Why Make Compost Piles?

I'm often asked all sorts of questions about composting. How? When? Why? And lots of littler details. "Why" is a very important question and I'd like to talk a little about it. 

When I ask people, "Why should you make compost?" I get all sorts of answers. 

... To utilize green waste. 

... To keep organic waste out of the dump. 

... To get rid of my garbage.

... To be good for the environment. 

... To make fertilizer for my garden. 

These are all good answers. But I'd like to back up one more step and ask, "Why make compost piles instead of simply digging in organic material into my soil?" Yes. Think about it. I have thought about it in depth. Just what is the reason to make a pile? Is it just a waste of time? Is there something simpler? 

So what do I do? I compost and don't compost. How's that for an answer? Here's what I do when not making a compost pile: 

1- I often dig organic material right into the garden soil. I'll make a trench along a garden row, fill it with garbage and trash fruits, then cover it over with soil. (note: don't do this too close to the plants' roots because this material might heat up, thus killing the garden plants.) 

2- I'll often spread a layer of chopped greenery and garbage atop the soil then lightly till it in, incorporating it into the top few inches, or at least getting dirt mixed in with it. 

3- I'll dig a hole and bury a small dead animal, or some slaughter waste, or perhaps a pot of kitchen garbage. Then cover it over with soil. 

4- I'll till in the old mulch from the last crop harvested. 

5- I'll top dress the soil with garbage then cover it over with a layer of grass clippings. 

In my location I can get away with doing this. I don't have to worry about the garbage or material sitting around for weeks, slowly rotting and smelling bad, for in the tropics this organic waste decomposes rapidly. I also don't have to worry about drawing in bears and other unwanted wildlife. 

On the other hand, I also make compost piles. So why bother? Composting via a pile is for 2 reasons. 

1- to use excess organic material that I don't need immediately in the garden. I often find myself with a glut of green waste. Rather than turn it away, I'll make a compost pile. I will use the compost eventually, but not during a particular week or month. So I see it as a means of storing green waste for future use.

2- to grow soil microbes. Many soil microbes grow abundantly in a hot or warm compost pile. Since I want to increase the soil life in my gardens, this is a way to get vast amounts of soil microbes in a hurry. 

Another thought......plants can benefit from compost faster than from non-composted greenery tilled into the soil. Why? Compost has already partially decomposed. Uncomposted material needs to go through initial rotting processes. Depending upon the material, this may actually rob nutrients initially from the soil rather than providing them for your garden plants. With composted material, I don't see this problem. Plus composted material has a host of soil microbes ready to go to work in my garden soil. 

Since I tend to do what works. I don't stick with just one method. Trenching in the fresh material often works just fine. Composting excess material to be used later also works. 

Hot compost piles also have other benefits. They reduce the number of viable weed seeds. They help reduce the number of pathogens associated with manures. They are a quick, low odor way to process dead animals. 

One of the many things I like about being in the tropics is that I can make compost year around. Plus I can dig organic material into the soil year around and it decomposes without drawing those pesky bears, opossums, raccoons, skunks, etc. Of course we have feral pigs here, but a proper fence (or a good farm dog) keeps them out. 

Collecting The Soil Amendments

"T" wrote to ask, "How do you collect all those things?" So let's go down the list and I'll explain. 

Coral sand

     There are plenty of beaches here that are coral sand beaches. But I don't collect sand from them. I consider that to be not only rude, but I'd be degrading a beach. No-no's. So I collect from places where rough seas and winds have thrown coral sand onto paths, beach parking lots, and rocky coasts. I don't need a lot of sand. A bucketful lasts quite a while. 

Coral chunks

     Again, I don't collect from beaches. But there are places along the coastline where chunks can often be found among the rocks. As I walk along picking up trash (yeah, I clean up the shoreline whenever I do my collecting), I also pick up the coral rock I find here and there. 

Lava sand

      This comes from my own driveway. The vehicles gradually breakdown the lava gravel used to surface the driveway, creating sand. 

Ocean water

      I collect this along a section of coastline called Honuapo. I use the ocean water there to make sea salt. And I reserve a gallon or two for the compost bins. 

Burned bone

     I know ranchers who let me collect old cattle and horse bones from their pastures. 

Wood ash

     I use wood to heat my house. I also have two friends who do the same. They save their wood ashes for me, and I much appreciate it. 

