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Cold Compost
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Don't waste those leaves and grass clippings, cold compost uses them to feed your organic garden naturally.
Most of the vegetable and yard waste you produce can be used to make compost the absolute best organic gardening fertilizer.
Whenever you pull weeds discard the seed-heads before adding them to your pile because they may survive cold composting.
Green leaves and flowers are nitrogen and stems dry leaves and brush when ran through a chipper will supply carbon.
Do not use diseased plants in the compost because the pile will not heat up enough to destroy the pathogens.
Some more compost wisdom, when you build your pile keeping oxygen in your mix can be tricky. One way to supply plenty of air is to gather scrap plastic pipe one to two inches in diameter. Cut the pipe in lengths long enough to stick out an inch or so on each side of the pile. Drill ΒΌ inch holes through the pipe at three or four-inch intervals clear through both sides of the pipe for the entire length. Now when you build your pile lay these pipes across the pile after each layer as you build. This will allow good air circulation through your compost pile. Poke a stick through the pipes now and then to prevent bees from building nests in them.
Build your pile four to five feet high and once built cover the top of the pile with a tarp or dark plastic to prevent rain and melting snow from leaching out your nutrients.
Earthworms Are Partners for Cold Compost
Earthworms are your partner, cold compost use worms to break down minerals your organic garden needs.
Start the compost pile with a well-chopped layer of brown (carbon) material four to five inches thick. This should be preferably on the ground to allow access to your pile for the earthworms.
Next add a four inch or so layer of green material (nitrogen) and then two or three of the pipes with holes in them.
Alternate brown and green and pipe till you reach a height of four to five feet. The pipes should be one-quarter turn from where they were on the last layer and not parallel to the last layer.
The earthworms will move freely through the entire cold compost pile mixing, aerating, and digesting material and minerals making them available for the plants in your organic garden.
Compost wisdom suggests that earthworms given the time allowed by making cold compost will make more useable minerals available to your organic garden.
Be careful not to harm the earthworm as you add compost to your organic garden. The earthworms will help to aerate your soil as well as helping to provide good drainage.
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