Top Dressing With House-Made Compost (Black Gold) - Late August 2026

To be a compost gardener, you have to do multiple things.  Not all at the same time.  But, over time. 

Those include:  

• Adding material.  Carbons and Nitrogens.
• Blending the material in the right (or close to the right) ratios.
• Turning the material.  So it 'cooks' and actually turns into, well...compost.
• And....Using the material (a.k.a "Black Gold").  Spreading it back into the garden

I'm quite good at the first item:  adding material to the pile.  We're pretty good about collecting and hauling out our kitchen compost material throughout the year.  That also includes Nat's coffee grounds.  I also collect and store a full bin-full of fall leaf material.  And, Spring clean-up material.  And, other, various garden debris that I collect/pull-out/yank/cut-down/remove from the various beds and trees over the growing season.  

I've written about our compost setup over the years:  We have a three bin system + a tumbler for finishing.  The three bins are:  a storage/holding bin.  A mixed bin.  A decomposition bin.  And, the tumbler is for the final step.  

Like most years, I include a compost item on my annual to-do list.  Here it is for 2026:

14. Be an active Compost Gardener. That means…not just adding material to the bins. But, manage them. Have a plan for moisture/water. Upgrade the bins with planks. And…turn all of them over at least once this season.

I specifically called myself out there, didn't I?  The "not just adding material".  Lol.  See above.  

Well....we're staring down September and that means time is running short.  Gotta get busy if I want to check this item off my list, right?  

Back in June, I did a check-in on the tumbler and found a full container of "light and fluffy" compost.  Black Gold.  

With all that talk about the soil quality of the beds yesterday, I figured it was time to use up this compost and make room to begin the full three-bin turn. 

Here are some photos below of the process.  Opening up the tumbler and we get to see what all the work (and time!  and heat!  and patience!) produces:  Black Gold.  

Black Gold.  Home-made Compost after going through three bins and a tumbler for 4 seasons.

This is four-year-old compost.  Based on doing a full turnover of the three bins once per year, here's how the material moves through the system:

Fall to Summer:  Season 1.  Holding Bin.

Fall to Summer:  Season 2.  Mixing Bin.

Fall to Summer:  Season 3:  Decomposition Bin.  

Fall to Summer:  Season 4:  Tumbler.  

Four years is a long time.  But, it is mostly passive time.  With a big burst of activity to turn things over once per year.

I took my spade and began to empty the tumbler.  There is a surprising amount of compost in the tumbler.  I filled up my wheeled cart two times.  Here's one of the loads:

Down near the bottom of the tumbler.  After working to empty it:

I targeted two primary areas and did some spot application for spreading the compost:  Pizza oven beds.  And IB2DWs bed.  Along with top-dressing every dahlia plant in the garden.  

Here's a look at some of the compost being applied.  Pizza Oven West.  Full of Dahlias.  But, underneath that wood mulch is clay.  A LOT of clay.  Hoping this will begin to work its way down to improve the soil over time. 

Each dahlia received a mound of compost right around the main stem:

I hit the dahlias and the spaces in between.  I also applied the compost around the 'hard to grow' area down IB2DWs.

Here, below, is the Pizza Oven east bed.  Same thing:  lots of clay.  Now, some compost.  I also had a big pile of wood chips/debris that I had been pulling from for the pizza oven that arrived as part of my firewood order in 2025.  I spread that ON TOP of the compost, because I walk in this section and didn't want to get everything muddy.  

The impact will (hopefully) be long term:  improved soil quality.  But, it also is showing up immediately:  When I water the dahlias, I was getting a bunch of water run-off.  Now with the compost mounded around the crowns?  Water is getting absorbed (by the compost) and staying in place.  Seems like a positive sign/improvement that is hitting immediately.  

This Fall, I should probably think about doing even more soil amendments in the pizza oven and IB2DWs beds.  Municipal biosolids and composted manure.  

But, before I do that/think about that...I have to do more compost work.  The hardest part:  turning the bins.