Covering My Gardens with Compost
Winter is the best time to cover garden beds with a rich layer of organic compost.
Fortunately I am able to make it right here at my Bedford, New York farm. During the course of the year, my outdoor grounds crew amasses large amounts of organic debris - felled trees, branches, underbrush, etc., but none of the material goes to waste. The wood is either repurposed quickly as milled lumber, chipped and returned to the woodland as top dressing, or mixed with other biodegradable materials including chicken and horse manure to make compost - that nutrient rich “black gold” that's spread generously over all the gardens to protect plants and growing bulbs and keep them insulated until spring.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Another very big and important task that is done regularly around my farm is top dressing all the garden beds with nutrient-rich and protective compost. This is it! I make it right here in my compost yard.
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- Right now, my outdoor grounds crew is covering garden beds all around my home with beautiful compost.
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- This is my long pergola garden – freshly dressed with compost.
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- And this bed is in front of my main greenhouse. The boxwood shrub is tucked safely under protective burlap and the surrounding area is covered with a layer of compost to insulate all the bulbs below.
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- Here’s a closer look at the compost, what gardeners call “black gold” because of all the nutrients it adds to the existing soil.
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- And much of it starts right here in my chicken yard. My roosters, hens, turkeys, geese, pheasants, and peafowl all help to create my valuable compost.
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- … And so do my five donkeys and five horses.
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- Compost also includes some of the organic debris from the woodland. During the course of the year, these felled tree limbs and branches are piled neatly by the side of the carriage road. When possible, it is either chipped and returned as dressing in the woods, or carted away and brought to the compost yard and saved for the tub grinder.
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- The debris is piled up high in one neat area. This gets processed through the tub grinder which I rent once a year or once every two. A tub grinder is able to grind the wood to produce finer material.
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- Here is the animal waste and hay collected in another area – this also gets processed.
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- And here are other piles – leaf mold, or composted leaves, and other organic brush and plant debris – all carbon-rich materials in various stages of decay.
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- After it is all run through the tub grinder multiple times, it is left to decay naturally under giant tarps and made into garden compost – filled with nutrients.
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- This compost is well decayed. The rich, dark, and crumbly compost can now support proper soil structure, improve water retention, and promote beneficial microbial life back in the gardens.
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- Here, Phurba fills a wheelbarrow with compost. I am so proud that I can make this material right here.
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- Because of all the ground they need to cover, my crew works in an assembly line process, which is fast and efficient.
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- Weeds are removed before any top dressing is applied. Covering the garden beds with compost will also help deter future weeds… we hope.
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- The pesky weeds are bagged and completely discarded.
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- And then as each wheelbarrow is filled, it is brought to the cleaned bed and unloaded in piles. Here is Adan delivering more compost to the pergola garden.
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- And by hand, a three to four inch layer of compost is spread over all the beds. I prefer this done in winter when flowers are not in bloom and the crew can gingerly walk through without disturbing any growth.
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- This area is part of my Stewartia garden, where I plant various perennials, spring blooming bulbs, and of course, Stewartia trees.
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- And this is the garden surrounding my Basket House below the towering bald cypress trees – all bare of their feathery fern-like foliage.
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- If you can, cover your gardens with a good layer of compost. It’s nature’s best soil conditioner and a wonderful way to beautify the gardens and give back to the earth.
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