Section One Introduction

Section One: The "Dirt" Part

Section Introduction

What we have here, Planet Earth that is, is a speck of cosmic dust compared to the rather large mass of other cosmic matter we observe with baited breath on clear, starry nights.

Life forms on our dust speck derive their body substance from the soil we all stand upon. If the weird Theory of Evolution ever gets solid traction, maybe one way that could happen would be to re-formulate the Life-inducing process Creator spoke into existence which begins with dirt. Out from that primordial ooze all living flesh beings are formed. "Soil 2 Cuisine" attempts to bridge the chasms which tend to be ignored or glossed over by single-themed titles focused only on one aspect or other of Earth Life, namely Gardening - Pant Health - Table Cuisine with Food Plants.

Our Biosphere includes all forms of and stages of Flesh-Being existence, birth to grave, and afterward, in the forms of bio-decay. "Compost" for our studies in this book.

Our Biosphere began its existence with 100% of the natural nutrients our self-health keeping body requires for optimum health. Over time and detrimental intervention by Mankind, mostly, massive biosphere regions of our tiny planet were rendered useless for overuse of the once fertile soil.

Soil 2 Cuisine is a small contribution aimed at educating and guiding the reader to return to natural nutrition via natural, nutrient-dense soil that this book illustrates how to produce. Hence the name, "Soil 2 Cuisine."

Reading and actually training oneself in the natural, nutrient-dense soil production system makes this project much more than a mere title to read and take back to the library. Instead of a quick read-through, make the contents a key component for your own Natural, Nutrient-dense plant foods health pursuit. It compliments many other healthy plant food guides, like foraging for wild food plants and specific methods of composting. It's a working manual of natural, soil-based nutrition production and preservation.

This section begins at the beginning of Flesh Life, "dirt." Like all solid foundations, train yourself to know and understand, apply and adapt nutrient-dense soils to your individual food plant producing operation.

If this is a volume you hold in your hands, mark the pages everywhere and experience each part before moving to the next. This copy in your hands is literally yours to own and benefit both yourself and any others you may share it with.

Wear it out!

On that note, if the copy you are reading is a digital document, do your best to make a print copy. It's great raw material for compost if it get's too worn and a new print is required!

What Section One Covers - + A Little It Doesn't

When this book came to mind years ago, my objective was, and still is, to share with you the experiences I have with creating and using and enjoying the foods from natural nutrient-dense soils I produce. From first thoughts on contents for this title, there's been more discoveries, and some fairly major revisions to add, alter, and update, such as "hugelkultur," a form of using fresh-cut or rotted logs and heavy branches covered by a raised bed of soil where the wood slowly breaks down over 20 years to form fairly high available nutrients for plants growing in them. I can see this application as a mere way to economically dispose unwanted tree material, but for the active garden, who wants to wait 10-20 years for good soil?

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

The other material I add is essentially resources that I discover, most of it online. Some is how you can search for local assistance with your soil production.

Again, I do encourage you to see your own good, sustainable health as the driving force behind your need to take this first and second sections with all determination to learn and apply it to your daily life routine. That's why my advice to print it out and bind in a loose leaf format ready for everyday reference. It's best daily guidance is the online references. In the garden many questions come up that are forgotten before you're inside at a computer to seek answers. So, with this guide and your hand held online access, get those important answers on the spot.

Another and perhaps more vital purpose for having this in print is your community garden, and your next door neighbor gardener. Both have people needing immediate information related to soil, plant, and their own nutrient-based health. Make it so convenient to them that you become the resident expert! What harm is there with that?!

Even as this book is quite inclusive, it's still nothing much compared with all the world of available material for your having a nutrient-dense soil and food from it. Let this guide lead you to far more nutrient health information all over Earth!

Carry and share this book with those you go to for consultation and local guidance. Ask their opinions, and accept differences, after they share why they differ. View this as a world of gardening neighbors book guide, to share, lead to more and better gardening, and maybe write your own!





















The sections and chapters include these . . .

• Chapter 1: To Be Decided Later . . .
• Chapter 2: Raw Material to Produce Nutrient-dense Soil With
• Chapter 3: Did We Forget To Plan Ahead For Use of Our Soil?
• Chapter 4: Let's Build It!
• Chapter 5: Making Certain It "Works"!
• Chapter 6: Working Pile Maintenance
• Chapter 7: Harvesting Our New Soil!
• Chapter 8: Storing and Placing New Soil
• Chapter 9: Prepping The New & Refurbished Grow Bed
• Chapter 10: Side Trip: Vermicomposting "Eat Worms"!
• Chapter 11: Redundance! Too Much Raw Material for Next Build!
• Chapter 12: Ready? Let's Do This Again!
• Chapter 13: More Uses for Our Soil!
• Section One Appendix

Section Two: The "2" Part

·       The "2" Part Introduction

·       Chapter 1: Plants Need the Same Nutrients for Their Health As You!

·       Chapter 2: Let's Begin @ the Start! Planning the Garden You Want

·       Chapter 3: Before Grow Season Plant Propagation; Or Not

·       Chapter 4: Prepping Your New Season Grow Bed(s)

·       Chapter 5: Setting out Early Starts and Seed Planting

·       Chapter 6: Fast Track Healthy Plant Action

·       Chapter 7: Healthy Producing Plants First Need This

·       Chapter 8: Between Planting & Producing Food Plant Care

·       Chapter 9: Betcha Ya Didn't Think About This Mid-Summer!

·       Chapter 10: See Why We Made Careful Plans For Maximum Harvest?

·       Chapter 11: Summer Season End

·       Chapter 12: Fall Harvest

·       Chapter 13: Fall & Winter Planting

·       Chapter 14: Season Wrap & Planning Next Year's Soil & Garden

·       Section Two Appendix

Section Three: The Last Part, er, Cuisine Part

·       Section Three Introduction

·       Chapter One: Why Did We Forget To Do This Part B4 Planting?

·       Chapter Two: Fresh Garden Food Cuisine: Who Can Match?

·       Chapter Three: We Did It! What All This Fresh Food! -Preserving

·       Chapter Four: Sideways Glance; Compare Nutrients In Garden v.s. Store Food

·       Chapter Five: Creating Cuisine Awesome Requires This; Planning

·       Chapter Six: Now! Let's Create Awesome!

·       Chapter Seven: Why Hide Awesome When You Can Do This, Instead?

·       Chapter Eight: Hey! It's Chapter 8!

·       Chapter Nine: This Ain't No Engine # 9!

·       Chapter Ten: Lost References; aka, Old Recipes For Fresh Garden Super Taste!

·       Chapter Eleven: Let's Do This Again! Cuising Roundup Rodeo!

·       Chapter Twelve: Now! Let's Plan Next Year's Cuisine Garden!

·       Section Three Appendix

Chapters; Sections; Layout; Sub Titles; Readability. Say What?

Yeah, I know. It's kinda late to think about the organization for this book here! But, hey! It's MY Book! Go write your own if you want, but this one is all MINE!:-)

I think, well, no, I KNOW that biological function may have design, but somehow we people are often baffled at how that design manifests itself!