Biochar

     I make my own in a special set up designed to make biochar. I use tree trimmings from my farm for this purpose. It's mostly ohia, but also guava, eucalyptus, christmasberry, Norfolk pine, ironwood, and any other tree that I trim.

Cinder 

     I'm fortunate to have a bank of this along the dead river bed running across my farm. 

Feathers & Fur/hair 

     This comes partially from my own animals and partially from friends' livestock. Friends bringing me a bag of feathers or fur can go home with a bag of veggies from the gardens. 

Fruit

     I collect fallen fruit from many properties. Some from my own, but mostly from other people. I keep a list of people who are happy to have me remove the fallen fruits from their lawns. I usually leave behind a bag of veggies or eggs in exchange. 

Soil Amendments

I've mentioned before that I incorporate soil amendments into my gardens via my compost. But just what are soil amendments? Form my point of view, they are things that improve soil tilth and fertility. My own soil is naturally lacking in many ways. It is a geologically young soil, beings that I'm on the youngest side of the youngest Hawaiian islands. So what sort of things do I add, and why. 

Coral sand

     Coral brings calcium carbonate to the soil. Calcium is needed by the microbes and plants. The most commonly known affect for garden plants when calcium is deficient is cat facing on tomatoes. But there are plenty of other problems that veggies can suffer from low calcium. 

     Calcium carbonate also has an effect upon soil pH. Since I have lived with acidic rain and air for years now, my soil tends to be too acidic for most veggies to grow well. Coral sand helps moderate pH. 

      Also, I don't wash the sand prior to using, so micro amounts of ocean minerals are clinging to the coral. 

Heated coral chunks

     The only difference between this a coral sand is the size of the pieces. I don't know if the heating has any effect upon the calcium availability. The reason I heat the coral chunks in a fire is so they are easily broken up. Sometimes I can hand crush the coral into smaller pieces. Other times I need to use a hammer or have my truck run over the chunks to break them up. 

    Why use chunky coral? It helps with drainage in heavy soils. And I suspect it allows for a longer period of availability....that is, the calcium carbonate lasts longer allowing for less frequent applications. 

Lava sand

      I use this for mineralization purposes. Some of my garden beds are mainly organic material with not enough rocks. The lava sand provides the minerals in lieu of rocks. 

Ocean water

     I don't use much ocean water, just a sprinkling. It adds some micro nutrients not otherwise readily available via the organic material I use to make compost. Keep in mind that if the micro elements are lacking in my soil, they won't magically appear in my weeds I dump into the compost bins. They have to come from off the farm. Ocean water helps with this. But it is used sparingly. 

Burned bone

     While bone contains calcium, it also contains phosphorous. My soil was low in phosphorous when I started out. And since it was also very low in calcium, bone seemed like a good choice. Around here, bones are very available. I can gather a pickup truck load in less that 30 minutes, anytime I need them. One just needs to be in the good side of the right rancher and know the right locations. 

      Why burn it? To make it easier to break up. When processed by fire, the bone readily crumbles. 

Wood ashes

     Wood ash increase soil pH faster than calcium. And since I live in an acidic environment, wood ash is a good choice for me. Ash is also a really good source of potassium, another element that my soil needed when I started up. I use wood ash lightly in the compost bins. But I also use it as a dusting on specific garden beds that test lower in pH than others. 

Biochar

     I initially started to experiment with biochar years ago. Personally I haven't seen the results that the hype predicted. But then, my soil isn't in as poor condition as a lot of other soils. But I have seen the useage of biochar improve my soil tilth. Where I've used biochar the soil seems lighter, a little easier to work, and drains better. Having my soil absorb water but also drain productively is important to my food growing. I feel that biochar has had a positive bearing on that. 

Cinder

     I have a patch along the bank of a dead river bed on my land that is dirty volcanic cinder. Most likely brought down the mountain during heavy rain events. I like adding a bit of this cinder to the compost. It helps with drainage. But being full of holes like a sponge, it also retains soil nutrients and moisture. Plus it provides footing for plant roots. 

Feathers & Fur/Hair

     Feathers and fur provide not only nitrogen, but also many micro amounts of assorted minerals. One benefit to using them that I like is that they are slow to breakdown. So it's like using a slow release nutrient. When I use my compost, if I look carefully I still identify feathers and fur. That's fine with me. The soil microbes will use them gradually over time. 

