What you want to know is how much organic matter is in your soil and a good target is 6 to 8 percent. Compost is part of that organic matter as would tree leaves and any other vegetative waste you put in.

So, how much compost is needed? That depends on how much organic matter is in the soil and how much you need to add. In the sand I garden in here I did initially add a good inch of compost, because the compost has a large and active Soil Food Web and the soil, that sand, had no measurable organic matter initially. Once the level of soil organic matter was up to where I wanted it then I only needed to add small amounts of compost each year along with lots of other types of organic matter.

Initially, getting compost, and other forms of organic matter, into soil may require tilling, but once that has been done tilling may no longer be needed provided the level of OM is maintained and soil compaction is not an issue. Add organic matter to the soil when you have it. If none was added last fall this spring is a good time, but organic matter can be added to the garden anytime it is available, usually as mulch.

Leaves are organic matter just as compost is. All vegetative waste is organic matter just as compost is. The Soil Food Web needs organic matter to live on and converts that into nutrients plants can use.

kimmq is kimmsr

Can we ever make enough compost? I sure can't! You might consider planting a cover crop in the late summer. Something that winter kills would be easiest to manage like buckwheat or oats. But there are many to chose from . It will add organic matter to the soil and help prevent erosion.

how much compost do I need for 6 beds?

Usually way more than you have. Don't buy it, just keep making it and spreading it.

It's an ongoing process, not a 1-time thing.

"I read, add 1" and work it
into the soil."

Depending on the soil, but 3-4 inches is better. If you don't have much, do one bed thoroughly and do the others when you have more compost. If you have cleaned out a row of something, you can add compost to that area before you plant something else.

" Should I work it into the first few inches of soil? In spring?"

Yup. Or just spread a layer of it and let the worms and birds do it. Digging through it to set out seedlings, weeding and other activities mix it up fairly well.

If I work finely chopped leaves into the top few inches of soil in fall, does that take the place of compost?

It's good, but those leaves are probably better used as layers to hold kitchen scraps apart in your bin.

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My neighbor used to do "trench composting" - she buried kitchen scraps (no meat, just veggies) and weeds in a shallow trench between the rows of veggies. It's fast and easy, just spread a layer and cover it with dirt.

Her trenches were just a troweled or hoed trench, nothing deep, with a couple inches of scraps dumped and covered every day.

"Can we ever make enough compost?" This is the question that haunts us, drives us, the motivation behind taking home others' banana peels and apple cores from the office, along with the coffee grounds. It keeps us awake at night, plotting leaf-bag snatching runs. A metaphysical question that slowly, inexorably, takes over the life of a compostiér; a seeking of that nirvana where you can look around and say: "Hallelujah!!! I made enough compost!!. , Kind of like saying" Whoa, Dude, here I am, my arm around Saint Pete, standing on the inside looking out of the Pearly Gates of Heaven. Hallelujah!!"

Hope this helps.

I gave up on making ENOUGH compost years ago. Leaves are scarce here and one way I try to get around the lack of material is to get a (free) full pickup truck of horse manure every year, sometimes over 2 yards of it, and put it into a static bin until winter or whenever there's no more growing to do that year. it works well; no smell.

given that the answer to 3 is yes, you do not have to worry much about 1 and 2. it is best to do it in fall, when your neighbors put out those leaf bags. I take about 40, and in beds where I will plant seedlings, I just place them on top. In beds that need direct seeding, it is best to till them in. You can till them anytime, but for just mulching it is best done in fall.

If all you have is a 3X3X4 bin, and you are seeking to fill it just once in the course of a year, then what are you doing with even your kitchen scraps most of the year. I collect hundreds of bags of leaves from my neighborhood in late fall and winter, but even if I considered only compostable kitchen waste and the reasonable layers of ground leaves that I apply after each dump of kitchen waste on my piles, I'd have a bin that size full in a month or two.