Take this book. No, Not really! I still want it! But, for example, this book has been in my heart to write for thirty years, maybe longer. Just that every time I figure there's enough I know to share here, I suddenly get a boatload of fresh material, knowledge, better formatting, and awesome new ideas for getting it into your hot little, garden dirt-covered hands!

Eye YiYi! All this manipulating! It's GOTTA STOP!

Well, it did stop! Now, I'm writing in earnest!

Whoah! WHAT was that that just flew by my mind? Book design? Layout? Chapter order? Images - side bars - sections - bullet points - links - LINKS?! - Kindle Authoring guides? - type-in-this-program-but-output-to-this-other-program? - Table of Contents - Index - subsection(s) - Appendix A - Appendix B?  The lists goes on and on!

Well, I figured why not bring you into the book design lab and let you look about! Who knows? You just might get crazy like me, and write your own!

OK, already! Let's design this thing!

First: Title; "Soil 2 Cuisine" Check.

This was actually chosen by a community garden lady in a Seattle garden I produced soil for and she didn't like the title for a newsletter I made. "Our Community Garden: Soil 2 Cuisine!"

"But," she said, "I love the "Soil 2 Cuisine" part!"

"Soil 2 Cuisine was conceived! The Summer was '13. About August that year. We were standing by several lady chicken pens, just down the bank from a noisy four-duck pen. If I recall correctly! One lady's gorgeous roses were in full bloom, artichoke, Basil, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, squashes, corn, wild flowers, maple trees, an old, very large black walnut tree, grape vines, one creative couple's new bed with a giant Mother Goose created with long, curving branches, little, inviting winding pathways leading this way, that way to all the gardeners' little creative expressions, a long single water hose and water donated by a nearby Norwegian Family Housing unit, A bank running down the middle sorta separating upper and below parts, and raised beds, native soil beds, circular beds, sorta triangular beds, kinda square beds, my compost pile by the four afore mentioned Quackers' chicken wire pen with kiwi growing over it, and the awesome deep BLUE Seattle sky above!

Yeah!

Where are we?

Oh.

Then there' the TOC. Tables of Content amuse me! So many times I pick up a book and hope to quickly scan the TOC to gain an idea if I want to go further, only to find that author left me with chapter titles that say nothing, or worse, about the contents!

Not us! "Our" chapter titles will almost say the whole contents! Well, sorta, anyway.

BTW, what shall we have for the first chapter?

Oh, yeah, The preface first. We have to? Yeah.

How about the unique, awesome title: "PREFACE!"?

Good! We agree!

Now, 1st chapter? Ugh! Yeah, my "Fore-word." You write the Rear-word?

Anybody you know to make a "Foreward" (Hey! This thing NEEDS all the momentum we can find!)

Oh, It's "Moi" who writes the "Introduction," not the "Foreword." Got it.

Well, NOW you gotta tell me what the title for chapter one is! Out with it!

What? That can be the last thing we create! My old knee!

OK.

How about sections? One? Two? Three?

Three.

Why "Three"

Just because You need harmony.

What . . . Never mind. What about chapter sub titles?

Later.

Oh.

The order of the sections?

"Soil 2 Cuisine."

That simple?

Yeah.

Now, maybe I'm getting the picture for my little book idea! Thanks for all your wise(ass) counsel.

Call if you need more, like an ear to cry in.

What? . . . never mind. 

OK.

WRITE YOUR BOOK!

Section One: The "Dirt" Part

• Chapter 1: To Be Decided Later . . .
• Chapter 2: Raw Material to Produce Nutrient-dense Soil With
• Chapter 3: Did We Forget To Plan Ahead For Use of Our Soil?
• Chapter 4: Let's Build It!
• Chapter 5: Making Certain It "Works"!
• Chapter 6: Working Pile Maintenance
• Chapter 7: Harvesting Our New Soil!
• Chapter 8: Storing and Placing New Soil
• Chapter 9: Prepping The New & Refurbished Grow Bed
• Chapter 10: Side Trip: Vermicomposting "Eat Worms"!
• Chapter 11: Redundance! Too Much Raw Material for Next Build!
• Chapter 12: Ready? Let's Do This Again!
• Chapter 13: More Uses for Our Soil!
• Section One Appendix

Section Two: The "2" Part

·       The "2" Part Introduction

·       Chapter 1: Plants Need the Same Nutrients for Their Health As You!

·       Chapter 2: Let's Begin @ the Start! Planning the Garden You Want

·       Chapter 3: Before Grow Season Plant Propagation; Or Not

·       Chapter 4: Prepping Your New Season Grow Bed(s)

·       Chapter 5: Setting out Early Starts and Seed Planting

·       Chapter 6: Fast Track Healthy Plant Action

·       Chapter 7: Healthy Producing Plants First Need This

·       Chapter 8: Between Planting & Producing Food Plant Care

·       Chapter 9: Betcha Ya Didn't Think About This Mid-Summer!

·       Chapter 10: See Why We Made Careful Plans For Maximum Harvest?

·       Chapter 11: Summer Season End

·       Chapter 12: Fall Harvest

·       Chapter 13: Fall & Winter Planting

·       Chapter 14: Season Wrap & Planning Next Year's Soil & Garden

·       Section Two Appendix

Section Three: The Last Part, er, Cuisine Part

·       Section Three Introduction

·       Chapter One: Why Did We Forget To Do This Part B4 Planting?

·       Chapter Two: Fresh Garden Food Cuisine: Who Can Match?

·       Chapter Three: We Did It! What All This Fresh Food! -Preserving

·       Chapter Four: Sideways Glance; Compare Nutrients In Garden v.s. Store Food

·       Chapter Five: Creating Cuisine Awesome Requires This; Planning

·       Chapter Six: Now! Let's Create Awesome!

·       Chapter Seven: Why Hide Awesome When You Can Do This, Instead?

·       Chapter Eight: Hey! It's Chapter 8!

·       Chapter Nine: This Ain't No Engine # 9!

·       Chapter Ten: Lost References; aka, Old Recipes For Fresh Garden Super Taste!

·       Chapter Eleven: Let's Do This Again! Cuising Roundup Rodeo!

·       Chapter Twelve: Now! Let's Plan Next Year's Cuisine Garden!

·       Section Three Appendix

Interspersed Activities List

Section One: The "Dirt" Part

• Chapter 1: To Be Decided Later . . .

1. Taking Stock - Make a notebook with two+ pages for each chapter in this guide. On the first and second page write the name of the chapter activities. Reserve the rest of the space for chapter notes.
2. Taking Stock: Find or make space(s) to build the compost pile and the finished soil storage area. Note: Be careful to read and follow guides in the chapter! Note 2: At the sight of the compost pile, allow space to put(Stage) raw materials as they arrive so they are ready and close to the pile to save work.

• Chapter 2: Raw Material to Produce Nutrient-dense Soil With

1. Gauge how much volume of new soil your growing beds need for one season. Multiply this amount by 4 to see how much raw material is needed.
2. Let's make an inventory list for the usable raw materials available, where each is located, and if applicable, when available.

• Chapter 3: Did We Forget To Plan Ahead For Use of Our Soil?

