How To Make A Compost Heap

Illus. by Marc Brown

Super Soil, from Marc Brown's Your First Garden Book (ISBN 9780316112178) (the author of Arthur series which is also PBS kids' show), is how I plan to do my compost heap from now on:
"Compost is rich organic matter.  When you add it to the soil it helps plants grow.  Use it for your gardens indoors and out as an extra boost.
1. To recycle waste and make compost, or super soil.
2. Dig a hole about 3 feet wide and 2 to 3 feet deep.
3. In the hole make layers of plant matter (vegetable scraps, grass clippings, and leaves) and soil.  It will become rich compost as the plant matter decays.
4. Check the hole now and then.  When the leaves and grass clippings have completely disappeared, dig in with your shovel and mix up the layers.  Your compost is now ready to use!

photo from Southern Living

You can get fancy with compost heaps, but it shouldn't keep you from composting.  I've had no problems just heaping my compost in a pile out of the way but not too far from the kitchen.  Living in the country, I take advantage of being able to burn trash such as boxes food comes in, I take plastics and metals to a recycling center, and I compost all my kitchen scraps.  This leaves very little for the trash man to carry away.  My daughter recently informed me that her carbon imprint at home was practically nothing, but is pretty bad at the dorms.  I'm not into "carbon footprints" but I like the way they recycled everything during World War II, had victory gardens and composted to enrich their gardens.  In fact, you can actually just place your scraps in empty garden beds over the winter and till over with a hoe.  It's pretty well decomposed by spring.

from Southern Living

Compost heaps should be placed somewhere out of the way and shady.  Mark a 6 x6 foot area.  I pile kitchen scraps, especially egg shells (not meat or grease), raked-up leaves (even better if you chomp them up first with a mower), grass clippings, wood ashes from the fireplace, and garden refuge.  Cover with an inch of soil and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of lime to keep odors down if necessary, but I don't have a problem with odors.  Add 2 cups of garden fertilizer and keep layering up to several feet.  Water often in dry weather conditions.  It helps to leave an impression on top to catch rain water or snow.  Turn pile with a pitch fork occasionally.  Add more soil to keep the heap from looking unsightly.  I read in article in Southern Living magazine where a man grew cucumbers in his compost heap, (it was surrounded by a circle of chicken wire that the cumbers trellised up).  Now that's something I've got to try!

And the Lord Planted a Garden...Gen. 2:8

Favorite Gardening Quotes

Life begins the day you start a garden.  ~Chinese Proverb

How hard would you work to defend your spirit?  Nourish with prayer, scriptures, etc. so your testimony grows.  The most important things that ever happened in the world, happened in a garden:  The Garden of Eden; The Garden of Gethsemane; and the Garden Tomb.

To grow a testimony, you don't have to look much further than the Bible, The Book of Mormon, and the Back Yard. 

To grow your testimony, sometimes you have to weed your brain.  Why put weeds in your spiritual garden when there's so much good out there that we'll never even have time to get to.  Why would we put weeds in our spiritual garden?  If you want good things in your heart, you've got to put them there.  Weeds on the other hand will come out of nowhere spontaneously.  Some folks keep weeding, other's won't, Some folks have testimonies, other's don't. ~Jon Bytheway

Gardens are heaven - gardens and churches have a lot in common.  ~Susan Branch

The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity.  ~Henry Ford

Nature Nourishes

Grass--The fresh, rich scent, the tickle of blades, the jolt of vibrant green.  Grass fills your senses and transports you back to the carefree summer days of childhood.

Soil--"It's brimming with restorative powers," says Elizabeth Murray, author of Cultivating Sacred Space:  Gardening for the Soul (Pomegranate, 1997).  When you feel and smell soil, it connects you to the earth.  "That's what calms and refreshes you."

Water--"Moving water creates negative ions, which energize," says Murray.  Still water calms.  If invigoration is what you seek, sit near a waterfall or watch the rain from your porch.  If your spirit craves tranquility, relax by a pond or head outdoors after a downpour when water is at rest. (Family Circle Bonus, 5/11/99)

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Gardening Tips

All year long, I keep a compost heap, which is simply a heap on the edge of my yard where all my kitchen scraps, leaves and grass clippings go.  I learned from Rachael Ray to keep a "garbage bowl" on my counter as I prepare food each day.  Fruit and veggie scraps are collected in the bowl and dumped on my compost heap daily.  


I also add egg shells to my compost heap.  Egg shells are a wonderful addition to bulb gardens.  Rinse the shells and store in the egg carton until full.  Then smash the shells with your hand and sprinkle over the bulb garden--or any garden really.  It provides calcium to the soil.  The herb garden pictured above has been a recipient of egg shells and the plants love them!

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps, perennial pleasures, plants, and wholesome harvest reaps. ~Amos Bronson Alcott