Fruits

     Why fruit specifically? Basically for the sugar content. Some people purposely apply sugar or molasses. I use waste fruit because it is so readily available here. I really don't know if the addition of sugars really improves soil microbe numbers, but I haven't found it to be a detriment. So since I have access to waste fruits often throughout the year, I use them on a regular basis. The goal is to produce a very large population of soil microbes in the compost. 

The rest of my compost ingredients I don'tclassify as amendments per se. They are a hodgepodge of plant and animal materials. They are the essence of compost. What I consider to be amendments are materials that are not routinely found in compost but have a significant bearing upon the soil. 

Banana Tree Waste

"M" asked me what I do with the discarded banana tree. Can it be used for anything? Do I just cart it off to the dump? 

First of all, I try to find a use for everything on this farm. Second, there's very little that I cart off to the dump. So yes, I will use this harvested banana tree. 

This particular tree was growing in a hugelpit. Therefore the leaves and trunk will be incorporated back into the hugelpit itself. The leaves and leaf stems go around the bases of the other trees. The truck gets cut up into manageable pieces, which are also placed around the bases where needed. The material in a hugelpit is constantly and slowly decomposing. Thus new material needs to be added. Recycling the spent banana tree helps maintain the hugelpit. 

Trees from non-hugelpit locations I often use to help fill pallet grow boxes. I'll cut off the leaves and put them into the box. The trunk is cut to appropriate lengths, which are then put in atop the leaves. 

One tree usually adds a single 6"-8" layer to one of the pallet grow boxes. But the tall bananas can make two layers. (I add a thin addition of compost or soil between the two layers to help with the composting process.) So those really tall trees actually do have value over the dwarf trees at times. I know of a lot of people who won't grow the tall varieties. 

While I've never used them in cooking, the trunks can be used in imus (an underground cooking pit) to provide steam for the cooking food. I have several people I know who use the trunks for this. They also use the leaves to wrap food in for cooking. 

My donkey and sheep will eat the leaves, though not the coarse stems. I understand that the zoos feed the entire young trees to the elephants in order to enrich their lives. It gives them something interesting and enjoyable to do. 

Different Kinds Of Composting

I'm a big believer in using compost. But unlike some people, I don't advocate just one composting method. Depending upon the situation, I think just about all composting methods have virtue. 

"F" recently asked me how do I make compost. Honestly, I use a variety of methods. So I couldn't give him a clean cut, short answer. Some of the methods I use widely vary because I'm looking for a specific result. Other times I use the quickest, simplest methods because I lack time to fuss with making compost. 

Simply digging it in....

When I only have a few small things for the compost bins, I won't bother to take them all the way down to the bin area. Plus I don't wish to store them up by the kitchen because of the plethora of vinegar flies here in the tropics. So I'll just go out to the nearest garden, dig a hole, and bury whatever it is. Usually it's a few coffee grounds, macnuts shells, orange peels, that's sort of kitchen waste that the chickens don't want. 

Trenching....

When preparing a bed for taro, I like to make trenches between where the taro rows will be. Then I fill those trenches with material to cold compost - ground up brush, kitchen waste, garden waste, livestock manure, shredded paper, coffee cherry pulp,  that sort of stuff. Then I put the soil back in place over the compostables and plant the taro. Over time, the material composts down, providing nutrients to the taro. 

Cold piles....

These piles aren't really cold, but they don't get hot enough to kill pathogens. Thus I term them cold composting. These piles are "vegan" in that they contain no manure. It's usually weeds, ground brush trimmings, banana leaves,  yellowing sugar cane leave, waste fruits. These piles tend to sit for several months before I need to use them. 

Hot piles.....

These are my workhorses. Importantly, I use my pallet boxes to make this compost. That's so they don't dry out and all spots get hot. They are also "lidded" with cardboard to retain heat and moisture. I can regulate the moisture level by adjusting the cardboard lid. They process material quickly, often having useable compost in as little as 30 days. But I prefer to let them continue to compost for 2-3 months if I don't need to use it immediately. I make them by layering ground brush and grass (the lawnmower is the tool I use), livestock manure, and any kitchen and garden waste the chickens won't eat. Chicken pen litter goes into the hot compost bins. These piles can also process dead animals and slaughtered waste, but I don't often have that available. 

