Due to having significant unexpected expenses last Autumn from which I have yet to recover, I did not plant a single thing this past Spring/Summer. I did not even have the budget to put a few things into pots.

However, I hope to be at least somewhat recovered by next Spring, and I was wondering would it behoove me to work on preparing a bed this Autumn in anticipation of what I plan to do next Spring? I hope to plant some Salvias, Roses, etc., along a portion of my back fence. Should I try to make something of a bed now and add some compost, etc.? What should I do?

When the rains come, and loosen the soil, absolutely is the time to work up some garden space.

Here's a nice garden bed I worked up in town a few years ago...


Dug out turf, then shovel dug clay. Very productive.

I always tell people that they don't have to do it all at once... 10 minutes a day to start out will get a lot done over the winter months.

Of course, the above pic was done over a few days, but at my house? Absolutely a little bit at a time...

Once we have the shovel dug soil, we can grow stuff from seed, and even propagate stuff from cuttings, I don't see a need to budget for the high dollar plants when we can garden for almost nothing.

We gotta have money for tools, but Compost should already be in the works, and... collecting seeds from our friends gardens (with permission) Along with the occasional cutting, and we can have a very nice garden.

I work in some mulched up autumn leaves. About a 2-3" layer. But my bed is only 4x8'.

Wow, that is a huge area, Stone! The area I want to use is much smaller, so it should be much easier.

Tommy, I saw this one on Amazon and put it on my wish list. I do not think it would work well at all for food scraps, but I might do well for grass clippings, leafs, etc. One could make a richer compost with veggie peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc., but one this size for a small home like mine might be a better idea. What do you think?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LJZ9QO6/

Elysianne said: I saw this one on Amazon and put it on my wish list.
What do you think?

I think people that spend money on store bought compost bins are in desperate need of ways to spend their $.

One time, I built a compost bin with pallets.
Worked well enough, but when the pallets eventually deteriorated, I took them down, and continued to use the pile without being enclosed.

Much better.

Well, I live in the city, and I lease my home, and I know compost piles on the ground can draw vermin. My yard size is very limited as well, so I would likely put this on the outside of my fence near the vacant lot next door, which my landlord also owns. I do not think he would be best pleased to see me start a compost pile on the ground.

Many, many years ago I knew a woman woman who kept a compost bin in her backyard in the city. I was not very interested in it at the time, so I really do not recall much about it except I think it was black in colour, and it was always quite warm to the touch even in Winter, which meant that the materials inside were decomposing of course.

Anyway, she planted things along her fence line in her backyard, i.e. shrubs and flowers of various sorts. Now, I witnessed her do this on quite a few occasions. She would bring out coffee grounds, fruit peelings and cores, veggie peelings, etc., and using a shovel, she would fold them into the soil in her beds. I never knew her long enough to reach any conclusions about how well this worked, but for the time I knew her, I never saw any problems arise from her folding in of these items with a shovel. So, if she could do this successfully, and if it was of great benefit to her garden, why would she or anyone else need a compost pile or bin??

That is why I quit having a compost pile or bin. It's too hot & buggy here to spend time doing unnecessary things like moving organic matter (OM) more than once. If I don't want to look at it, cover with a few leaves. If it's hot, it won't stay looking recognizable for more than a day or few. It will just look like mulch. That makes the most sense to me because that is how "wild" compost happens, without any human involvement, right on the soil surface below the plants that generated & dropped the OM.

Some people like to dig a hole, add some OM, cover with a little soil until more OM arrives, then add the new OM, a little more soil, etc... That's a little more covert, for the "close neighbors" crowd, but with less oxygen, the OM will decompose more slowly, generally. You wouldn't want to plant something right in the middle of that for however long it takes for the "stuff in the hole" to just look like bits of dirt.

It doesn't matter where you put OM, it will decompose. Calling it composting is just determining where that will happen.

You ask what you should do.
All gardening is an iffy proposition. No gardener knows for sure that what they do this season (or this week, or even this day) will work out. We go by faith and hope and work (not being religious here, just factual).
So I say, you like to garden? Then garden.Go dig in the dirt.
Tomorrow (and next Spring) will take care of themselves.

I do not recommend buying that metal bin and trying to compost. It doesnt happen fast or uniformly, and especially that small size.. you will have various ages of rotting kitchen waste, not compost. Spend the money on amendments or mulch instead.
Yes, i see little problem likely from folding scraps into the dirt. It is keeping waste out of the landfill ( good) and may feed soil microbes. Vermin aren't so terribly excited about fruit peels and coffee grounds. Your dog might be though.

Yes, I would have to keep a close eye on The Hoover. I am going to kill that dog one day!!!

My brother-in-law is a soil scientist. He advises his student to just dig a foot deep trench at on end of the bed. Fill a little of it with daily scraps and cover it. There will be no smell or flies. By the end of winter you can turn the soil and plant. Seeds are cheap and can be a combination of food plants, flowers, and clover.

Dr. Elaine is my fav microbiologist

"Soil not dirt"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Tomtom2 said: My brother-in-law is a soil scientist. He advises his student to just dig a foot deep trench at on end of the bed. Fill a little of it with daily scraps and cover it. There will be no smell or flies. By the end of winter you can turn the soil and plant. Seeds are cheap and can be a combination of food plants, flowers, and clover.

That sounds easy enough, but if you put in some scraps, e.g. veggie peelings, and cover the, how can you uncover them to add each day or even just a couple of days a week? Seems like you would end up pulling up some of what is already in there each time.

If you can trench, you move along. The earlier additions do rot away. It does mean giving up some space to this digging. But how much scraps does one person make?
Let me qualify ( and others may disagree) but your vegetable and fruits scraps are mostly water. You aren't making huge additions of NPK. You are keeping waste out of the landfill, feedin some soil micro and macro orgs which organic practice would say are critical to making nutrients available to plants over time, (I think.) I personally do not think this limited activity is making any big change in your soil. Using shredded hardwood mulch on top after planting next year WILL add a lot of carbon that organisms will incorporate. Next year, you could be tucking the scraps under mulch.

purpleinopp said: Dr. Elaine is my fav microbiologist

"Soil not dirt"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

sallyg said: If you can trench, you move along. The earlier additions do rot away. It does mean giving up some space to this digging. But how much scraps does one person make?
Let me qualify ( and others may disagree) but your vegetable and fruits scraps are mostly water. You aren't making huge additions of NPK. You are keeping waste out of the landfill, feedin some soil micro and macro orgs which organic practice would say are critical to making nutrients available to plants over time, (I think.) I personally do not think this limited activity is making any big change in your soil. Using shredded hardwood mulch on top after planting next year WILL add a lot of carbon that organisms will incorporate. Next year, you could be tucking the scraps under mulch.

Well, I have an overall quite limited amount of space in the yard to do this sort of trenching/composting. What I have done in the past is to buy organic compost from a nice family owned garden centre, but it gets quite expensive over time. I have no idea how much a 40 lb costs right now, but I would guess at least $15, maybe more. I just felt like it would be nice to make some compost of my own, but as I said, I have quite a small space to work in overall, and I live in the middle of a city, and I worry about rats, roaches, etc., near my home. I do no want any complaints from my neighbours either. I might try one small area of trenching just to see how it works out. How long would it take for say a couple of gallons worth of veggie and fruit peelings, coffee grinds, etc. to fully break down?

My other concern, too, is The Hoover. He might start digging up anything items I put down to compost.

I really, really wish there was a garden club in my area. I know I could benefit greatly from the wisdom of old gardeners in the area who could share how they have done things over the years, what worked or did not work, etc.

It's just me and Pippi and like Sally said earlier how much stuff can one person make. I've got this small, 32oz. plastic dish I keep by the sink for scraps. It gets emptied outside once a week and that's the day when I put the coffee grounds in it.


My compost pile breaks down faster than I can add to it so it's continually shrinking! The actual pile is about 2'x 2' and the only things in there are BSF grubs. No other bugs or flies or racoons or rats or even mice.


So, like others have suggested just turning a shovelful into the earth once a week would most likely work out fine.

In regards to moving OM multiple times I get it but in my case here I'm trying to stockpile it for a specific bed which is currently covered to kill/stop the weeds before planting.

Thanks, Barrie. My scraps are mostly things like my camel's banana peels. I do not cook as much as I used to do, so I have far, far less of it. However, banana peels smell pretty bad after just one afternoon in the trash bin, so I definitely would not want a week's worth of them in my kitchen. I would want to put them in the pile every day.

Coffee grounds are supposed to make excellent compost, but I no longer brew coffee. I drink instant now. I picked up some Brussels sprouts yesterday (I LOVE Brussels sprouts!), so I will have some waste after preparing them to bake. Hmm, I wonder if I should dig a hole somewhere out there tomorrow for the banana peels? I tried burying them in my flower beds at the last house, but they did not compost down very fast at all. Maybe banana peels take a lot longer to break down?

I also have egg shells! I boil a few each week for the camel's breakfast and one for me if I have a salad. I already use the left over water on my potted ferns, and they love it. I should try pulverising them in the food processor and planting them in the area where I plan to make a bed next Spring.

You don't have very much so perhaps go out and dig a hole every few feet along your fence to put the waste in. Maybe only dig a couple at a time, physical abilities considered. When you get to the end go back to the start and move a bit over before digging. I think by the time spring gets here you'll have the whole plant line "composted"