5 Easy Ways to Compost: No Turning, No Bins, Plenty of Fertile Soil

The value of compost in the garden isn’t really up for debate. It’s wonderful stuff that adds fertility, introduces soil life, and improves tilth. Compost is also great at retaining moisture to make sure plants have plenty to drink, and it helps to balance pH levels in the soil. It’s just good stuff.

That said, lots of compost piles fail, and lots of people believe that composting requires a lot of work. Neither of these things has to be the case. Several methods of composting don’t require turning. They don’t require big bins. They just require time and letting nature do its thing. Some folks call it “lazy composting”.

While it’s true that turning/aerating compost and utilizing compost bins might increase the speed of decomposition and control when composting, it doesn’t have to be done that way. These methods can be just as successful, and they will produce incredibly fertile soil. It will be full of microbiota and a great growing medium, just the same.

The Cold Pile

The compost pile that produces compost quickly is called a hot compost pile. It’s turned regularly to aerate the compost, and the oxygen helps to get the microorganisms fired up and working. The cold pile is put together similarly—layers of nitrogen material and carbon material—but is left to break down over time.

What’s important with a cold pile is that there is so bulky, carbon-rich material in it to help keep the air available within the pile. Then, it’s just a matter of letting the raw compost materials have the time, say a year, to decompose.

A good tip before using this is to cover it with some old plastic sheeting for about a month to make the viable seeds germinate and die before it goes into the garden.

The Trench Method

For those who plant in rows, the trench method of composting might be an ideal option. This is done by digging a trench and using the excavated soil to make a row next to the trench. Kitchen compost is put in the trench and covered over, either with the soil or with a thick layer of carbon material.

The soil life that already exists will take care of the composting right where it is needed. The rows can either be planted in that year, or they can be used to cover the compost up, say in the wintertime. If the row is planted, cover the compost in the trench with straw, dried grass clippings, or wood shavings, and use it as a walking path. Year after year, the soil will be reinvigorated.

The Lasagna Garden

The lasagna garden is basically making a shorter, wider cold compost pile. It generally starts with a layer of cardboard on the grass below, followed by a layer of nitrogen-rich compost material (kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, weeds) then a layer of carbon-rich material (straw, wood mulch, shredded paper).  The layers can continue like this a few times over.

After a couple of weeks or a month, the lasagna garden can be planted. Clear out a hole, fill it with soil, and plant. As the lasagna layers decompose, they’ll feed the plants growing in the soil.

The Worm Bucket

Worm buckets are a wonderful way to tap into the benefits of compost long before a compost pile would ever be ready. From the get-go, this will be adding nutrients to the soil, as well as attracting/adding worms and the accompanying worm castings directly to the garden.

Use an old five-gallon bucket with a lid (steering clear of anything that stores chemicals, of course). Drill some large holes in the bottom two-thirds of it. Bury it in the garden so that all the holes are under the surface. Add those kitchen scraps to it with a bit of shredded paper or cardboard. Let the compost happen within and the fertile juice will leach out into the surrounding soil.

The efficiency of these buckets can be improved by importing some composting worms to get them going.

The Mulch Pit

A mulch pit seems crude and simplistic which is somewhat the point. In this case of compost, the idea is to dig a big hole—a yard across and a yard deep—and use the earth to make a raised planting ring around it. The hole is then filled with chunky organic materials, as well as any food scraps, weeds, or what have you.

While the hole is being filled, the raised area around it can be planted with crops. This is traditionally done with water-loving plants like bananas/plantains, papaya, and coconut, but there’s no reason it would work with temperate climate choices like elderberry, American pawpaw, and mulberry.

Once the pit is full, it can be covered with a layer of soil and planted for hungry, rangy crops like pumpkins and winter squashes.

In other words, there should be a simple, useful way to compost for you. Maybe several ways. So, keep those kitchen scraps and yard waste out of the landfill. It could be making healthy soil instead.

Related Content:

• 12 Tips and Ideas for Making Composting Sweet and Simple
• 10 Amazing Compost Bins: Transforming Waste into Environmental Gold
• 3 Ways to Use Compost Piles in Winter
• 7 Things to Do With Compost if You Don’t Garden
• The Not-So-Green Reality of Compostable Plastics

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