Creating soil for the garden - November 16th, 2020

Earlier this year in May, I spent every morning for the month preparing compost to be used for this season. Over the past few weeks, I have been adding the finished compost into the garden beds and I am excited to see the results. Using the Berkeley method, the compost was made using about a third each of horse manure, green manure (grass, weeds, & kitchen scraps), and dried leaves/paddy straw. The materials were piled up in layers and flipped inside out every other day. The process for each pile takes 18 days which accelerates decomposition as well as destroys potential pathogens and unwanted weed and grass seeds. The compost was then covered and left for several months in the curing phase where the organic material fully decomposed and friendly bacteria populated the soil. It has been a labor of love and I’m hoping to see it result in a productive growing season!