It’s beginning to look a lot like spring in Chile – the trees are budding, flowers are popping up and the soils are draining themselves after a wet winter. Almost half of the 25 fruit and nut trees that we planted last summer in our food forest are budding and quite a few are covered in flowers. It’s rewarding to see them come back to life after their leafless bought with the frosts and heavy rains.

It stays pretty green around here all year, and well into the winter most of the food forest was taken over by various native plants (weeds?), a couple of which were becoming potentially problematic. We decided to plow them up and plant a white clover cover crop that has worked out great. Not only has the thick clover prevented the problem plants from returning (thus far), but it is fixing nitrogen and providing a comfortable surface to walk around on and enjoy the space.

Last summer we experimented with a pit compost on one corner. I didn’t have any experience with this method so I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. First I dug a pit about 12 ft long x 3 ft wide x 3 ft deep and made a thin bottom layer (3 inches or so) with some leaves, small sticks and a little horse manure. We filled it with the fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen and the gardens over the course of the winter. I would periodically add some weeds or other plants, leaves, branches, and once in a while a bit of manure.

There were points where I was afraid the experiment had failed – when it rained the pit became swampy and smelled a bit (I would not recommend putting it too close to the house). At the end of autumn it was left alone and largely forgotten over the winter.

Yesterday I finally went over there with a shovel to check it out. That big heap of soupy rotten fruits and veggies had transformed into some of the richest soil I’ve seen in my life, dark, clumpy and full of organic matter. I didn’t get shovelful without at least one worm in it.

So I pulled back the mulch around each tree and bush (mostly straw and leaves), put down a little compost to kickstart the spring regrowth and covered it again.

Pit composting takes more time than a more aerobic, above-ground bin that you can easily turn (I didn’t turn this at all though I suppose you could). If you have the patience to wait until the following season, its a great option. Probably best for bigger properties where you can put it out of the way a bit as it does get a bit nasty and attracts some flies.

The advantages are that it’s very low-maintenance, cheap and easy to make. And the product, at least in this case, was quite impressive. I’m not sure how it would work out in colder climates where the ground remains frozen for the winter.

We’ll be starting another one here to fill up over the summer and fall for next spring. If anyone has experience with this type of thing please share!

TVP