Compost – Buy it. Try it. My, it works!



This is what compost should look like!

It's International Compost Awareness Week - the one week we celebrate all things "Compost" – and the reasons compost is the natural choice for responsible soil care. Much of the public has a concept of compost; the heap of food scraps and yard waste DIY-ers keep out back, tending month after month, hoping for one wheelbarrow of prized “black gold” to distribute over an entire yard.

But if you don’t have a year to devote to a compost pile and you’d like to get started on amending soil for your spring & summer gardens. You can buy compost now. That’s right! “Compost” isn’t only a verb; it’s a ready-made product that may be purchased locally. The hard part is in knowing what to look for? How can you tell high quality, nutrient rich compost from the “other" stuff?

The difference between good and not-so-good compost is similar to choosing fresh produce over fast food. Your first stop might be one of the large home improvement centers, where you’ll find bagged products with hard to decipher labels, touting a product that’s sort-of-like-compost. The cheap, too-wet/too-dry, heavy, generic stuff without a lot of info on the label, baking in the sun at a big box store isn’t our first choice (or second, or third, or…) It shouldn’t be anyone’s choice, really. The labels and names on cheap bags of “Maybe Compost” are generally somewhere between non-existent, confusing and extremely misleading (just like the materials inside the bag). Worst of all, this low-rent spread has probably been anaerobic inside that bag for a long time (no air means no live microbes to improve the soil).

Small, local nurseries may carry high end, expensive bagged products and possibly some bulk amendments. Sure, you’ll be able to buy products that say they will improve your landscape, but will they be a quick fix or the long term solution your soil is in need of. A key factor is in knowing where your compost originated. Is there a compost facility nearby? If so, you know for certain they are kept to the highest standards of production; destroying harmful weed seeds and pathogens in order to gain the Seal of Testing Assurance label -always look for compost that is STA Certified.

An ideal product for all your landscaping needs is Harvest Blend Compost, produced on the Central Coast by Engel & Gray Regional Compost Facility. As consumers, one of the most powerful things we can do is to purchase products made locally from recycled materials. Our compost is made from locally collected/recycled organic materials, much of it diverted from our landfill. The composting process occurs when micro-organisms break down organic material (leaves, twigs, biosolids & manures) into a dark crumbly soil amendment.   The end product of this recycling process is Harvest Blend Compost; a stable humus product that is rich in nutrients and micro-organisms.  

Compost has many uses; as a soil amendment compost adds structure and vital nutrients young plants need to grow; as top dressing, compost opens compacted soil, increasing oxygen and soils’ water holding capacity; use in gardens before planting for vibrant flower beds and healthy vegetables. Stop by one of our dealers for free application sheets to help you do the job right.

All natural STA Certified Harvest Blend Compost is available at authorized dealers near you, from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara. For a dealer near you Click and enter your Zip in our dealer search box

Final note: Composting is a complex process by which raw ingredients are transformed by living organisms and processes. Drying is not the same—not even close. Dried something-or-other can’t do all the wonderful things that living compost does. Naturally!

Celebrate International Compost Awareness Week! Buy Compost