These piles are turned every 30 days if not used in the gardens. That causes them to reheat up. I often have to add water to the material when I turn the pile in order to bring it up to a sufficient moisture level. Turning a pile (I simply fork it into the next bin) takes work, but it's better than joining a gym. 

Hugelpits....

These are stay-in-place compost piles made by filling in a pit or hole in the ground. This is where much of my coarse, non-ground up material goes. Plus I can utilize woody material here.....tree trucks and branches not suitable for firewood. It's also a great place for clean cardboard. Because I'm adding quite a bit of woody material, as opposed to green weeds and grass clippings, I have to keep in mind to add a nitrogen source. Manure, grass clippings, and urine do the job nicely. Once the pit is filled in, I wait about 6 months, then go back to tromp it down then tup it up. The material will have rotted down about half its volume. So I'll refill the pit. After another 6 months I will plant bananas or fruit trees. 

Other methods I no longer use: 

... Sheet composting. This is simply laying compostables right onto the soil surface, then planting into it. Often people use the term lasagna gardening. It works, but it doesn't fit well with my soil and situation. 

...Open piles. The tropical wind and sun dries these out quickly. Plus the outside 6" doesn't compost at all. 

,,,Rotary bin. These cannot produce the volume of compost I need. The main drawback even for small gardeners is that the bins get really heavy and are difficult to turn. But if composting small amounts, they really work great. I highly recommend them for the small gardener. 

...Worm bin. These work for a lot of people. But again, I need lots of compost. Plus I don't have a lot of extra material to devote to the worms. My chickens need the edibles. So for the right situation, they work great. It's just not for my situation at the moment. 

Methods I don't use.....

....Silage. This is a method where everything is put into a sealable bag, such as a black trash bag.  Then it's allowed to sit for months. I've only tried this method with oak leaves while living in NJ. Over the winter the leaves rotted down to a black mass. Some bags were too wet and gloppy. Others too dry. I never perfected the method. I once tried a bag of grass clippings and my advice is...don't. It turns into a smelly, gloppy, anaerobic foul mess. 

.....Anaerobic tea. I hear of people filling a trash can with grass and weeds, topping it up with water, then allowing it to sit a week before using that water as a tea to water their plants. I'm leery. It's an anaerobic process, growing the wrong microbes for a healthy garden soil. Thus I haven't taken the time to experiment with it. 

Using Compost

Compost seems to be a hot topic. I'm frequently asked to sell my stash to others, but it's a valuable product on this farm and I never have enough. So how do I utilize compost in my system? 

Compost is one of my main sources of fertilizer and soil improver. My homemade compost is comprised of a wide assortment of plants (grasses, weeds, brush and tree leaves), manures (chicken, equine, sheep, goat), and kitchen & fruit waste not eaten by the chickens. Occasionally slaughter waste and dead animals end up being composted too. Plus small amounts of garden soil, lava sand, coral sand, ocean water, fired bone, and biochar end up in the mix. 

The most common method to use my compost is to till it in to the top 3"-6" of soil when I refresh a growing bed between crops. I will fork a 2" deep layer onto a bed then very quickly and lightly till it in. By far, this my number one method. 

Another frequently used method is to use the compost as a mulch. About one or two months into growing a crop, I will spread a light layer (about an inch) of compost, like applying a mulch. Then I try to cover that with a light layer of fresh grass clippings as soon as feasible. When possible, I'll time it when I'm expecting a rain. If I'm not lucky to get rain, then I'll give the bed a watering. I don't think this is as good as tilling it in, but it does seem to give the growing crop a boost without disturbing its roots, as tilling would. 

Compost tea. I haven't developed the habit of using lots of compost tea. My neighbor is a big advocate of compost tea, using it about one month into growing a crop. Via his gentle prodding, he's gotten me to add a couple shovelfuls of compost to a trashcanful of water, give it a good stir, and let it sit in the sun for day. Then use that water at the end of the day to water the plants that need a drink. I've never experimented to see how much of a difference it makes, but I figure that it can't hurt. 

And the final use, I add it to the layers as I make the next compost pile. It acts as a starter, introducing the micro organisms into the pile. 