1. List the plants to be grown in your new soil. Beside each plant name note the soil and environment it best grows in. This can be numbers or letters that are cross referenced to short details for each type of environment and soil. Be sure to make sure the desired plants have their preferred spot available! There's no substitute for 8 hours of full sun!
2. Determine the type of soil each plant needs and where to obtain the necessary materials.

• Chapter 4: Let's Build It!

1. First things, first! If not done already, make sure there is enough of each type of raw material for building each part of the pile. If there is enough first layer material but too little second or third, either wait or place the first layer then wait and collect the next layer material. The build can take all the time necessary to build as material becomes available. However, be sure to follow the "recipe" as it is key for success!
2. Reread the building guide. Note any differences the pile you are building requires. 

• Chapter 5: Making Certain It "Works"!

1. Good Job building! Now, sit back and relax, just a bit. You deserve it! We need the simple temperature gauging tool mentioned in the chapter. Any sturdy metal rod will do. Plastic and fiberglass resist heat so it's best to stick to metal. Remember, the thicker the rod the longer it requires to heat up to the temperature of the pile. Also, the rod will cool the material it touches, so a second placement for thicker rods will be necessary for accurate sense of actual heat.
2. Two things are "musts" for good decomposing activity: A. The right moisture. B. The right air flow.
   
   To make the pile wet enough, add water to the pile at about the half-built point, then over the top of the finished pile. Watch the bottom of the pile to tell when the water penetrates the entire pile. We'll call this the "first" watering.
   
   The second requirement for good success: When the pile is built, cover the top and sides with 1 to 2 inches of sand, sod, or other fine material that will benefit plant health. Do not cover with anything that blocks air or water!

• Chapter 6: Working Pile Maintenance

1. After the pile gets hot, in about 5 to 8 days for one with lots of green grass, use the metal temperature gauge rod to check on moisture inside the pile. The heat and air flow are constantly drying the pile. Add small amounts of water and check to be sure it penetrates down to dry spots.
2. About every three days check the pile heat in several places. The pile with evenly-distributed materials will produce even heat over the whole pile. To increase heat, stand on top and pack it down hard as possible. Once the process is going well, the pile will slowly compress from its own weight. This is the main reason for using small branch material layers that maintain air flow as the pile settles.

• Chapter 7: Harvesting Our New Soil!

1. After 12 to 15 days, gauge the internal heat. If it's still well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, allow several more days time, and check again. At 15 days, and the pile is visibly decomposed, dig into a spot for a foot or so to check the material, Black or very dark brown from original green marks complete process. For original "brown" material, black or dark brown AND very water-saturated appearance is a good sign. If the pile dried some, there may be a coating of white fungus. This is a beneficial life form that helps reduce plant material to its nutrient level.
2. At about 100 degrees F, and the material is visibly soft, dark brown, and well composted, it's ready to filter out the branch material and larger particles that need more breakdown. However, this larger material is fine for filling planting holes for trees. It is well into the decomposing and tree roots love decaying woody material.
   
   For vegetable beds and plant pots, rake, fork or screen out these larger pieces. Have a spot to shelter or cover the finished soil, if it is to wait before filling grow beds and pots. Rain leaches nutrients out.

• Chapter 8: Storing and Placing New Soil

1. Let's step back a minute to take stock of what we've accomplished to this point.
   
   On your Notes' Worksheet for this chapter list major highlights of your great progress! At this stage you deserve a big pat on the back! Congratulations!
   
   Now, what's to do with that beautiful pile of nutrient-dense soil you just made? Think of all the possibilities! Matter of fact, Brainstorm a bit and go over your garden plans. Go to YouTube and other video venues to look for and observe new ideas!
2. Take awhile to dig into possibilities? Always good to be open to change!
   
   With firmer goals for how to use this great stuff, go do it! First, though, a plan and map might help?

• Chapter 9: Prepping The New & Refurbished Grow Bed

1. I hope you decided on something new to add or change up your garden! In any case, now the plan, and map? are in hand, let's go out and get started. For former grow beds, the soil needs turning. Likely earth worms in it are starving, so let's feed them first. As you turn the soil, lift every other fork(or shovel) out and place kitchen wastes, lawn clippings, old half rotted leaves and yard wastes, and, yes! corrugated cardboard(Torn to small pieces) near the bottom of the bed. Water thoroughly.
   
   Do the same for a new bed - first adding a layer of worm feed at the bottom. The More the better, if it's fairly course. Finer particle feed needs mixing with the bottom layer of new soil so it keeps from matting into a smelly mass.
   
   The soil should be level with the top of an 8" side grow bed. It settles during the season. Especially so for root crops.
2. Believe, or don't, your new soil is going to run short of nitrogen quick! Most nitrogen in the new pile was used for decomposition. Get urea, if available. It's the most nitrogen for the buck at 46% available nitrogen. Just add it to the side of new plants or seedlings. For seed planting, wait to add nitrogen till the second to 6th week after germination, then side dress along the side, or between rows. It's really amazing to watch those plants leap up!
   
   During the 6th to 8th week, again side dress nitrogen. Cover it with an inch of soil and water in well. Careful! The tender roots die in direct contact to urea!

• Chapter 10: Side Trip: Vermicomposting "Eat Worms"!

1. OK, OK! Don't Eat worms! This activity begins with searching on YouTube, or getting books at the library, or Amazon, about vermicomposting. There's even a website named "vermicomposting"!
   
   The things you learn will amaze you! Actually, the feeding, care and working earth worms for soil production is easy. Like all livestock these little critters need habitat, feed, water and nutrition to remain healthy. Yes, they can get diseases and die rapidly, but not if we do common sense care.
   
   Make notes from what you learn, and see if vermicomposting in any part of the garden will work.
2. Ready to start worm farming? Great! Grab a piece of paper and pencil. Go out and scope out the available garden space that seems suitable. Read this chapter for the specific requirements. Have them?
   
   Decide how much feed you have available every week of the year. The size of worm bin is determined by this amount. Find a ready source of any earth worm available. Red Wrigglers are popular, but not necessary. Find a farm with a muddy barnyard and you've got manure worms, a hardy species that loves rotting stuff!
   
   Tear up enough corrugated cardboard to make a three to five inch covering on the bottom of the bin, followed by fine sand for digestion grit, then a layer of earthy soil mixed with the feed you have on hand. Water until sopping wet. The porous base of the bin allows excess water to drain. Spread the worms over the surface. Add a layer of feed then sprinkle with fine sand, then a layer of cardboard, then just soil about an inch thick to prevent drying.
   
   After four days, use a fork to dig into the bin and turn a forkful over. There should be a lot of happy, wriggling worms! If not, but all looks  good, just wait a week and repeat. If not by then, look for dry matter, feed too rotted and clumped, or worms migrated to another part. The bottom layer of cardboard allows water through, but the worms will not wiggle out before they feast on all that delicious cardboard!

• Chapter 11: Redundance! Too Much Raw Material for Next Build!

