A Compost Grow Pile in the Garden

You may have noticed that all but one of the compost bins have gone missing and instead there is a large pile in their place with a sign beside it.   This, is a Grow Pile.  It is an attempt to compost the large amount of material that we had stored in a short amount of time while still utilizing the space to grow veggies.  It was made by mixing the material that was collected in the bins with some grass clippings for added nitrogen and piling it up while adding water the whole way.  At about half way we laid down a large black tube that has holes along it.  This tube will facilitate better distribution when watering the pile in the coming months.  Just run the hose down the perforated tube for a while after watering the top.  We then covered the pile with mulch that was left over from last year and finally we added dirt marigolds and pumpkin plants to the top.  The whole pile was well watered the whole time that it was being built to make sure that everything got a good soak.

We will need help keeping the pile watered throughout the HOT summer months to ensure that the pumpkins grow well and that the pile composts down.  Please help out by making sure that the pile is well watered whenever you can!  Overwatering will not be an issue in a pile like this.  There was a lot of stalky material from the compost.

Hopefully, if all goes well, there will be garden ready compost available at the end of the season and we can proudly add a bit of our very first Common Ground Community Garden-made compost to our gardens!!

There still is one black compost bin beside the pile in case anyone needs a place to put compostable material before the new compost bin is built.  Also remember that weeds and garbage do NOT go into the compost bin, but into the green bin marked 'Weeds' beside the shade structure.
Please pass on this information about the Common Ground compost to other gardeners as well.

Happy gardening!