Compost - Looking at the Disappearing Act Again

I can no longer count on my fingers and toes the number of new gardeners who have told me that compost is a waste of money or time, because it only disappears (a variation : the rain washes it away into the lava). People misinterpret what's going on. As organic material decomposes, it's moisture content is released, thus leaving behind just the organic mass. The moisture in plants is a large part of the volume. The more juicy the material, the greater the loss of volume. 

Above is pictured my newest compost pile. Just two weeks ago I had filled it to the very top and capped it with cardboard. I have used plastic coated cardboard boxes which would help retain the compost moisture and heat better. Eventually they will be removed and discarded, thus not be incorporated in with the compost. But in the meantime they will help keep things evenly moist. 

In just two weeks the pile has gone down 12 inches. No, I haven't jumped on it. This has happened on its own with no outside help. As the organic material heats up and rots, it loses moisture. Hot moist air rises, so even with the cap, much escapes the pile. Plus, air spaces in the weeds, grass, and other additives disappear as the material collapses and compacts. This is totally normal and to be expected. 

By the time I harvest this compost in 3-4 months, I fully expect the pile to be only half of its original volume. Once the compost is added to the garden soil, it will continue to decompose and lose moisture, continuing to also lose volume. 

Rest assured that this is normal, to be expected, and actually a good sign that everything is working fine. 

Composting Shredded Paper

"G" wrote in, asking if I use shredded paper. Short answer....yes. I personally don't generate a lot of shredded paper myself, but I do have people who donate it to me. And I appreciate getting it. I often dig it into the soil of my flower gardens. I tried once using it as a surface mulch but it had two drawbacks for me. First, the winds tended to blow it around, and second, if wet down, it formed a mat that rain had difficulty penetrating. Thus I prefer to dig it in. 

Above, a compost bin. 

Besides digging it right into the soil, I also use it in the compost bins. It's considered a "brown" ingredient, meaning that it doesn't contribute nitrogen. So it is added along with either fresh green grass clippings or animal manures. It can absorb quite a bit of water, so I make sure to wet it down when it's added to a pile. 

"G" also asked if shredded paper is really 100% clean and safe to use. I can't say that it is. Looking at things realistically, there's hardly anything that is 100% "clean" nowadays. Not the air, the rain, the soil, nothing. Man has contaminated and changed the entire world. And there's not much us little folk can do about it, especially since some of our chemical exposure is mandated by laws and regulations!  While I don't intentionally add lots of toxic chemicals to my gardens, I'm not 100% chemical free. As I've stated in previous blog posts, I take what I deem to be a reasonable and realistic approach. 

Compost Bins

"V" wrote in asking about my compost bins. Actually, he was asking where I bought them. Here on this farm, I tend to make my own when I can, rather than buy it. Here's what I've done......

Above......I decided to build the compost boxes in a heavily shaded spot under a large tree. No crops could be grown there. Plus the spot was adjacent to my driveway, making it easy access to bring organic material to the boxes. So I found 11 sturdy pallets in good condition. 

Above, another view. 

I connected the pallets together using scrap lumber and nails. Since these are permanent boxes, I opted not to tie the pallets together. I wanted them to be more solid than my grow boxes. 

Above, a scrap of plywood nicely secured the outside bottom of the boxes. And where possible, I directly nailed pallets together. 

Above, I drove stakes into the ground and nailed the pallets to them. This firmly is holding the pallets in place. I would prefer to use metal stakes of some sort, but I don't have any at this time. Eventually I'll come across some, and will replace the wooden stakes with metal ones. 

Some of the pallets had closely spaced slats while some had wide gaps. I nailed plywood scraps to the pallets to fill in any gaps. 

With the pallets all secured and wide gaps covered, I started getting the boxes ready for receiving organic debris. I put a 2 inch layer of cardboard in the bottom. I have found that it's easier this way because it helps me determine where the bottom is when I empty out the finished compost. Usually some of the cardboard is still intact and visible. Oooooops. Forgot to line this box with plastic. 

I have a number of recycled black trash bags on hand. I'm using them to line these boxes. Anything that seals the sides could be used....old tarps, poly film, feed bags, etc. The idea is to help retain moisture. In my climate, if I don't line the boxes, they dry out too quickly. 