1. Often I find that people I request to bring their kitchen wastes, yard debris and all the raw material I have from the garden amounts to quite a bit more than there is room for the pile! Not to worry! Just build the next pile to the size it should be, and left overs can wait for the next build. Just add a bit less to the staging area, or if it's near season's end, take it all, and there's enough for an additional Fall pile build.
2. During Winter, find and bring "brown" material to the staging area, Half rotted is great! In the late Winter, up to very early Spring, make your first build of the new year. Be ready for another pile as people and you generate Spring cleaning material. Make a list of suppliers and some idea of quantity expected from each. It's better to say "No" before they arrive with too much!

• Chapter 12: Ready? Let's Do This Again!

1. This is a bit redundant! I include this chapter to point out that producing good soil is a continual activity limited only by the time you give to it. Doing it for several years, or cycles, gives you a handle on making it work best for how you need it to fit with you gardening. I do caution, however, go slowly! It's easy to burn out doing too much too soon! The lifting and moving is WORK! It's time consuming, too. Enjoy it rather than endure it!
2. Let's take a break here. Grab that notepad and go over the entire cycle. Update notes and make new ones that tailor this activity to your own gardening.
   
   You may find it helpful here to peek into the next section. it is focused on the plants. This soil production is all about that, so be smart and peek!
   
   Make notes, too!

• Chapter 13: More Uses for Our Soil!

1. Yup, yup. There's many uses for this soil! Sell it! Fill pots. share with the neighbor! Donate it, and then your new skill set to a community garden. Go to a local garden group and teach them! Make their soil!
2. This activity is searching for ways to use your soil. Since we covered vermicomposting too, search ways to use that soil. Learn how to add it to the soil you produce, too. Then go share all this with the neighbor!

• Section One Appendix

Section Two: The "2" Part

·       The "2" Part Introduction

·       Chapter 1: Plants Need the Same Nutrients for Their Health As You!

·       Chapter 2: Let's Begin @ the Start! Planning the Garden You Want

·       Chapter 3: Before Grow Season Plant Propagation; Or Not

·       Chapter 4: Prepping Your New Season Grow Bed(s)

·       Chapter 5: Setting out Early Starts and Seed Planting

·       Chapter 6: Fast Track Healthy Plant Action

·       Chapter 7: Healthy Producing Plants First Need This

·       Chapter 8: Between Planting & Producing Food Plant Care

·       Chapter 9: Betcha Ya Didn't Think About This Mid-Summer!

·       Chapter 10: See Why We Made Careful Plans For Maximum Harvest?

·       Chapter 11: Summer Season End

·       Chapter 12: Fall Harvest

·       Chapter 13: Fall & Winter Planting

·       Chapter 14: Season Wrap & Planning Next Year's Soil & Garden

·       Section Two Appendix

Section Three: The Last Part, er, Cuisine Part

·       Section Three Introduction

·       Chapter One: Why Did We Forget To Do This Part B4 Planting?

·       Chapter Two: Fresh Garden Food Cuisine: Who Can Match?

·       Chapter Three: We Did It! What All This Fresh Food! -Preserving

·       Chapter Four: Sideways Glance; Compare Nutrients In Garden v.s. Store Food

·       Chapter Five: Creating Cuisine Awesome Requires This; Planning

·       Chapter Six: Now! Let's Create Awesome!

·       Chapter Seven: Why Hide Awesome When You Can Do This, Instead?

·       Chapter Eight: Hey! It's Chapter 8!

·       Chapter Nine: This Ain't No Engine # 9!

·       Chapter Ten: Lost References; aka, Old Recipes For Fresh Garden Super Taste!

·       Chapter Eleven: Let's Do This Again! Cuising Roundup Rodeo!

·       Chapter Twelve: Now! Let's Plan Next Year's Cuisine Garden!

·       Section Three Appendix

Lazy Boy's Composting: AKA, Easy Direct Composting

Several years ago a friend with a small flower and tomato bed began placing his kitchen wastes directly into his tomato soil. It was not long before the plants looked more healthy, and produced more. The more I pondered this the more sense it made.

I helped bury his wastes a couple of times - he's elderly - and found the older wastes that rotted were attracting and nourishing hundreds of earth worms. It's easy to see how the tomato plants benefited!

As it turns out, this way to direct bury good natural nutrients is an excellent way to nourish producing plants. It's little different than adding any plan nutrient to the soil, just takes longer to decompose into root-absorbent nutrients. The part I particularly appreciate is the earth worm part.

Passing through the gut of any creature, it's food stuff is chemically transformed into plant nutrient that is more readily absorbed by the roots. It's far, far better than the harsh commercial fertilizers, like "MiracleG..." and other salt-based soil, soil fauna, and soil flora-abusing commercial chemical fertilizers, that shock plants into growth more than nurture their growth stimulation.

Added to the gentle nature of producing this bio-nutrient, the worm's digestion adds root soluble minerals, metals and enzymes the plants use to ward off parasites and fungal diseases. Added to that key nutrient value, the steady, slow release meets the plants' long term nutrient needs, rather than the sudden shock of commercial fertilizer, even when it is longer term release modified.

In addition to plant nutrition, adding raw wastes to the root zone of producing plants provides top quality nutrients for the soil fauna and soil flora, those microscopic plants and "bugs" that also need care and TLC for their own health. It also aids air to the soil, water retention, natural fibers, and the various nutrients each food plant and natural fiber packaging material contains.

Yes! Add the plain paper and corrugated plain cardboard(Without thin plastic coating glued to the cardboard) that foods come in. Best if these are soaked a few days before burying, though.

Just don't bury waxed heavy paper, like paper milk cartons and soup containers. Their material may never break down in a garden!

To the vegetable kitchen wastes, chicken bones and some small meat scraps can be safely added. Just be certain there is more than 6 inches of soil covering these, as mice and larger scavengers can smell and dig these out. A better method is to saturate them in ammonia for a few days before burying, but make sure the ammonia-soaked material and plant roots are well separated! The ammonia will burn the tender feeder roots.

Another caveat here is soil moisture. Garden plants that require fairly dry soil may be damaged by the higher soil moisture earth worms require for their work consuming the kitchen wastes, resulting in stunted plants, or worse. A good method for giving these plants the same nutrition earth worm treat is to have the worm operation separate, and bury worm castings at the root level. The castings will hold enough water to attract the dry soil plant roots and dry out as the roots absorb both nutrients and water.

In any case, the worm castings may need added woody material, like leaves and small twigs, to keep from matting and forming a water and air barrier from their very fine particulate composition. Another reason producing natural soil via a compost pile aids soil "tilth," that quality where the slightly wet soil crumbles apart rather than make a ball when a handful is squeezed tight and released.

In the section for vermicomposting we look at qualities and applications for worm castings and "tea" made by filtering water through the castings.


You with the awesome beans and squash! Yeah, YOU! Look at the ways there are to add kitchen wastes to your verdant squash and bean soil! It's a bit different, but the same principle works; add raw material that earth worms digest and cast their wastes off for your squash and bean roots to absorb. What could be better?

Actually, group, let's dig into "What could be better for a moment. It's perfect timing to cover this key aspect of good plant soil stucture v.s. great plant soil structure, and the effects to plant roots and health this makes for us, the gardeners whose sweat, blood, a few cuss words, and tears go into our awesome gardens!

