how to make and use compost, with lee reich
HOW CAN EVERY LAST SCRAP of goodness we’re all gathering during garden cleanup be put to optimal use? I asked expert Lee Reich, who practices no-till vegetable gardening, to share strategic soil-improving, weed-thwarting, and future harvest-enhancing steps you can take now, as you put the garden to bed. Learn to compost smarter, and prep your soil easily without tilling.
That’s Lee with his trusty scythe, above, which doesn’t figure into composting, but into how he cuts his meadow-like fields. Impressive, and mesmerizing! I’ve included a couple of his great how-to videos on composting and no-till soil preparation, along with links to the audio of our entire conversation.
I was especially excited to visit Lee Reich’s New Paltz, New York, “farmden”–that’s half garden, half farm–since it’s fruit harvest time. Lee is a longtime friend and author of many exceptional garden books, including “Grow Fruit Naturally” and “Weedless Gardening,” and “The Pruning Book,” among others.
Read the show notes from our discussion on the October 21, 2013 edition of my public-radio show below.
no-till gardens, making compost, and more, with lee reich
You’ve heard me talk about Lee before as the “unusual fruit guy,” and indeed we taste-tested paw paws and American persimmons and kiwis and more the other day. (Remember my story with Lee about growing those?)
But what really caught my attention the other day: seeing “Lee the soil guy” in action—how he composts, and how he preps his vegetable garden in fall for spring planting.
“Taking care of the soil is not rocket science,” Lee says (despite having an advanced degree in soil science). “Make sure the drainage is good, and beyond that it’s just a question of getting plenty or organic matter into the soil. Do those two things, and you’re 90 percent there.”
lee’s no-till, weed-less growing
LEE’S TACTICS for growing vegetables: a weed-less (emphasis on the less, meaning fewer but of course not no weeds). He hasn’t turned one vegetable garden in 15 years since he created it; his other growing area hasn’t been turned in 30. Both deliver bountiful harvests, despite the fact that his beds are very intensively planted.
All he does each year: Minimizes soil disturbance by not tilling or pulling things too roughly (which would bring weed seeds to the surface or allow others to sow in), and adds an inch of compost as a topdressing. That’s right: Don’t dig your compost deep into the soil, Lee says. An inch spread right on the surface of a tidied-up bed mediates the compaction caused by pounding of rain; insulates the roots of the plants you grow in it, and since most feeder roots are in the upper reaches, it supplies what plants need.
“The vegetables don’t need any other fertilizer,” he says.
So how does he clean up the beds without disturbing the soil? Lee doesn’t yank things madly (the way I do, I confess!), making gaping holes. Instead he strategically uses his Japanese weeding knife, or hori-hori, to encircle and sever the roots of each pepper or tomato or whatever, right around the main stem, then carefully lifts it out. Lee’s recent video on soil prep and topdressing with compost (up above, at the start of this section) explains it all.
Plus: Lee’s and my longtime friend Joe Lamp’l of “Growing a Greener World” on PBS has a whole section on no-till vegetable gardening, for additional reference.
can-do composting, lee’s way
EVEN AFTER 40 YEARS of composting, “I find the whole process so fascinating,” says Lee. “I never cease to be amazed by it.”
His key tools for success: A compost thermometer–about 18 inches long—to test the internal temperature of each heap. Lee’s compost gets to 140-160ish degrees F, though it doesn’t have to get that warm to decompose, he says. But
the thermometer helps Lee know if he’s got a good balance of ingredients—both “green” or Nitrogen-rich, and “brown,” or Carbon-rich. If it’s right, and if there is some moisture and air, the pile heats up.
Lee’s other key tool for the composting: a bin. Lee’s 15 identical bins are homemade from notched, 4-foot lengths of “manufactured wood,” stacked log-cabin-style gradually, a tier at a time, as he adds material. He keeps piling stuff up in each bin to a height of about 5 feet, filling again a few times as the material settles. He moistens any dry ingredients slightly as needed when adding them. Lee used rot-resistant real lumber to build bins for many years, but lately had turned to the more long-lasting recycled decking “lumber.”
He covers each bin with EPDM fabric, which is typically used for rubber roofing and available at building supply stores. “A very useful material around the farm or garden,” says Lee, “to keep things covered.”