The black plastic is secured using a nailed on milk jug cap. I've had good success using this method. 

With the box now constructed, it's time to make the fourth wall -- the removable door. I've chosen a lightweight pallet. But it has wide gaps between the slats. 

So I covered them with a double layer of heavy duty cardboard. Just nailed it on using roofing nails. I could have used plywood, but since the door is removable, cardboard can be easily replaced each time I empty the bin. 

On top of the cardboard I applied a black trash bag. In this photo, I haven't nailed it on yet. But I'll use the milk jog caps to secure it in place. 

Almost complete. I need to bring down some bungee cords to hold the door on. I could tie or wire it in place, but I have several of those tight black rubber bungees sitting up in the tool shed. They should work just fine. 

Now it's time to fill it. I'll layer all sorts of organic debris. Layering is one of the tricks I use. Grass clippings. Coarse weeds. Young soft weeds. A little soil, usually what's in the weed roots. Manures. Discarded and foraged stuff that the chickens won't eat. Broken up ohia tree twigs. Mushrooms and fungus if I can find them. Urine. Biochar if I have it. Flyblown slaughter waste and roadkill. Enough water to moisten the layers. I try to have a 50:50 ratio of "greens" to "browns", and balance wet stuff with dry stuff so that the pile doesn't get mucky. 

The main reason I use a hot compost pile is to process items that have seeds, possible noxious insect pests, or pathogens (manure). Otherwise using cold composting (my grow boxes) or simply using organic debris as mulch is just fine too. In my taro patch I use trench composting, and that works just fine. But I don't add manure to trench composting since it doesn't heat up. Composted manure is added afterward. 

I'm a big believer in applying compost to the garden beds. It's great for building soil and adding much needed nutrients for the plants. Most veggies really respond well to the stuff. 

By the way, these particular bins are new. My old ones were 5 years old and falling apart. Time to replace them. I've made six bins so far. I plan to make another 6 alongside these, for 12 altogether. 24 hours after making these, bin #1 is already filled. I try to fill one per week. After the 12 weeks that it takes to fill all the bins, bin #1 will be ready to be emptied. It's composted down to 1/4 to 1/3 the original volume. The contents will have cooled off and be partially decomposed. I'll sift the compost through a 1 1/2" grate, using the sifted material in the garden and returning the coarser stuff to the next compost pile. 

Harvesting My Compost/Soil

Compost/soil? That's the term I use to describe the material that comes out of one of my pallet grow boxes. It isn't compost, because there's quite a bit of soil and sand in the mix. And it's not soil either because the vast majority of it is based upon decomposing organic material, also known as compost. 

Each pallet box is used to grow crops for about 8 to 12 months before I open the box to harvest its contents. This translates into two back-to-back short season crops (beans, potatoes, etc) or one long season crop (turmeric, taro, yacon, etc). 

Typically a pallet box is half full when I harvest the compost/soil. The material has decomposed that much over time.

Above is the most recent box I've opened, and it is half full, as anticipated. 

While I could simply fork the material into a wheelbarrow and cart it to the nearest garden bed in need, I prefer to sift out the coarser chunks. This makes my life easier when running the rototiller in the garden. Usually I use a wheelbarrow to catch the sifted compost/soil, but in the above photo I'm using a 5 gallon bucket. Don't ask me for a logical reason. It's seemed ok at the time.  But really, it would have been far better to use either the wheelbarrow or the cart behind the ATV. Geez, I sifted the entire pallet boxful before I thought to use the ATV wagon. Poor decision on my part. Hopefully I've learned my lesson enough to remember for next time. 

Anyway......here's a close up view of the coarse stuff that the sifter takes out. 

I usually get one trashcanful, or a bit more, of coarse stuff. 

Above me you can see just how coarse it is. Even though this isn't going right into my garden beds, it isn't going to waste either. No way! (does that surprise anyone? 😉 ) I will layer this stuff into the pallet box along with all the fresh organic material I will be using to refill the box. Perhaps in another 8 months or so it will be decomposed enough to make it through the next sifting session. 

Soil Moisture Retention

I was out doing a bit of rototillering today, getting an area ready for planting. Much of the space had been used for gardening last year, and thus various soil amendments had been tilled in several times during that year. But this past spring was so wet that I had let this area become overgrown in grass and weeds rather than get a crop planted. The soil was simply too wet to dig back then. But now the weather is improving for gardening, so I'm back to tilling, to getting things ready once more for food production.