"Friable" soil structure is noticeably different, and naturally better in its visible character than sticky, clayey, silty soil. Like the "tilth" factor, "friable" simply appeals more to the experienced eye of us gardeners:-) It is producing and using this "tilth" factor that this entire soil production and application section is about.

Squash and Bean Guy, I'd like to pick on you again! No, just kidding:-) But, you have soil requirements with squash and beans the rest of us other vegetable growers have slightly different issues with. Take squash. This Hot Sun, long day, and warm night native plant can be grown quite a ways away from its preferred, native habitat, but not all that far away from it's preferred soil characteristics. Like every plant, its root system wants numerous qualities of the soil. Water in the right range of moisture to dry soil; soil that may well be little more than sand with key nutrients, and friable soil structure where the roots freely extend and find loads of readily absorbent nutrients.

The soil they thrive in may be far too loose for corn and sunflower stalks to get a firm hold in to withstand rain, wind and snapping their matured ears off. But squash does better in soil that has some of the firm holding traits, too. The difference in holding traits between squash and sunflower, for instance, is that squash does not stand up, but the standing weight of corn and sunflower plants needs a suitable, heavy, sandy or clayey soil for these and similar to hold firmly upright during nasty storms.

In the compost pile forming section, look for types of raw materials.

Tools! More Tools! I LUV Good, Trusty Gardener Tools!

 I'm a tool sorta gardener guy. Absolutely LOVE good, sturdy, trustworthy, STRONG gardening tools! Ever go buy one of those flimsy, cheap wannabe garden tools only to have it break when it fell over in the shed?

Well, me too!:-)

My grandpa, an Extraordinary French Gardener in his own right(Grandpa Clewett and Grandma owned and milked up to 120 goats two & three times a day! Plus, Grandpa dug two shovel's deep into the garden soil to then back fill with goat manure! You gotta admire a man with double hernia from his days clearing heavy rocks in the San Fernando Valley to plant citrus orchards, now covered with concrete, blacktop, streets and buildings!)

My Grandpa NEVER used cheap anything! His budget never gave him luxury anything, but it always was adequate for quality farm buildings and tools.

Let's discover trusty, strong garden tools here! Together!


Throughout the garden section there are key tools and some photos of tools in use. The tool(s) you use are specific to your own unique situation and style of gardening, and your limitations and preferences. Never, under any circumstances, feel intimidated or slighted here, or by anyone else, for your unique set of, or lack of particular tools. Heck our hands make awesome weeding tools! They are absolutely the best digging tool for the beautiful soils we produce here, too!

Just be comfortable with what you have, and keep an open eye for better, if not quite satisfied with present tool(s) OK?



Tools I use.


10-time Horse Bedding Fork.

The fine materials handled with this soil require either a shovel(I recommend a transfer shovel(It has a straight end with near-square corners. Used for shoveling gravel, sand and loose soil.), or a fork with tines closer than 3 inches apart. The five-tine garden fork will barely do the job. A seven-tine garden fork works well. I like the 10-tine as it picks up a substantial amount of material each fork full.

Fairly heavy duty pruning shears. I cut up to 1-1/2 inch brush so a good, sturdy shears is best. It's a lot of cutting, too. Keep the shears oiled and watch for blade deformation due to small hard branches twisting as they are cut, being forced sideways between the blades. Bent blades usually can be straightened with a small hammer and a good thick chunk of steel as an anvil.

Small hand prune shears. My favorite is Fiskars brand. I use a straight blade crafter's model. It is sturdy, cuts cleanly, and has serrated edges.

Steel rod for probing the pile. I use what is called "Pencil Rod" by concrete form construction people. It is commonly available in 20 foot lengths at concrete form construction material businesses. You may find a concrete contractor who gives a five foot piece to you.

As I have hundreds of garden stakes I shape with pencil rod, I have no want for one. The construction I do to make these stakes makes for a nice handle to push and pull the stake in and out of the pile. It is a series of 3 90 degree bends at 90 degrees rotation of the rod in one direction between each bend, with a final 45 degree bend another 90 degrees turn. This produces a "screw" shape that simply "screws" around tall plant stalks. It is a convenient handle for the compost probe, too.


You may want a more accurate heat monitor. Find a temperature probe of at least 3 feet. It needs to reach the center of the pile. Temperature range of 100 to 200 degrees, F.


Water hose or buckets to water the pile. Collected rain water and pond water, duck pond water, river water, lake water, all except really nasty, smelly water will do. Not sea water, however. Too salty.

Wheel barrow, or wheeled container. The soil is heavy. Have a sturdy carrier to transport it.

Gardening tools. Eventually this book will have a selection of quality tools. A wise 19th century economist, John Ruskin, observed a universal fact about quality products: Buy cheap, easily damaged products, and prepare for endless replacement. Spend one third more for top quality, and enjoy lifetime hard use of the best of products." Somehow, his experience still applies today.

Post driver. I use rebar for anchoring permanent poles to the ground, for driving steel fence posts, and for driving steel stakes for raised bed support. If your garden is on the large side, using rebar and a good post driver can be a real time and effort saving investment.

Rebar tie wire. This cheap, easy to use steel wire is available at any store where rebar is sold. A spool may last a lifetime!

Saws and other light construction tools. Few gardens do not require some form of continuing construction. I prefer using weather treated wood screws and a commercial duty cordless drill to assemble wood frames and other small wood projects.

Electrician pliers. A good electrician pier with a quality wire cutter makes quick work of tying rebar, building wire fencing, and many wire projects.

Watering tools. Some prefer using a watering nozzle. It takes hours to apply proper amounts of water with these so I only use the end of the hose and my finger to apply water fast and deep into the root levels, Nozzles almost always wet just the surface of the plant bed, causing plant roots major issues of growing only at the surface, where inadequate nutrients are, and the sun can burn them.

If you insist on a nozzle, use one that shoots a heavy stream deep into the soil around the plants to water the roots, and deeper, This requires less watering time, and less water.

Camera. Really? Yes, a series of photos covering your soil producing experiences can prove invaluable in future times. It records what you do and gives you accurate memory for later reference.

Rakes, hoes, shovels. The better rake is a sturdy bow style. I also heavily use a lawn spring rake for mown grass from fields. With all tools, keep them inside, dry, and clean. The sun and rain destroy handles like you wouldn't believe!

Do you know why I recommend limited drip irrigation? Check this out and apply if it fits . . .

Drip irrigation, for surface watering, leaves water loss by evaporation WIDE OPEN! Cover the surface with four inches or more medium and fine mulch or your new nutrient-dense soil, and that surface drip system is better, but not best, yet.

The best drip systems employ a buried drip emitter. Usually this device has a flow regulator, but still, it is extremely limited for watering roots adequately, as it is just one tiny point of water, and the roots cannot spread out through all that awesome nutrient-dense soil you carefully produced!

So . . . I just simply do NOT recommend drip irrigation! Well, not for in-ground gardening!

Drip systems are AWESOME for pots! Troughs, too. The roots have limited soil to spread in, so the mulch covering and, depending on the size of the planter, one or more drip points create a very efficient moisture control and conservation system. Well, that is IF the system is tuned to water just enough, and to NOT fail!

