Make Your Own Soil and Feed Your Garden!

I love composting and the rich soil that it creates in my own backyard. The aroma and the crumbly feel of this black gold are as satisfying as knowing I’m keeping waste out of the landfill.

Making compost is surprisingly easy. You could certainly buy one of the many different kinds of composters that are available, such as a stationary enclosed bin, a compost tumbler, or worm composter. But I use none of these. Instead, in a protected spot in my yard that receives a half day of sun, I keep two piles. One is surrounded by an open cylinder I made out of hardware mesh (¼” chicken wire) and twist ties. Into this I put clippings, leaves, non-invasive weeds, food scraps, non-meat and non-dairy refrigerator cleanout, and coffee grounds (including unbleached filters.) 

This pile breaks down fairly quickly, especially when the weather is warm. I periodically pull off the wire hoop and use a garden fork to lift, sift, and aerate the pile. I place the un-composted material that remains on the fork in a pile right next to it. This 2^nd pile becomes my new compost heap, around which I replace the chicken-wire cylinder.

Now the former heap has become a pile of rich black humus ready to use as a mulch, to fill low spots in the lawn, or to amend garden soil. Depending on how I’ll use it, I sometimes force it through a screen to make it finer. (To do that, I form a large sieve of wire mesh over my wheel barrow and push the compost through it, being careful not to squish the worms!)

There are so many benefits to composting: it keeps food waste out of landfills, adds microorganisms to soil, fertilizes plants with nitrogen and carbon, and acts as moisture-retaining mulch. To these benefits I’ll add that it gives me, the backyard composter, some fresh air and exercise, as well as the satisfaction of creating something valuable out of garbage! 

A fun guide that you can find at Mercer County Library System is Compost: A Family Guide to Making Soil from Scraps, by Ben Raskin

There’s also: Composting Basics: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started by Eric Ebeling 

The following titles describe other natural and ecological practices that enhance our gardens and our world:

The Living Soil Handbook: The No-Till Grower’s Guide to Ecological Market Gardening by Jesse Frost

"Principles and farm-tested practices for no-till market gardening--for healthier, more productive soil!"

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control by Jessica Walliser 

"With this indispensable gardening reference-now updated with new research, insights, and voices-learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides."

Grow Now: How We Can Save Our Health, Communities and Planet—One Garden at a Time by Emily Murphy 

"What is an easy, actionable way to put excess atmospheric carbon back in the ground and reduce our contributions to emissions and food waste? By creating our own "climate victory gardens." We now recognize that plots in towns and cities are critical to supporting planetary diversity, and by instituting organic, regenerative practices and growing some of our own food, we can sequester carbon as well as shift toward living in a more ecologically responsible way. This book will help families across the country to address eco-anxiety and particpiate in climate activism in a nurturing and positive way"

The Ecological Gardner: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up by Matt Rees-Warren

"Transform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow. The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant garden from the soil up - a garden that welcomes birds and bees and showcases native planting and wild flowers, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. It includes practical projects, from rainwater harvesting to vermicomposting, laying a hedgerow to turning your lawn into a wildflower meadow. Matt will help you reimagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty. Design a garden for the future - because what we do as individual gardeners matters"

Have fun playing in the dirt!

- by Kathleen N., Ewing Branch