Fall Composting Tips
Now’s the time to compost! Debris is abundant, the weather is mild, and microbes are active. Composting is a great way to reduce your waste output, and it’ll help you save money on mulch and soil during the growing season. Follow these fall composting tips from experienced composter Jerad Bryant.
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If everyone had a compost pile, imagine how little waste we’d produce. Landfills would struggle to fill as apple cores, leftover rice, and plant debris turn into compost instead. This is the dream. The goal is to get every gardener to compost and talk to five friends about its benefits.
I’m just kidding, this isn’t a pyramid scheme, though the stakes are high! Not only does compost save waste from the landfill, but it also saves you money. You won’t have to buy soil amendments and potting soil when there’s plenty of compost to use.
Help the planet and heal your garden by composting this fall. I promise, you won’t be let down. Follow these fall compost tips for a successful harvest. With a little care and maintenance, you’ll have rich, crumbly, and black compost ready in no time.
Move the Piles
The first fall compost tip is to check on your old piles. Old compost may be dry after a long summer season, and it’ll require some watering and turning. After sprucing it up, check the area to determine if it’s a good spot for composting.
The fall season is wet and cool in many regions, and excess rainfall can slow the decomposition process. You don’t want soggy piles. Take the time now, and move your debris to a covered site so it stays as moist as you want it to be.
Use It!
Not only is the fall season a great time to make compost, it’s also a good season to use it! Whether you need potting soil, mulch, or fertilizer, compost has you covered. It’s ready to harvest when it’s crumbly, moist, and squishy. It should smell earthy, not rank.
The lower portions of bins and piles decompose more quickly than the top portions. Look underneath them to see if there’s ready compost to use. Rake it into a pile, collect it into a bin, and put it to use.
Aside from mulching bare soil, you may also use this amendment on raised beds, lawns, and containers. Combine it with perlite and coco coir for a homemade soil mix. The possibilities are endless!
On lawns, compost works as both fertilizer and mulch. Spread it in a thin layer using a hand spreader, a fine rake, or a spreading tool of some sort.
Create New Piles
Once you tend to your existing piles, it’s time to look at how much debris is in the yard. Consider not just the garden debris but kitchen scraps, food leftovers, and paper waste, too. Plastic-free paper products are compostable at home.
When making a pile, consider the proper composting ratio. A good system needs more carbon-rich material than nitrogen-rich debris. For every shovelful of nitrogen-rich waste, or greens, add two to three shovelfuls of carbon-rich waste, or browns.
Greens include debris like fleshy plant scraps, grass clippings, and kitchen waste. Browns are items like paper waste, fallen leaves, and cardboard.
Balance your greens and browns for a successful composting process in the fall. Piles that are wet, dense, and soggy may need more browns, while slow-working piles may need more greens.
Turn and Rotate
Turning and rotating your composting piles helps them stay aerobic rather than anaerobic. Aerobic is the goal, as it means the heaps are full of air. Anaerobic is oxygen-free, and it’s a smelly decomposition process you want to avoid.
The easiest way to complete this fall compost tip is with a pitchfork. Stab the fork in the pile, pick it up, and turn the debris in on itself. Rotate around each pile, repeating the action until you move all parts.
Turn hot compost daily to keep it breaking down at a rapid rate. Weekly or monthly turning works for cold compost systems.
Water, If Necessary
Some states are rainy at the turn of the seasons, while others are dry and windy. How much to water your compost heaps depends on the local climate. Gardeners in wet regions, like the Pacific Northwest, may not need to consider this fall compost tip at all.
If rain is infrequent, set a watering hose near your composting piles so it’s readily accessible. You won’t water if it’s difficult to do so. I set up piles near the back portion of the yard and struggled to keep them moist. Now, I set my heaps near the hose.
Composting systems need to be 50% moist, like a wrung-out sponge. Feel them to ensure they’re not too dry or soggy.
Cover the Heaps
Your composting heaps may need some protection to stay warm. Cool, fall temperatures slow the microbial processes that decompose organic matter into humus. The cold weather also slows beneficial worms, black fly larvae, and beetle larvae.
Rather than leaving them in the cold, cover them with organic materials. The extra padding will work like a blanket to insulate and protect your composting heaps.
Fallen leaves are abundant at the end of the growing season. Instead of letting them go to waste, use them to cover the heaps. Or, use straw in areas without deciduous trees.
Leave Some Things Out
Some materials are best left in the trash or buried deep underground. Dairy products, large chunks of meat and seafood, and copious amounts of oil are not good for home composting systems. Small chunks of meat are okay, as are a cupful or two of oil.
Invasive species are other considerations. Unruly vines, like English ivy and Himalayan blackberry, can overtake composting piles. Leave the invasive plants out, and use alternative methods for disposing of them.
Weed seeds are okay to add to hot heaps, though they’ll struggle to break down in cold ones. Leave them out of cold piles unless you’re prepared to pull the weeds when they sprout. Certain diseased plant materials need very hot decomposition to be safe for the garden. Ensure your pile reaches at least 140°F (60°C) before adding diseased matter.
Make a Hole
This fall compost tip is great for disposing of invasive plants, weed seeds, and other difficult-to-decompose materials. Simply dig a deep hole, throw the waste into it, and cover the hole up with soil. The materials will break down underground, creating fertile humus for plant roots to grow into.
Dig a hole that’s at least a foot deep to ensure no plants sprout. Then, cover the bare soil with mulch. This thick covering will ensure no weeds or invasive plants escape from the hole.
After six or more months, you may plant plants on top of the hole and let their roots penetrate deep into the rotting debris. They’ll use the nutrients and benefit from the underground compost.
Create a Trench
Trench composting is a fall compost tip similar to making a hole. It’s a great way to feed your crops, as you can side dress them with greens and browns. You’ll want to dig a foot deep before laying the waste into the trench. Take extra care not to dig into the roots of your crops while making the trench near them.
Cover the debris with soil and mulch, then water the site well. The crops will grow roots into the decomposing amendments, and they’ll thrive because of the extra nutrients and microbes.
As with hole composting, trench composting works well wherever you have space in the garden. Use it near old, tired trees and shrubs. Or, enhance your flower beds for a beautiful show next spring.
Lasagna Compost
This final cold composting method works well to rejuvenate old garden beds and make new ones. Lasagna compost works like the Italian dish. You layer greens and browns and cover them with straw, hence the method’s other name, sheet compost.
Your ratios are less important for this fall compost tip because the site will have a covering. Use straw, fallen leaves, or ready compost that’s finished to cover the layers.
The lasagna layer you prepare in the fall will be ready for planting by spring. Rake back the mulch, then plant crops and flowers directly into the beds.
Prepare for Winter
Winter is hard for composting. The process slows down as frigid temperatures and a lack of sunlight grow more common. With a little fall preparation, your heaps will break down well through the cold months.
Continue turning the piles daily, and add an extra-thick insulation layer over them. Use ready compost, fallen leaves, or straw. Also, ensure they stay moist throughout the process.
If you’d rather not spend a lot of time and effort keeping the composting piles going, simply cover them and let them sit. Then, in spring, uncover and turn them to get their debris to decompose again.