Drip irrigation MUST have constant monitoring! You do not want to monitor by waiting till the leaves wilt!

All This Nutrient-dense Dirt I Made! What's To Do?

In the verdant Puyallup and Skagit Rivers' flood plans up here, the native river silt soil goes down many feet. The food plants go nuts! Especially root veggies! Up in the Skagit We've picked up crisp, delicious carrots and beets 6 inches wide! YUM! The soil depth and content make all the difference.

Your natural soil can be any depth you want!

As the soil you just made is supper ready to use for 100% direct planting, decide on the plants that will be planted in it. Make the depth accordingly.

Another consideration is the plants. Side dressing nitrogen when heavy nitrogen feeders(Corn, squash, cabbage family, seed sunflower, cereal grains are some) are a week or two out of the ground makes a marked difference.

At the time the compost pile is "harvested" running a soil test is a great idea. You will know clearly what to add, and what plants do well in unmodified soil.

Let's Skip the "Eat Dirt" Metaphore 4 This Section!: Let's Eat Worms! - Vermicomposting

MMMMM!   Tasty little wigglers!

Now, I'm certain most gardeners really like to see healthy earth worms in their garden soil. But, I'm equally certain few gardeners realize what earth worms require to stay healthy, multiply profusely, and produce what is arguably the most nutrient-dense plant soil known.

Do you know?

Nutritious food! Lots of it, too.  Lots of yummy, rotting veggies, fruits, grass and especially that awesome corrugated cardboard!

Several years before my serendipity gardening pursuits led me to producing natural soil I thought it would be interesting to learn to raise earth worms for some extra income. A little book I purchased from an ad in the classified section of Mother Earth News Magazine shared the author's experience of raising worms on corrugated cardboard. Having a ready supply of tons of cardboard at the ag coop I worked at I decided to give it a try.

The guy hit the ball outta the park on that one! But, as I doubt he produced as the focus product, it's unlikely he knew how much value there is in marketing vermicompost soil and tea. This stuff knocks the socks off plants fed it!

Feeding Earth Worms - Watch Your Fingers!

I was amazed how much a hand full of earth worms I tried to transport from my cardboard compost pile in Pennsylvania to our new home in Oregon ate in that 9 day trek! I gave them a 12 gallon tub filled with fresh leaves and grass, but when I unpacked their tub in Oregon, not one live worm was to be found! The food was completely consumed by that one handful of the most voracious worms i'd ever seen!

In the cardboard compost over the several years it was in the back of our little rural acre, I noticed several species of earth worms in separate colonies. One caught my interest when I noticed how much cardboard their small colony consumed relative to other species. They were a gray worm, with a very tough skin, liked less wet material, and were almost frightening with their frantic wriggling when picked up!

So I pulled a small group out to watch more closely in a separate location. We were nearly ready and packed with loads of family belongings for a long cross-country move, so I let the bushel tub set til it was loaded on the back of the school bus my children's mom drove with most of our immediate household things and our three children. My little 1 ton flatbed was loaded to the gills with my shop equipment.

Long story short, I never discovered what that species of voracious worms was, but in years since I became interested in the farming of earth worms for the nutrient-dense soil they leave behind. Yeah, pun intended!:-)

Finally, last Summer a man with the community garden I served as gardener for wanted to have a vermicomposting operation to demonstrate soil production with earth worms, so I took the two hundred red wriggler worms he donated and quickly multiplies them to several tens of thousands. Here's the details . . .


Earth worms starve to death in most garden soils! The reason? They literally eat themselves out of food!

The community garden is run by a Salvation Army installation with a kitchen. The fairly large amount of kitchen wastes were what I fed those two hundred worms. In a month they multiplied in number to close to 100,000. I also had lots of corrugated cardboard to feed them, so they were happy campers!

By mid August when I decided to end my sole care for the garden because "It's too hot to tend to it" attitude by all other gardeners, the worms ate themselves out of food, and died off! But, they left behind in last Summer's few months a pallet-size two foot high sides bin full of nutrient-dense soil!

That soil is so fertile it will feed numerous plant beds it is top dressed over.

To farm earth worms, several environment requirements are necessary to assure healthy, top producing ve3rmicomposting.

First is the feed. If it's too "foody," the worms suffocate from ammonia the rotting food stuff produces. If too dry they literally die from dehydration! If to wet, they drown.

Worms digest food similar to fowl, where birds require sand and other sharp-edged particles in their craw to help break food into smaller particles. We just chew our food!

Provide small size particle sand, or sandy soil mixed with the food, and combine the food, including cardboard and paper, with well-distributed fine soil, or if the garden  is producing waste plant material, mix it well with the food and-or cardboard and sand-sandy soil.

Monitor the water and give ample frequent baths to maintain plenty of soft material and make movement in the worm bin easy for the little hard working crew mates.

At some point the pile of worm castings(manure) will reach the top of the container, I simply scooped off the top layer with active worms down to a level few worms were visible, and put these into the next empty bin to start the process over. The finished castings sat and matured for later use.

In Western Washington Winter temperature dips into single digits several times. Worms freeze to death below 20 or so. Cover and surround the container with plenty of heat-retaining material, or simply dig a shallow hole in the ground and cover them, allowing good ventilation art the surface, since they will suffocate without air. They go dormant in the cold.

One note on their bin; It must have the bottom open for air, and the content turned every couple of days to mix in air, especially in the center. The sides can be solid, but be more aware of the aeration needs.


To help maintain moisture I like to cover the top with a thin layer of soil after each turning and-or feeding.

Nutrient-dense Natural Soil Production Methods and Materials

So, we eat dirt, right? What says we should not produce that mouthful of dirt just the way WE decide, with the ingredients WE choose, and for the specific use(s) WE need?

In other words ENOUGH ALREADY FOR BUYING OFTEN HARMFUL COMMERCIAL SOILS AT THE LOCAL STORE!

OK. Got your pencil and paper, or a computer to record this for notes on YOUR available materials and method(s) YOU decide for YOUR own soil production>


First off, let me be certain it is clearly understood here that this is FUN! Hard work, but, so enjoyable since the nutrient-dense garden soil YOU produce will amaze you and make you wonder why you waited so long to make it!

The hard part is also the easy part. Producing the amount of soil your garden needs may be limited by the amount of space for soil production you have, and the quantity of raw plant material available within reason for your ability to acquire and transport. Also, plenty of water is required, so if that is a factor where you live, it will determine the amount of soil you can produce for a given pile build.

Now, where shall we go next in this tutorial? How about a list of what is necessary to get, to do, and to be aware of?


1. The place to build the pile of raw plant material

On a farm, "where" can be just about anywhere there is a vacant space. In an apartment, "where" is an issue! But, still very doable! The apartment compost pile can be in the bottom half of a planter with plants in the top half. Or, in a separate pot, or any container with plenty of air ventilation and water catchment below. Plants debris naturally composts as it falls to the ground under the plants and water plus flora and fauna digest the woody and soft parts down to their elemental state. Plant roots seek out this nutrition, and over time this process increases the nutrient content of the soil.

