How to Use Compost

Your compost has been cooking and now it’s finished. It’s time to use it all over your yard and gardens. There are countless ways to use it. Your plants are just going to love it. And, you can never make enough of it. Nor can you make it faster than you can use it. So, let’s explore how to make compost and how to use a composter to speed up the decomposition process.

Finished compost is rich in nutrients and minerals. It enriches the soil and feeds your plants. Use ample amounts on any plant, mixing it into the soil before planting. Or, place it on top of the soil as a mulch.

Mixing Compost into Your Garden Soil

Before planting your garden each Spring, spread generous amounts across the garden. Then, turn it into the soil, or use a roto-tiller to mix it in. There’s no right or wrong to how you turn it into the soil.

Ideally, it should be incorporated into the soil just before planting. However, the raw or “hot” materials can be mixed or buried into your garden soil in the Fall.

Now that your garden has been enriched with compost, you can cut down or eliminate entirely, the use of chemical fertilizers at the start of the season…. you save $.

Planting or Transplanting Trees, Bushes, and Shrubs

This is a great time to use compost. It gives trees, bushes and shrubs a great start in their new home.

Dig the hole. Add a generous amount into the hole. Next, mix it with the soil in the hole. Then, plant the tree, bush, or shrub.

In future years, use it as mulch around the tree. It will feed the tree as it decomposes into the soil.

Used as a Mulch

Fresh compost looks great as a mulch. Spread a thick layer around any plant.

Because it decomposes further into the soil fairly quickly, multiple applications during the season may be needed.

Vegetable gardeners especially love using it as a mulch.

Storing Finished Compost

Don’t leave finished compost exposed to the weather. Valuable nutrients and minerals in the material can leach out from rain or melting snow. If you have it in a barrel or compost tumbler, it is protected from the environment and the material stays rich in nutrients. If it is out in the open, cover it with a tarp. Better still, find a container for it.