Fall cleanup can leave gardeners staring at piles of leaves, spent vegetable plants, and other organic material that looks like waste but could actually become next year’s soil amendment. Instead of bagging everything for disposal and buying bags of compost in spring, you can put much of that material to work now.
Fall composting takes advantage of the sudden abundance of carbon-rich leaves while giving microorganisms months to begin breaking down garden and kitchen waste. The process may slow considerably when temperatures drop, but the pile doesn’t become useless simply because winter arrives. Start now, and you may head into planting season with compost already developing instead of starting from scratch when you’re ready to plant.
