As the calendar ushers in another winter, you’re probably not spending a lot of time thinking about gardening and landscaping. And while the weather might not be conducive to planting, it’s the ideal time of year to prepare for spring by creating compost. Of all the many steps that go into creating a successful garden, none is as critically important as establishing and maintaining healthy, nutrient-rich soil. And there’s no better way to do that than by amending the soil with compost.
For the uninitiated, compost is a mixture of decomposing plant and food waste, and recycled organic material, such as newspaper and cardboard, that’s used to fertilize and improve the health and fertility of soil. Compost is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, making it the perfect amendment to add to flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, lawns, potted plants, raised beds, and freshly planted trees and shrubs.
Need another reason to compost? Consider this: Food scraps and yard debris comprise more than 30 percent of what the average household throws away each year. If composted instead, this waste would be kept out of landfills where it takes up valuable space and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. So, composting is beneficial not only to your garden, but also to the environment.
Now, making compost isn’t particularly difficult or time consuming, but there are few simple rules to follow to produce the most fertile compost. Here’s the procedure broken down into three basic steps: