Sheet Composting

By now you already know that composting is a great way to add nutrients back into your soil.  Remember your vegetable plants are going to deplete your soil of its nutrients every year and if you are not adding nutrients back into your soil, eventually your plants will produce far less than what you are used to.  Composting gives you the ability to tackle this issue.

Today, we are going to talk about sheet composting.  Sheet composting is a specific composting technique, in which anyone can do, requires a little bit of effort and has wonderful affects on your soil. 

If you are someone that lives on a property where having a compost pile is virtually impossible, then sheet composting may be the way for you to go. 

As the name, sheet composting, implies, sheet composting is the process of layering (think in sheets) organic material on top of your garden bed and then mixing or tilling that organic material into your garden soil. 

Sheet composting works like this. 

First you cover your garden bed with a layer of leaves (or other organic material).  Second, using a garden tiller or pitchfork, work that layer into your garden soil.  As a side note the leaves (or any of your organic matter) will breakdown much faster if it is already shredded.  While “pre” shredding is not mandatory for sheet or other types of composting, it will speed the process along.   Finally, repeat the first two sheet composting steps using a different material.  For example, if you used, leaves for your sheet composting the first time, use grass clippings for your second sheet composting layer.

Two caveats you should know about when it comes to sheet composting so you are informed.  First, according the University of Illinois Agriculture Department, “The danger of sheet composting as a compost-making method is that carbon containing residues will call upon the nitrogen reserves of the soil for their decomposition. On the other hand, high-nitrogen materials may release their nitrogen too quickly in the wrong form. What may take a matter of weeks in a compost pile, given confined and thermophilic conditions, may take a full season in the soil.”

Second, sheet composting should be conducted in the fall to ensure that there is enough time for the organic material to break down prior to the spring planting season. 

So how much material should you layer in your sheet composting?  This number will vary depending which source you get it from, but what I am finding is the average sheet composting layering amount should be anywhere from two to four inches of material, then tilling it into your soil.

If you are going to conduct sheet composting in garden beds that have bulbs, such as flower beds, it is best that you do not use a power tiller.  Mixing in your material for your sheet composting in these garden beds would best be done by hand, with a small trowel, garden weasel etc.

Compost, Vegetable Gardener’s Gold

There is a lot of talk these days about gold and precious metals, but for the home vegetable gardener, nothing is more “gold” than compost.  Compost is the ultimate source for everything your plants need to grow and produce.

Compost is more than likely the answer to any vegetable gardener’s question on soil improvement.  How do I enrich my soil? Compost!  How do I make my soil more friable? Compost!  How do I make my soil better for water retention capabilities? Compost!  Yes compost is really the answer to a lot of vegetable gardening questions.

If you think compost is too good to be true, then all you need to do is go ask any fellow vegetable gardener that has been growing their own veggies for some time and they will be the first to tell you that compost is the answer.

So what is compost?  Where do you get compost?  Is compost safe to use?  

Compost is nothing more than taking organic material and letting that material breakdown naturally.  Such material would include, grass clippings, leaves, wood ash, your leftover dinner, coffee grounds, tea bags and so much more.  It would not include, aluminum cans, plastic containers and so on.  That stuff is called garbage, but you probably know that already.

As you can see from this basic list of materials you can make your own compost from the items that you already have in and around your house.  Forgo the garbage disposal and start composting (which is the act of creating and making compost).  I will get to more on composting in a second.

So is compost safe to use?  The answer is absolutely!  In fact I truly believe you would be missing out on a successful garden without compost.   Compost, as stated before, enriches the soil by adding nutrients, and compost has even shown in some studies to help your vegetable plants fight off disease and insects.

Composting, the act of actually creating compost, is easy.  The two easiest methods of composting, at least to me anyway, is a compost pile or trench composting.  

A compost pile is as it sounds, a pile of the organic material mentioned earlier.  You would take an area of your yard, property etc, and simply make a pile.  Over time this pile would break down into healthy usable compost.  Of course if you live in a suburb development, town home area and so on, a compost pile may look unsightly to “non” vegetable gardeners.  So you can either convince your neighbor’s to get on board with what you are doing (the harder path), or simply enclose your compost pile, to make the pile look “neater”.

The second composting method is trench composting.  This is where you will immediately bury your organic material about 18 to 24 inches into your garden.  The downfall of this composting method is that you cannot, actually I should say, you should not bury anything while your vegetable plants occupy your garden area.  You don’t want to disturb your plants’ roots.  In the end you will have to keep a compost pile anyway.

So here is a breakdown as to why you should have a compost pile:

• Compost provides nutrition for your plants
• Compost will improve the aeration, friability and water retention of your soil
• Compost will keep your soil’s pH in optimal balance
• Compost is free!  Ok, compost is virtually free.  You still have to add the material to a pile to make it.

Start your own compost pile today!