Make Compost Piles - Healthy Soil, Healthy Plants

By Darrell Feltmate

Organic matter is crucial to healthy soil. Wherever plants grow they deposit leaves, stem parts, dropped fruit, and spent roots to the soil around them. This mass of material decays to become accessible organic matter for other plants to use. Eventually it returns to the simple end products from which it began; carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and so on; but in the meantime it becomes and important part of the soil ecology.

Compost becomes the easiest way in which a gardener can add the precious organic matter to the soil. The very nature of the making of compost encourages the growth of certain microorganisms such as beneficial bacteria, molds and actinomycetes. These microscopic creatures give benefits far beyond their proportion by weight. As far as they are concerned their main function is of course to eat, drink and make more microorganisms. As far as the gardener is concerned their function is to break down that organic matter and transform it into something plants can use. In fact, if they did not break down that matter, we would be over our heads in it in no time and not caring because all the carbon dioxide would be gone from the atmosphere since it would be converted to plant material.

Soil health is linked to the number of microorganisms per cubic foot because their microbial activity acts in ways that modern agricultural chemicals do not. Chemical farming is concerned with feeding the plants. As the soil is fed with compost and other organic matter, the number of beneficial microorganisms increases dramatically and they are able to chew up and destroy many of the disease causing organisms. Studies have shown that soil which is filled with healthy flora will prevent disease organisms from becoming established in sufficient numbers to harm plants. Quite simply healthy soils grow healthy plants.

The easiest way for the home gardener to grow healthy soil is to add compost. When the season is not yet begun, layer it on the garden and then dig it in. Soils vary but about 3" the first year for a garden and 1" each year thereafter is often used as a rule of thumb. Once the garden is growing the first inch of mulch could easily be compost and the worms and microbial growth will carry it down for you.

Darrell Feltmate is an avid gardener who has been composting and gardening for over 25 years with gardens up to 1/2 acre and compost piles for each. His composting site may be found at Compost Central. You can be a master composter in no time at all.

Much of his compost uses wood shavings from his wood turning hobby. The site for wood turning may be found at Around the Woods.