Blog Post #18 Composting in Place
Blog Description: The easiest way to compost is right in place. Why? What does that mean, and how does it make your job easier?
If your plants are hungry or thirsty, they will not produce much. Water and feed them well, and they will feed you well.
Composting is an easy and free way to feed the soil. If you keep the soil fed, you will keep your plants fed.
“How?” you may ask. Good question. All good gardeners ask a lot of questions. That’s how we become great gardeners! Gardening is a lifelong journey of experimentation and knowledge sharing.
So how does soil feed your plants exactly?
The roots of plants uptake water and dissolved mineral nutrients from the soil. But the process does not stop there. The stems of the plants then move the soil and nutrients up to the leaves. The leaves are where photosynthesis occurs. Photosynthesis is the process of capturing light from the sun to create food from carbon dioxide and the nutrient dense water by turning it into a digestible sugar. The process also creates an outgassing of oxygen in the process, lucky us!
Science. Kind of magical, though, isn’t it?
The simplest way to compost is to compost in place, and that is the subject of our post today.
There are many ways to compost however. Such as our 3 bucket composting system for food scraps.
Composting in place is simply laying the parts you’ve pruned off the plant right on the ground at its base. Toss any other organic materials you can find into the beds as well. In our zone 10 climate, the heat, humidity, and sand means there is a tremendous amount of microbial activity. Organic matter moves very quickly through the soil here. For this reason, you really don’t need to dig or to bury your amendments. Just toss everything on top of the ground.
Earthworms, soil bugs, fungi and bacteria will bring the organic material (amendments) down deeper, break it down and process it into the nutrients your plants need.
Composting in place also helps to keep the ground covered, which is key. Keeping the ground covered protects it from erosion, drying out, and baking in the sun, all of which can destroy the life of the soil.
Plants post-harvest, mulch, or even weeds protect the soil and add nutrients to it until you need to put something else in that space.
A couple of tips:
- If weeds are spreading or competing with your desired plants, pull them and use mulch instead.
- Be careful to chop and drop harvested plants before they go to seed unless you plan to collect and save the seeds, otherwise they will self-seed your bed!
- The best food for any plant is its own leaves and branches.
Observe how nature does it. Leaves fall. Plants self-prune or get their branches broken by animals, and those prunings fall to the ground. They compost right there in place, and the soil regains the nutrients the plant took from it to grow.
Now these nutrients are recycled and the plant can use them to grow some more. When part of a plant gets pruned off, some of the roots die as well, and they also rot in the ground, giving more nutrients to the soil.
You can even plant some fast-growing plants like Mexican Sunflower to produce extra material to feed the ground. These are called chop-and drop plants. You will need to keep on top of these because they can get large if you don’t chop them regularly. But that’s what you’re growing them for. Grow them right where the compost is needed so you don’t need to carry them anywhere.
If you intersperse legumes (plants in the bean family) throughout your beds, you will be supplying more nitrogen to all the plants there. As they grow in sun or part shade, these plants will help cover and cool the ground. If you need to plant something in that space at some point, don’t pull the legume plant out. Just chop it off at ground level and leave it right on the ground. The top and roots will rot in place and deliver even more nitrogen than they did while the plant was growing.
So when you prune, leave the clippings right on the ground under the plants. They act as mulch, covering and cooling the ground, and feed the soil as they break down.
In the front yard, cover them with a layer of wood mulch to keep things looking neat. This is especially helpful for those of us with an HOA. A layer of mulch on top will keep both your neighbors and your plants happy!
Well, that’s all for today. Let me know how your garden is growing! Share some beautiful pictures if you’re feeling inspired. We can all do with a bit more garden beauty in our lives. Share, share, and enjoy!
Until next time,
Happy Gardening!
Mary