Rhubarb is uncurling in the garden beds of Guelph this week and as it shows its leaves to the sun gardeners are preparing for the season ahead.
As they water their seedlings and plant out the seeds of hardy plants and flowers gardeners are also thinking about their soil. Compost is a wonderful addition to the soil. Made from decomposing plant and food waste it is great way to recycle organic materials to make our soil even better.
Compost has the power to improve the quality of your soil. With better quality soil you can have more success in your garden. And with food prices ever on the increase many people are planning to increase their gardens. As this growing season begins, consider how you can improve your soil with compost.
It makes sense that compost improves the quality of the soil but did you know that it also improves the nutrition in your garden produce? The Compost Council of Canada quotes a study from 2021 that says, “the addition of compost to food-growing soils produced higher yields with better nutritional values." To go further the study demonstrated that gardens that had added compost “markedly increased total amino acids content” in foods such as lettuce, beets, carrots and green beans.
Imagine if everyone’s home-grown produce had increased nutrition in the form of the building blocks of protein. Compost in soil can increase how much you are able to grow but it can also increase the nutrient density of what you grow!
Composting is built into our lives in Guelph. Our municipal waste system collects 10,000 tonnes of organic waste annually from our green bins in Guelph. Using our green bins keeps organic waste out of the landfill. Since Guelph started its compost program many municipalities have also added composting to their municipal waste programs.
In addition to our municipal program, many Guelphites compost at home or at their community garden plots. For instance, Harcourt United Church has its own compost system that was recently improved to be even more effective and can work to produce compost for its community garden.
If you’re eager to start digging compost into your garden this spring it is widely available. You can find compost in garden centres, through
community-based fundraisers and from local farms. For instance, Ignatius Farm sells certified organic compost for its community gardens.
Ready to start your own home composting system? Guelph has a wonderful resource to help you begin making your own compost. The Art of Soil Collective is Karen Houle’s website that includes great content about composting from her Compostists Manifesto right on down to the designs and tools to make your own composter. Karen and her team, The Compost Queens of the Royal City, have made several compost systems including a large and effective one for the Huron Street Community Garden.
The website offers the open source design for making this remarkable compost system. Karen generously shares her vision of making great compost to increase food security in Guelph at local food security tables like The Food System Resiliency Table.
More compost leads to more food and more nutrient-dense food. With our community’s gardeners and farmers growing and sharing their produce we all have the chance to eat more nutritious foods!
