How to Grow More Vegetables : And Fruits, Nuts ... - Shroomery

BUILDING A COMPOST PILE STEP BY STEP
1. Under the pile area (3 or 4 square feet), loosen the soil to
12 inches deep with a spading fork.
2. Lay down roughage (brush, corn stalks, or other material),
3 inches thick, if it is available, for air circulation.
3. Put down a 2-inch layer of dry vegetation—dry weeds,
leaves, straw, dry grass clippings, hay, and old garden
wastes. Water it thoroughly.
4. Put down a 2-inch layer of green vegetation and kitchen
wastes—fresh weeds, grass clippings, hedge trimmings,
green cover crops, and kitchen wastes you have saved.
Water well.
5. Cover lightly with a 1 ⁄ 4- to 1 ⁄ 2-inch layer of soil to prevent
flies and odors. Moisten the soil.
6. Add new layers of dry vegetation, green vegetation, kitchen
waste, and soil as materials become available until the pile
is 3 to 4 feet high.
7. Cover the top of the pile with a 1 ⁄ 2- to 1-inch layer of soil.
8. Water the completed pile regularly until it is ready for use.
9. Let the completed pile cure 3 to 6 months while you are
building a new pile. Turn the pile once for faster decomposition.
For planning purposes, remember that a 4-foot-high
compost pile will be 1 to 11 ⁄ 3 feet high when it is ready to use.
48 COMPOST
Note
We sometimes build a compost pile on
an unused growing bed so the next
crop grown in that bed will pick up and
utilize any nutrients leached out from
the pile into the soil. The next season
we build compost on another unused
growing bed.