Nutrients come from two sources; minerals in the native soil; nutrients in the air, Plants absorb nutrients from both sources, and the decaying plant debris puts both into the soil, although some nutrients are lost to vaporization, such as part of the nitrogen that gases off back into the air.

Our soil production is focused on accumulating raw plant debris that is about 4 times the amount of soil we will produce. In the apartment our space is so limited that collecting this amount will require a 5 gallon bucket up to a small 30 gallon barrel for a quite large amount of soil production inside.

The space we choose needs to include room for the raw material to have its own separate space. This is so we can build the pile with layers of each type of raw material. This will make sense later in the pile building section.

Outside, we still need a separate space for collecting the raw materials. This naturally is better next to the place the pile is built so to save on transport effort. 

Quite a lot of water is used. The pile placement needs to account for runoff of part of this water, or better, collecting it off to the side of the pile. To keep the pile sweet smelling with an earthy odor, plenty of air ventilation at the bottom is needed. The pile build section details this requirement.

Finally, harvesting the finished pile requires its own space, or the finished soil is transported as needed to grow beds.

2. The material available

Raw plant debris is everywhere! Really!

Two years ago for two months I collected all the waste paper, cardboard and kitchen scraps my 9 apartment neighbors threw away and put it in my compost pile. It produced a small mountain of soil!

For a lady I completely renovated her beach front Summer cottage property on Whidbey Island's Snakelum Point Spit, I gathered debris along the private drive roadside from Douglas Firs and maples. The neighbor kids' ski boats tore up lots of sea weed that washed ashore and I collected with Horse Barn fork and wheel barrow to a compost pile. Her place in Seattle had over grown Mt. Vernon Laurel I trimmed and hauled up to Whidbey Island for her compost pile. I even put an engine oil draining in one pile to see if the heat and enzymes would reduce that organic material to basic elements. It did!


Back in Pennsylvania 40+ years ago my first experience producing natural soil was when I hauled cardboard waste to our little acre rural property and earth worms chewed lots of it into fertile soil!

In fact, then glue used for corrugated cardboard is one of the best earth worm foods!

Power line clearing crews produce tons of wood chips a day. They have few places to dump this great natural debris, so find a local crew and offer your garden or alley or even front yard for a truck load. Be sure you have the large space! Most clearing crew chip trucks hold 10, 12, and even 15 cubic yards! That's a lot.

Other raw material resources are rural and town vacant lots - mow the weeds, trim the trees, gather abandoned grass clippings, brush, rotted tree parts, ant hills, any plant matter. Of course, leave plenty of plant debris for healthy plants on the property!

Horse stables produce unwanted manure and bedding. Chicken farms, ditto, Dairies, both goat and cow, sheep herders, llama farmers, rabbit raisers, barber shops - Barber shops? Yep - hair makes for awesome soil!, grocery store vegetable waste, liquor store boxes, local warehouse carton waste, food packing plant waste, fruit and nut orchard waste, canneries' waste, fish market waste, roadside farmer stand spoiled produce, old rotted hay, straw from grain farms, rotting grains, corn stalks, grape vineyard pruning, kiwi and orchard tree trimming, melon farm waste, melon packing plant waste, and any place where plant material and sea fish is processed, raised, and packed.

One caution. Farmers use pesticides and herbicides, So do many private home owners and apartment managers, Today's restrictions on pesticide ingredients make them less hazardous, but still my advice is be sure to keep the material you collect nearly or completely free of chemicals. Plus, if at all possible for you, make your compost pile with materials that will cause it to heat over 140 degrees F. This helps reduce herbicides and pesticides to relative harmless elements.

Not all farmers use chemicals, but even so-called organic foods are allowed to be treated with unhealthy chemicals. Just beware.

I find that material gathered from vacant lots and fields that are still wild is a good bet for chemical-free material. You know these are chemical free when dandelion and wild grasses and flowers are growing there.





3. The design of the pile and Construction

Pile building is part science, part art. The science is in the design. The art is creating the pile with the material you found. 

The design follows the natural laws of heat, gas, water, gravity, weight, mass, fluid flow, and your preferred handling method. 

The heat part is how you construct the pile with two main types of raw material. The one key material to produce heat is fresh or rotted and wet lawn clipping grass. It is high in nitrogen, Nitrogen combines with high carbon content material to create heat, The ratio of green grass to carbon material is around 1 part grass to 3 parts dry plant material. refined nitrogen also works. Its ration is based on dry weight of around 30 parts carbon material to 1 part refined nitrogen. The least costly refined nitrogen is urea, at 46% nitrogen content. Figure a ration of 2 pounds of urea to 30 pounds dry raw plant dry material.

The gas part of design considers that the decay process produces one of two families of gas; and for piles with partial air flow blocking, both families of gas are produced. The family of gases we want is created by adequate air flow to provide air to every part of the pile. This is pretty simple, just a matter of watching our pile build process closely.

The gas family we don't want smells awful! It requires no air, as the bacteria that live in it produce their own oxygen, plus foul odor sulfur gases. It's the common sewer gas family.

This gas-related design also defines the maximum practical width of the pile. The widest it can go to allow good air flow into the center is 5 feet. The weight of the pile with saturating water also limits the height to about 5 to six feet, depending on the amount of short cut brush layered into the build. The weight concentrates the bottom of the pile blocking air flow.

More about the short cut brush in a bit.

Water is critical to hot composting. The raw materials need to be saturated with water to allow the bacteria and enzymes' actions. With dry materials it is critical to saturate the materials. My preferred water method is to build the pile dry about half way, get on top and compact the material all I can with my feet, then saturate this. Then add the top, compact it and water. More on this.

 Gravity comes to play since over the decomposition the pile collapses. Not too much odd. Just a note so you're aware.

Weight is a factor to contend with. This stuff is heavy! When the pile is ready to harvest, it's wet. Be prepared to lift some real dirt!

The mass of the pile stays the same; it's the compaction of the material as it is reduced to elemental form that makes it appear to get less mass.

By fluid flow I refer to both the air and water flow in the finished pile. Heat will make the air rise, and evaporate part of the water, maybe all of it if the temperature gets high enough, and water you add as the pile matures and dries from heat and air needs replacing. Make sure the pile construction allows both air and water flow to every part of the pile.

Finally, here's the very first vital part of creating this pile! First lay a four to six inch layer of small diameter sticks and branches on the ground the pile is to be build on. This assures adequate air flow and water drain out. Without this the pile may go anaerobic and stink.

Then as you build layers of grass and carbon, or "brown" material, add a few inches brush layer between the grass layer on top of the carbon layer. It goes; Brush on bottom; Carbon layer - about 5 inches; grass layer - one to two inches; brush layer - about 2=3 inches; carbon = about 5 inches; grass, and so on.

Now, the top.

Leaving the top just a layer of grass allows vital nitrogen to gas off. To limit this and keep the top material wet, cover the pile top and sides - keep the sides straight up as possible - with sand, garden dirt, other compost, or most fine material. Don't use sawdust, as the wood will absorb nitrogen from the pile.

My practice is to soak this top layer of fine material as the last step.

