How to Make Easy Compost at Home

Building healthy soil is the foundation of gardening.  On today’s video I am going to show you how to build great compost with little work.

Todays video is the first in partnership with a company called Earth Apples. More on our sponsor at the end of this video. 

Compost is the best way ensure your garden has all of the nutrients it needs to grow healthy nutritious crops. 

I get a lot of questions from gardeners asking why their back yard compost did not turn.  One method however is foolproof in my experience and that is trench composting. 

The concept is quite simple and I have been practicing it for years.  I start by digging out an area of my garden. Placing the existing soil in close proximity as you will need it later. 

Once dug fill the hole with compost material.  I stockpile mine all winter.  As you are adding your compost material make sure to add layers of your existing soil in-between.  The existing soil will help break down the compost by introducing beneficial microbes.

As this is not a hot compost If wish to avoid weed seeds like I do I typically source materials that simply do not have seeds in them such as leaf material, coffee grounds, wood shavings and egg shells. I find my household produces more than enough for my needs and I no-longer need to find other materials to put in my compost. 

Make sure the top of your compost pile is flat or bowl shaped as that will help keep the 15cm or 6 inches of soil on top that I place last on top.  That soil will help keep any smells down and allow the compost to break down over the year. 

I typically find over the course of a year the compost breaks down into healthy garden soil that will support crops for years to come. As a result of this method I have not had to add any nutrients to the garden for over 10 years all the while enjoying crops. 

I now want to share something about todays sponsor Earth Apples.  They produces some of the best and most interesting seed potatoes I have ever used in my garden.  They are a local company that ensures the varieties they sell will grow well in Canadian gardens.  If you would like to find out where to find their seed potatoes there is a link to their website in the description below. 

If you liked this video make sure to hit that like button and you want to find out a gardening hack that will help you produce more in your back yard garden make sure you subscribe and notification bell so you are notified when new videos go live.

About Stephen

The Alberta Urban Garden Channel hopes to promote organic gardening that is simple, sustainable and does not have to cost a lot. We do this by investigating the Science behind gardening, methods, practices and products to make sure that you will have the best chance of successfully growing your own food at home.

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