Many expert sources say never to add diseased or insect-laden materials to the heap. Lee’s approach:
“I contend that if you look closely enough at anything, you’re going to find some ‘bad guy’ on it,” he says. “So my thing: I put everything into the compost.” Any and all organic material derived from a plant—“organic” meaning living or formerly living with an eye to adding both high-C high-N materials. He does turn each bin periodically, and again: His piles heat up to a temperature range helps kill off pathogens or pests.
It all goes like he demonstrates in his video called “You Won’t Believe What I Compost” that I embedded up above (and you won’t–and I didn’t!).
more how-to’s with lee reich
- growing pawpaws and persimmons
- all my conversations with lee (on blueberries, vegetable gardening, and more)
- visit lee reich’s website
- visit lee reich’s youtube channel
- Lee was the subject of a recent episode of “Growing a Greener World,” on PBS affiliates
get the podcast version of future shows
MY WEEKLY public-radio show, rated a “top-5 garden podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper in the UK, began its seventh year in March 2016. In 2016, the show won three silver medals for excellence from the Garden Writers Association. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen locally in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Eastern, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
how to win 2 books by lee reich
I’VE BOUGHT TWO extra copies of “Grow Fruit Naturally” and “Weedless Gardening” by Lee Reich to share with you. (NOTE: GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED.)
All you have to do to enter to win one of each is answer this question, entering your reply into the comment form at the very bottom of the page:
Do you have any particular tactics for composting, and do you turn your vegetable beds to work in amendments or not?
Me: I compost in a very long, large open pile called a “windrow,” rather than a bin, and it’s definitely not cooking along very “hot.” It gets turned once a year. I grow vegetables in raised beds, to which I add at least an inch of compost as a topdressing each year.
Feeling shy, or have nothing to share? Just say “count me in” and I will include your entry–again, put it in the box-like form at the bottom of the page! Good luck to all. I chose two winners at random after entries closed at midnight Sunday, October 27, 2013.
(Disclosure: All Amazon affiliate links yield a small commission that I use to buy books for future giveaways.)
count me in – I ned to learn to compost the right way !
I have several compost piles going at once. One is just shredded leaves. I use an electric leaf shredder. Another just contains kitchen scraps along with some garden material for carbon. A third is a pile that I will not use on the garden. It contains diseased or nematode foliage or weedy seed heads. This will just be spread about in a wooded area once it cooks. I just don’t want to put organic material into a landfill. It seems like a waste.
I use a tumbler container until it is full, them dump it on a pile where the squirrels bury black walnuts from our trees. I never have enough compost.
Weeding less? I tend to take my daily stress out while pulling weeds. I
would love to win one of his books. I could use more compost and I have space for blueberries and fruit trees. I want to make jams next year!
I would love to learn about better ways to compost! I never have enough and need to make some larger bins than the store bought container I’ve been using.
no special procedure, just two open piles that I alternate and rarely turn – intend to turn more often, but just forget, I’ve seen yours Margaret (the place where they say your old boyfriends are buried but you cleared that up saying you know where they are buried, and it’s not there – I liked that one, as you can see)
I tilled last year when I started the garden. It seemed necessary – the ground was so compacted as to be totally unworkable by hand and needed lots of amendment. I turned in compost for the first go round, but now just top dress.
I use bins made from old pallets. I have one bin I’m adding to and one I’m letting finish. I usually don’t add my weeds since the piles don’t get hot enough but often I feed them to the chickens so they end up benefiting the compost through chicken manure.
We have a plastic bin composter, but it fills faster than we can properly compost, so we end up trench composting the partially composted material in our veggie plot or flower beds…the only time I have had successful hot compost is with piles of fresh branch trimmings complete with green leaves. It is amazing to watch it almost smoking hot and beautifully decomposing. Never have enough mulch or compost…
We dump our yard waste in a swale on our extra lots. We don’t ever turn it but there is always good compost at the bottom.
My special tactic for composting is chicken manure. i bed my chickens with pine shavings. When I shovel out the coop I have manure and pine shaving well mixed together and just a little causes it to heat up nicely. The rest of the manure/shavings I dig into fallow beds, I would just spread it on top but I have a dog that thinks chick poop is yummy and turning it in saves me a log of yelling. I make my bins with chicken wire and fence posts in a circle, easy to assemble, easy to move and sometimes I put it right in the bed. when it is done I just spread it around no shoveling from one place to another.
My garden is new. I installed raised beds this year, so they’re mostly weed-free except for the creeping charlie. I plan to top-dress with compost except in the bed with the lower quality soil. That one i’ll work some compost in and top dress. I have a compost bin, but I’m not sure if i’m doing it right. :)
Have just started my first raised bed garden and a compost pile this year in the yard. I have also got a worm farm going. I’m trying to “grow” my soil with what I have available. Enjoy your posts.