In this particular area, I noticed that a section had lighter colored soil and it was actually DRY. I had to think about it for a second, then recalled that I had not used this light colored spot for gardening last year. Instead, I stored the buckets and trash cans there instead. 

The dry area is in the upper right of the photo. I know it's not easy for you to see, but it is a shade lighter in color. 

Without the benefit of tilled in compost, mulch, and manures, the soil isn't retaining moisture like the rest of the soil around it. Wow, it's quite a good example of the benefits of adding organic material to garden soil. 

After I finished the initial tilling, I retrieved a wheelbarrowful of compost to add to that dry area. 

Fungus in the Compost

I'm an oddball around town because of some of my particular adventures. (Well...you need to be aware that most folks around here are a bit odd, so I fit in just fine!) One of those odd things that I do is collecting the  mushrooms that pop up in the county park and the church lawns. People often ask me if I eat them. Heavens no! They're poisonous. But I find them to be good additions to my compost piles, pallet grow boxes, and hugelpits. Fungus is what breaks down the woody aspects of biomass, thus my piled up organic material decomposes faster. 

Above, I've opened a makeshift compost pile, to show you, one that is made of tree & brush twigs and tree leaves sucked up with a lawnmower, layered with fresh grass clippings. As I piled on the layers, I moistened the twig/leaf layer with my "kwik compost tea" made from my IMO (indigenous micro organisms) compost pile. 

My IMO compost is designed to grow bacteria and fungus that likes to feed upon the soft and woody biomass that occurs in my area. (Sort of like keeping a sourdough starter for bread making, but in this case the "friendly bugs" are for fermenting biomass instead of flour.) I then use it to mix with water, making a "tea" to use to moisten other biomass piles......such as the one pictured here. I see it is a rapid and surefire way to get things moving quickly along. Within a week, this particular pile showed heavy growth of micro organisms, especially fungus......the fluffy white stuff in the photos. 

To make the kwik compost tea, I simply put a shovelful of compost in a five gallon bucket, add water, stir, then use immediately. I use it to moisten the dry material added to a compost pile or hugelpit. 

By the way, if added moisture is not called for, then I simply lightly sprinkle the IMO compost on the layers as I build the pile, fill the pallet grow box, or fill in the hugelpit. No need to make a tea. 

Improving Soil - My #1 Method

What would I suggest as the number one thing to improve soil? Compost...hands down. Infertile soil? Add compost. Dry soil? Add compost. Rocky or sandy soil? Add compost. No soil? Use compost. Compost isn't the solution for all soil problems, but it's a good start. 

I'm no soil scientist. I wouldn't know how to identify soil types if my life depended upon it. I couldn't recognize a deficiency by looking at a handful of soil. But even so, I observe from the results I've gotten in a variety of gardens that repeated generous applications of good compost can do miracles. Even poor draining soils can be helped by incorporating coarse chunky compost, but around here, adding generous amounts of lava cinder with coarse compost is an even better option for that type soil. 

I've used all kinds of compost....hot, cold, layered, dug in, mulched. I've made well aged compost that's 6 months old, and on the other end of the scale, a chopped in a mix that only heated up for a few days before being used. They all improve soil. I've had success with my pallet grow boxes, which are just giant compost bins. I've had success creating gardens atop rock, atop even a concrete pad, by layering lots of compost. Filling containers with soil and compost also works for container gardening. 

Above-- weeds composting in a bin beside the garden. 

While I've read some fancy recipes for making compost, I don't see where one needs to be all that precise. Yes, there are complicated, precise recipes out there. Some gardeners are compulsive about adhering to them. But I just adhere to a 5 basic rules....

...if too wet, add dry stuff and keep out the excess rain, and aerate (via fluffing or turning but don't leave gaping air pockets)

...if too dry, add wet stuff or water. Cover the pile to keep moisture in. 

...if not heating up, add a nitrogen/sugar source (grass clippings manure, urine, fresh weeds, discarded fruit, even kitchen waste if nothing else is handy)

...shoot for half green/wet/nitrogen and half dry/high carbon/low nitrogen when creating the pile 

...chop everything into small pieces

Compost doesn't have to be plowed into the soil. Nor tilled in, even, although incorporating it into the top few inches will start the improvement process faster. Even if you can't till or dig, layering compost atop the ground will gradually improve the soil beneath. 

