Our general method of composting involves a row of piles a short walk from our house: We start one, add to it for a while, then let it sit and age while we get a new one going. But we sometimes like (and by we I mean my husband) to experiment with different compost methods, looking for ways that are easier and have a bigger payoff for our garden.
Here’s the latest: composting right into a dormant bed. It’s one where we grew pumpkins this year, and a couple of weeks ago it was time to harvest those guys. We also had several big bins full of kitchen scraps. We decided to make a new pile right where we’d just pulled up the pumpkin plants.
Layering kitchen scraps onto the soil
Returning the spent pumpkin plants to whence they came
Some hay on top, and voila: A brand-new compost pile. Over the following weeks we added one more round of veggies and, not to get too personal, some pee (it’s full of nitrogen, which helps the stuff break down).
Now we’ll leave it alone all winter. In the spring we should be able to just mix that black gold right into this garden bed. Advantages? Less hauling of compost back and forth, for one thing. Plus, the worms that will likely show up in the compost pile can dive right down into our soil.
Anyone tried something similar? How’d it go?