Using Compost to Start a Food Garden. Compost is an essential ingredient for making fertile soil. We've used it for 25 years at our Demonstration Garden.

Sharon begins the season reading the West Coast Seeds catalogue. She digs over-wintered leaf mulch and compost into the beds. She also fertilizes the garden beds with an organic fertilizer. Some plants she seeds directly into the beds... beans for example. Beans, beets, radishes, peas, and potatoes, are planted in this way. Here she seeds a salad mix named "Mesclun" (Stir Fry Blend). This "Mesclun" mix includes giant red mustard, shungiku, tah tsai and more. Sharon seeds some plants indoors in flats. First she adds sifted compost. She then adds a mix of vermiculite and potting soil. In flats, she plants cabbage, broccoli, early lettuce, chard, and leeks. When the seedings are large enough, Sharon transplants them to a garden bed. This "Shallot Cress" will grow to maturity in the garden. Sharon maintains a large food garden at our demonstration site using compost.