5. Watering the pile

The heat and air flow will evaporate the water. To monitor my pile I use a steel rod about four feet long to penetrate to the center of the pile. It is called "pencil rod." Concrete wall contractors use it for retaining wall forms. It comes in twenty foot pieces. The diameter is 5/16ths Inch. I form garden stakes with various lengths, so I have hundreds!

The stakes left in the pile take on the heat and as mine are well rusted, hold enough water when pulled out and hot to tell where sections of the pile are getting dry. The temperature is simple to check with my hand, if it's too hot to hold, it's likely over 140F. I like for this temp to hold for two weeks.

6. Monitoring decomposition process

I watch two things to indicate decay progress. One is the pile compaction. The top falls at least 1/3rd the original, stepped-down height. The heat resides to barely warm to cold, and the water saturates the pile. This point can be further checked with pulling the outside away to see how the inner material looks. The decay is complete when the raw material appears completely saturated with water and still has the original appearance of the plant part. It readily crumbles into fine powder.

7. Tools

I use two tools for pile construction. One is a hand pruner to cut small branch material for the bottom and layering for air and water flow. The other is a 10 tine horse stall fork. It's tines are close together which makes it much easier to pick up the fine particle soil produced. It also holds larger amounts of material which means the work is done sooner. But, it is a bit heavy. 

8. Finished soil "harvesting"

The cut brush is not decayed. I use the horse stall fork to filter it out. I plan to build a trammel - a slightly tilted horizontal, round rotating screen - to filter out larger material much faster. The finished soil is piled or goes into grow beds.




9. How to store finished soil

It can be dried and stored indefinitely, left wet and covered to prevent weed seed falling into it, or used as a ground cover. Bag it. Barrel or bucket it. Give it away!



10. How to use this nutrient-dense soil for healthy plant growth

It's ready to grow plants directly in it! My garden soil is composed of 100% soil produced this way, and my plants are some healthy and bug free plants!

Some people come buy small quantities and rave to everyone how fertile it is with their plants. I've produced it this way for community gardeners. I've had Master Gardeners be amazed at it; and I'm always satisfied with how well this soil produces healthy, disease and bug-free plants.



11. The cycle

It's a wonderful self-sustaining cycle! The plants and sources of plant material all around all year long supply amazing quantity of raw material. The grow season close has much more plant material produced by this soil than store bought soil or native soil, and this soil lasts for years. In pots I use it for permanent in and outdoor plant. I created a really nice flower bed for a neighboring auto business. The owner is always remarking how well the plants grow.

I made a rock garden and a slightly raised sedum display for him. The perennial sedum blooms all Summer and withstands Summer drought well. The soil retains water for weeks.



In the final analysis, this natural soil contains the key essential nutrients plants and we people and our animals require for disease-free life.




This guide for creating the pile of raw organic material is incomplete without a section about the various materials themselves.

Corrugated cardboard, cardboard, paper and other plant materials that are used to make natural fiber products, including wood fiber egg cartons, wood fiber shipping container forms and packing materials, corn starch "popcorn," and any other plant fiber product can generally be used in a hot compost pile. The ratio of nitrogen to dry weight "brown," or dry carbon plant material stays the same. Just be sure you reduce the size of large pieces to 6 - 10 inch pieces to allow water and air to freely pass through the pile. Remember also that a layer of torn paper, or any other wood fiber product will make a very solid, water and air impermeable layer, so scatter these materials loosely and add lots of rougher material to maintain the vital water-air passing pile texture.

Seaweed makes great soil! It is loaded with most key nutrients people, animals and plants require for health. The salt in seaweed is minimal for plant damage when mixed with other raw materials.

Here's one ingredient I find most compost producers are not aware of! But, for some of our garden plants, it's particularly necessary!

Sod. Sod? Yep, sod. Preferably from lawn scalping, flower bed refurbishing, old soggy roadside ditch cleaning, driveway edge cleanup where soil crept over from the woods the drive winds through, roadside soil, leaves and twigs from a quiet rural road through a woods, and even just good, native sand.

For most piles I create, there is a ready supply of sandy, silty and/or native fine soil that old lawn turf comes with, or someone cleaned the old flower beds and family driveway.

Sometimes it's just discarded sand. But, the target use of the soil determines the amount of heavier raw material to add.

Kitchen scraps including small chunks of meat can be composted IF the pile reaches 140 degrees F and higher for several days and slowly cools over at least a week.

Table scraps require 140 degree pile heat, like meat.

All vegetables compost very easily with and without heat.

Garden waste composts the same as vegetable material.

Oils that are rancid need to be diffused thinly into the pile without concentrating any areas.

Fruit, nuts, nut shells, rotting wood, tree trunks, weeds from mowed fields, wood chips, bark chips, woody leaves and stems from trimmed hedges, sewer plant sludge, hay and straw, all these need breakdown to smallish size. Keep the ration of nitrogen to carbon the same 1:30, or using grass clippings, 1/3 grass to 3 parts dry and woody material.

For all very dry materials, make certain to thoroughly soak them all the way through.

On dry, "Brown" materials, a word about leaves. Go look at a tree, shrub, bush, and large and small plants growing in all the soil environments near your garden. What do you see about the nutrient contents the leaves have?

Right! The soil determines the leaf content.  Now, go back to trees.  Where are the ones you can find growing? What species trees? What would you expect the nutrient makeup to be for each species?

Let's check on the leaf nutrient source. Yes, tree species do grow in specific environment suited to each. But, what About the root of each species? Let's check some of these "Root Wads."(Term loggers use about the mass of twisted together, gnarly roots:-))

How deep do Douglas Fir roots go?(I live in the Pacific Northwest with Doug Fir everywhere!)

How deep the common locust?(We have one happily growing beside a far taller Doug Fir in the front lawn)

OK, The unique environment I live in has one of very few prairies up here supporting native stands of majestic White Oak, growing in the glacial till that defines much of the Puget Sound. How deep do oak roots grow?

That said, can you see how the soil where your natural soil compost pile makes contribution to the nutrients your soil will have?

One interesting note about locust roots. I've seen then growing out a hundred feet just under the surface in lawns! We also have native stands of Madone(Madrona) trees. They also have deep tap roots. Their wood, thick leaves produce exceptionally long-lasting soil.

Let's add a word of adding soil nutrients from commercial sources. Here, in the glacial till we have, these is inadequate calcium and iron as the source of the till contained little or none. In other micro-locations, various amount of both iron and calcium are in the glacial till. Some have nasty levels of arsenic, even!

By all means, add missing nutrients, especially minerals.

Hot compost piles can be built in very cold weather and still heat inside. However, the outside of the pile will need insulation and rain, snow and sleet shielding to allow the heat out to the edges.

This cycle of producing waste plant material, gathering and then assembling compost piles is daily. As you'd imagine, it picks up speed and volume during growing season.



1. The place to build the pile of raw plant material

2. The material available

3. The design of the pile

4. The pile construction

5. Watering the pile

6. Monitoring decomposition process

7. Tools

8. Finished soil "harvesting"

9. How to store finished soil

10. How to use this nutrient-dense soil for healthy plant growth

11. The cycle