Above- coarse compost being used to fill a trench between the rows of taro. 

And compost piles don't have to be made in order for the organic material to be useful. Basically compost is organic material that is decomposing to some degree or other. But compostable material can simply be buried into the garden in spots or in trenches. While compostable materials could be used as an uncovered mulch, much of the nitrogen will be lost by this method. Better to apply it as a layered mulch, covering the nitrogen/wet layer with something carbon/dry (example: chopped straw, dry brown lawnmower clippings, shredded tree leaves, or even a light soil covering). 

I surely don't have broad experience with soil improvement. In fact, I've never worked with most soil types that are out there. But from what other gardeners have told me about their own experiences plus my own experience setting up gardens for other folks, incorporating compost into just about any soil makes dramatic improvements in the ability to grow things. About the only soil that compost doesn't improve is wet, boggy, swampy soils. But then, not too many people have tried planting a vegetable garden in a swamp, so I haven't gotten much feedback on that situation. 

I have heard from blog readers who tell me they have had success growing in sand, clay, gravel, and even worn out abused soils by constantly adding compost and using mulches. And I myself have had good success turning my hydrophobic soil on my farm into hydrophilic soil capable of supporting a nice vegetable or flower garden. 

I aim to add a bit of compost to the soil between each crop that I harvest. If I'm out of compost, then I'll use newly started compost as a mulch for that garden bed. One way or the other, I try to get compost added to the soil 2-4 times during the year. 

Non-Sifted Compost

Millie asked via email, "Does compost have to be sifted before using it in my garden?" 

I don't always sift my compost. I usually only sift it when I plan to add it to existing garden beds where to coarse material would interfere with the rototiller. 

In my taro beds (pictured is the one that's growing on a concrete slab), I never sift the compost I add into the aisle ways. 

When I initially plant the taro, I scoop up the old compost in the aisles and add it to the mounds where I actually plant the baby taro. The mounds stay about a foot deep in plantable soil. Then later when extra compost becomes available, I'll fork a good 6 to 12 inches of coarse compost into the aisles between the plants. 

And I'll also add it as a border around the bed. 

As you can see in the photos, the material is chunky with lots of stuff that hasn't decomposed yet. That's fine with me, because over the next 6-9 months most of it will break down a lot more. 

Why don't I sift it? 

1- No need. The plants do fine. 

2- It will drain better if we happen to get a deluge. Once we had 13 inches of rain in 24 hours! 

3- It's a lot easier on me and takes up less time. Time is in short supply around here.

ps- I will cover the compost with a layer of grass clippings when I get a chance to make some extra. 

Compost Soil I've Created

One of the side benefits of using pallet grow boxes is that I get a half cubic yard of compost/soil out of one at the end of each crop. Sometimes I just add more organic material on top of the old stuff, then plant another crop. Sometimes I use the old compost/soil to inoculate the next pallet boxes. But other times I harvest it, sift it, and add it to my garden beds. 

Oh yes, to comment upon the title of this post. Mother Nature created this soil. I just set things up. 

I just harvested the yacon from this box, above, it's easy to see how the organic material has composted down half the height in the pallet box during the year long growing season. 

The top layer is still very coarse, essentially acting as a mulch. 

But further down in the pile, the organic material has decomposed some degree or other. 

From this particular pallet grow box I'm harvesting the soil for some of the other garden beds. So I'm forking it out then sifting it to remove the biggest pieces of non-decomposed material. I prefer to sift directly into a wheelbarrow, making it easy for me to wheel the soil to whatever garden bed that needs it. 

The sifted stuff looks, feels, and smells great. It's crumbly and moist. Not too super fine nor dusty. 

And it's full of worms of all sizes. Love seeing those worms! 

I've tried a variety of things to use for sifting the compost. My current favorite is an old plastic greenhouse tray. It's easy to hold, shake, and carry around with me. It's lightweight and does the job quite nicely. And it's simple. 

The coarse material will go back into another pallet grow box or be used in filling in a hugel style pit. The coarse stuff is mostly tree twigs, fern stems, bark, and woody stuff that takes a long time to breakdown.