By Laurie Cochran
Fall is an excellent time to start a compost pile in a corner of your yard, and it’s a lot easier than you think. Designate an area with room for about two piles of debris. This may be bordered with fencing of some kind, or it can be open-sided. One pile will be the spot where you dump all of your leaves, grass clippings and organic kitchen scraps (no meat, bones or fat). Do not put weeds on your pile. Mix the pile occasionally with a pitchfork. Rain and sun are good for it.
In late spring, start a new pile next to the first one and designate that as the one for fresh materials. The first pile will soon be decomposed enough to start using it as top-dressing on planting beds, to enrich soil when planting, or as mulch around new plants. Each year, you will have one pile for dumping and one pile for using, alternating their designations with the spring/fall seasons. An added benefit to composting is that it can reduce the amount of leaves piled up on the road in the neighborhood (Editor’s note: Last fall there was talk that the City was considering eliminating the leaf pick up program due to ongoing mechanical issues with the leaf collection equipment. This may be a good year to try out composting!)