Catherine
I’m fascinated with the idea of reducing weeds by cutting around the base of the plant and carefully removing it. I’ve been draping my beds with newspaper under the compost…sorta works until my husband gets lively with the digging and pulling!
Count me in! What stops me from composting more often is the work involved in turning over the piles. It’s interesting that Lee Rheich makes his about 5′ high! I wonder how deep a pile with the ideal mixture of material must be in order for it to start cooking.
Best,
Peggy
I’ve been composting from about 1954 when I first helped my mother with the families compost pile. My mother learned from her grandfather who was composting from the 1880’s or so. Composting is not new.
I’ve the 3 bin system that was in the Victory Garden book many decades ago. I don’t turn it from bin to bin now tho. I just have each bin be in a different stage–the oldest one is just about finished, the next one is breaking down and the other one is for new additions from the kitchen and garden. Also have a big pile in the woods for nasty weeds and plants with seeds and two 5 foot circular wire bins we use for leaves. My compost only heats up in the fall when we add the mown grass/leaves combo. That’s why I don’t put everything in one bin.
There is NOTHING like using compost in my garden. Growing up my Dad would collect all the lawn clipping and leaves and move them over to the back part of our property where the land sloped. Year after year after year he did this. After he died I helped my mother with the yard work. One day as I was raking by the bottom of this enormous pile I found the “black gold”. I told my mother we needed to get this into all of the flower beds. Like magic the plantings took on a new life…doubling in size and looking so lush. It’s been 14 years that we have continued to “pile” up the lawn and garden debris. The problem I have is that I don’t think the “pile” gets to the proper temperature to kill the weed seeds. I need to learn from “The Master”. Please count me in!!!
I have “piles” of compost surrounded by makeshift “walls” on three sides and open on one for digging or adding compost to. I usually strip my vegetable garden beds and pile on a layer of compost each fall. I do not till but I do turn the soil by hand in the spring. I really admire how neat and pretty Lee’s vegetable beds are! And the edger tool he made to keep them so neat is awesome! Garden bed envy. I also plunk in a shovelful or two of compost wherever I dig up/divide a plant in my perennial beds to plug the hole. I would love to own any and all of Lee’s books!
I toss compostables into a large plastic bin and layer with torn newspapers and brown paper bags that I call fake leaves, along with a little soil here and there. It doesn’t seem to ever heat up, but over time it does turn into usable compost. Our real leaves get mulched back into the lawn by the mulching lawnmower so I make fake leaves for composting. Our local public library was happy to let me have old newspapers for a couple of months until I had all I could handle.
I’ve read at least one source that claims composting diseased material the cold way over a period of years creates compost that can actually help inoculate the plants against disease. It would be fascinating to try out this theory, although I’m not sure I’m brave enough to risk it with something like late blight.
As a first-time composter, I was amazed and gratified to see the ‘black gold’ produced. Composers are easy to build and easy to fill. I am transitioning from a flower and ornamentals gardener to a vegetable gardener so was thrilled to discover Lee Reich’s work. His books would be most welcome and will be well read.
I don’t use a compost container, nor do I ever turn the piles. But I do live in a temperate rain forest in the Appalachians, so I get plenty of rain. I have two piles: one that I use for spreading in the garden and one that I am adding new material to.
I just use my compost to top dress my veggie beds, or add to my pots of herbs. I NEVER have enough even though I have 5 large composters. In the fall, we rake our maple leaves and run over them with our lawn mower- makes them nice and fine, so they compost quickly. Added to this is all the grass cuttings, yard and kitchen waste. In the spring, I use all finished compost as top dressing. Anything only partially composted is used at the bottom of pots to grow veggies (usually tomatoes) The following year, I dump out the pots, mix up the contents, put more unfinished compost at the bottom and top with the new mixture.
ps.- Lee’s books look WONDERFUL!!!!!
This is a very timely podcast, as I am preparing a new bed for next year. I am excited to get this going!
Tip 1: Be sure to pick up any bags of leaves that neighbors leave on the curb. Mike McGrath of “You Bet your Garden” calls these, “SPB’s” (stupid people bags) because they are stupid not to use these in their gardens and landscapes.
Tip 2: Ask a local coffee shop to give you their spent grounds. This combined with leaves really cooks up fast!