Applying compost mid-season

Have you started your batch of compost? This is a great time to process all your weeds, grass clippings, livestock bedding, and veggie scraps into precious black gold. Remember those essential tips from the last article — mix green and brown ingredients thoroughly, avoid using brush, water the heap well as you build it, and stir the pile occasionally. This will assure you a successful finished product. Your pile will have minimum odor while it transforms into compost over 6-10 weeks.

When is it done? You’ll know your compost is fully processed when it is dark, cool, and fragrant and you don’t see food scraps. Congratulations on your alchemy!

Now what do you do with your finished compost? For a new garden, apply the compost about one inch to three inchesdeep and cultivate it into the soil before planting. You may want to screen out chunky items before spreading your compost. But what if your compost batch is ready at the middle or end of your growing season? You don’t want to spade compost into your garden soil where you have established crops — you’ll risk damaging roots.

Here is my advice for using finished compost after the spring planting season:

•Spread it around the base of maturing crops and perennials. Apply your compost like mulch. This side-dressing will feed hungry plants as rain and worms carry nutrients (and beneficial microbes) down into the root zone.

•Save your finished batch of compost and apply it next spring. Simply cover the heap with a tarp or black plastic. This dark cover will deter weeds from sprouting on the pile and prevent the rain and snow from leaching nutrients out of the pile. Those vital worker/processor microbes go to sleep during the cold months, and resume working when the weather warms up again.

No matter what time of year, your miraculous compost feeds your plants (via nutrients, microbes, and microbe food), conditions your soil, helps prevent drought and flood damage, and reduces erosion risk. Grab your pitchfork and start your compost pile today!

Ellen Vande Visse operates Good Earth Garden School and offers an instructional DVD on Alaskan composting through goodearthgardenschool.com.