In the Garden: Coastal and Tropical South Compost annual
flowers, stems and all, when their season ends. Everyone tells
you to compost, but there is so much information that it can be
daunting to figure out what to do. Here are steps to get you
started. Take Baby Steps Composting works on a simple principle.
Plant-based material rots naturally and ultimately returns to
wonderful brown stuff of unrecognizable origin known as compost.
The process is unstoppable, but the pace of this decomposition
and the nature of the end product depend on you. Truth is, you
need only pile up leaves and leave them be to make compost. I
usually have one big pile of mostly oak leaves going all the
time. After all the leaves are raked, the pile is about the size
of a small car. I do not turn it nor add anything to it, and in
about a year it is less than half that. I dig from the bottom
and the material I retrieve is a perfect amendment to clay soil
and potting mixes. Make space for your leaves instead of bagging
and trashing them