatize birds and animals. God be with us and guide us.