Category Archives: Composting

Do this right now for a great spring garden

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Amending soil is one of the most important things you do as a food gardener. You’ve gone through months of growing things and have depleted lots of nutrients and minerals that next years plants will need.  Adding manures really isn’t the answer. Not just because it doesn’t add much nutrient value, but more so because of the weed seed it contains. Who wants to weed? Weeding is the biggest issue that pushes people away from having a garden. 

Easily done, quick, and free-why not  remove a few inches of your soil, add a layer of fall leaves, and then cover them back up? You can do one last water in if you’d like, but this time of year rain (or snow)  is usually plentiful. You’ll come out next spring and your leaves will be gone but your garden soil will have been freely amended with some of the best organic material available. Those earthworms have been eating good!

What do leaves bring to your garden soil? 

Nitrogen: leaf development and overall vigor

Potassium: water regulation, improves drought resistance

Phosphorus: root development and fruiting

Magnesium: chlorophyll and photosynthesis 

Calcium: supports root and leaf development

Iron: chlorophyll development and prevents yellowing

I’m probably missing some trace elements but those are the main characters. Do the easy work now while you’re still able to move soil around. Once the ground freezes, it’s a lot harder to do. 

Prepping your square foot garden for winter and….

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Setting you up for major success in the next growing season. While my work for making compost is done for the year-at least the active part-there’s one last item that I’ve done for years to continue improving the tilth of the soil. 

If you live in an area where there’s freezing temperatures but can still work your soil it’s not too late. I remove 4-5 inches of soil, add a layer of fall leaves, and then put the soil back on top. When you come back in the spring to plant, you most likely won’t be able to find any leaves. The earthworms have been doing their job all winter long. 

This is a great way to continue improving your growing medium with a free and natural resource. Don’t throw those leaves away! Save and use as many as you can and then use the remainder next year to make the best compost around.

If you’d like to learn more about how to make that compost, you can find the recorded class available on this site under the “shop” section. You won’t be sorry. When you learn how to do it you’ll never need to buy another fertilizer again. Ever. 

The importance of compost in the square foot garden

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I learned how to make great compost over 20 years ago while interning with Mel Bartholomew. He was the inventor of the square foot garden. Since compost is 1/3 of the magic soil formula, it’s pretty important for it to be high quality. What I learned while with him was invaluable. I’ve never had to buy a fertilizer or commercial chemicals for my gardens for over two decades. It’s easy to do once you learn a few basics. The most important thing? You can never buy it as good as you can make it. The benefits are enormous.

I’ll be having a virtual composting class this upcoming Saturday, January 30th at 10:00 AM MST. The class is 90 minutes long and you’ll see how I’ve been able to feed neighbors, restaurants, and family with the greatest of ease. Contact me if you’re interested in attending. More information is on my blog right over there. <—- Winter is a fabulous time to start collecting things. Make it so they can’t sell you anything 🙂

What you can be doing in the winter to make great compost

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One persons trash is another persons gold. As in black gold. The growing medium that everyone wants in their gardens. Many people in harsher climates may not be aware of what they can be doing during the winter months to prepare to make compost in the spring. For me, it’s only 9 weeks away before I start to actively make compost.

Those who have taken classes at my home and seen my gardens can vouge for my gardening success using 100% compost. Everything grows in my garden. I’ll soon have available a presentation I gave for the community of Park City a short time ago. I’ll show you how I do it and why compost made at home is superior to anything you can buy at nurseries or garden shops. It’s not even close. The benefits of composting speaks for itself. Stay tuned if you’d like to learn more.

How many carrots can you grow in 1 square foot?

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SFG instructors usually teach 16, and for the beginner SFG’er, thats a good way to start. After a while, you continue to learn how to make your SFG even more efficient. There’s 25 of the sweetest, overwintered carrots you’ll ever taste right there. I’ve got a few more left and thats it for the winter carrots. The summer carrots will be direct seeded in about another 2 weeks or so. They don’t taste as sweet as these but still better than what you’d get at the super market. These are Napoli’s, and they are very good.
Give a look at the two classes I’ve got coming up in the next little while. Learn how to be a great square foot gardener, and then learn why Mels mix is a one time expense if you want to make your own compost. Just a few things to learn and you’ll be off to the races. You can’t buy fertilizer as good as you can make at home. And, it’s not even close.