Many people have compost piles, and if you are like me, you don’t manage them very efficiently. Since I am not a fan of managing my pile to break everything down quickly, I tend to have non-composted material in my compost pile this time of year. You can either not add this material to the garden yet or you can till it in at least 4 weeks before you plant. I do the latter.

As soon as I can work the soil without jambing up the tiller or making a muddy mess, I perform this operation. It is critical to do as early as you can so that there is sufficient time for the composting to occur before you plant. Give yourself at least a month.

Here is how I do it. First, I spread out all of the compost pile in the garden whether it is finished composting or not. I then spread nitrogen over top the places I added the compost. Just sprinkle it around like you are salting a steak. You will need this nitrogen since a lot will be used during the composting process and you don’t want to “drain” of soil of the critical nutrient. At this point you may also add other amendments to your soil such as leaves or peat moss. Finally, just till it all in or turn the soil over with a shovel if you don’t have a tiller.

This process of adding amendments to your soil is so helpful and it makes your soil much much better every year. Not only does it make it more loamy and easier to work, but it lowers the pH and it adds a lot of critical nutrients to your soil. If you don’t need to lower your pH in your area like I do in mine, then consider adding lime to your soil during this process.

Here is what my soil looks like after I just did this to my garden. In about a month most all of the amendments will be composted.

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