Compost 101

Reader Contribution by Staci Ducharme
Published on December 1, 2010
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I know going into winter the last thing you may be thinking about is compost, however, as you begin ordering seeds for the next season if you don’t already compost you should consider doing so. You can create beautiful, rich soil right in your own backyard with little effort. Anyone can start a compost pile, regardless of the size of your property. I love the fact that I can recycle our table scraps, although the chickens get the first pick.

When we first purchased our 146 year old farmhouse it was in the month of June. The growing season was already well underway. I walked out to the plot the previous owner had obviously used for a garden. All I could smell was chicken poop. He also had chickens and I believe he simply added the manure to the dirt. My mom helped me with a few plantings, but not surprisingly they didn’t do well at all.

By year two the dirt and manure had matured. I tilled it to improve the quality. Year three I added above ground planting boxes and purchased compost from a local farm to fill them. This was much better. I also decided to add my own compost bins enabling me to continue to top layer my beds.

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