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The Pit Controversy Hello my wonderful gardening chums, it's Beatrix Potts your, "Organic Gardening Maven."  First a word or two about our title. When you are given inaccurate and even false information about organic gardening fertilizer your organic vegetable garden may be in terrible danger. Bad information is just as dangerous as cutworms. We are here to set the record straight and give you the most reliable information available.

So, on with the show. Beatrix is here to tell you that organic fertilizer, a.k.a. organic gardening compost is the life's blood of your organic vegetable garden. Organic gardening is incomplete without organic gardening compost.  This is not just an essential element of organic vegetable gardening it is probably the singular most important element. And it is the element that you can produce and control.

Understanding organic garden fertilizer will allow you to understand how important the plant's life is and it will help the soil, insects, and everything that our wonderful vegetables need to grow and thrive. Many of my gardening aficionados have written to me and asked, "Beatrix, what can I put into my compost?" My dear, the answer is quite simple, twigs, leaves, eggshells, formerly fresh fruit, teabags, and you always want a good mix of "Greens and Browns." Mr. Melvin Potts, our wonderful spouse and "Mr. Organic Gardening Compost Man," has reminded yours truly to give a plug for the often neglected "Browns." They are defined as plant matter that was formerly green and has dried and become desiccated and is now as its name implies, Brown. Dried leaves, plants, and dried grass clippings are excellent sources of brown material for your organic vegetable garden.

Please remember our 1st Rule, anything that comes out of the ground can go back into your compost and eventually back into the ground. And you know of course to never add meat, bones or items with oils, and never ever do we include dog or cat feces.

All of these things will be consumed by microorganisms, insects, nematodes and what Beatrix likes to refer to as the 'most uncommon earthworm.' These are the beasties that inhabit your organic compost and they will voraciously consume the vegetable matter and turn it into the nutrients that our plants need to grow. We always refer to the worms in our garden as, 'most uncommon.' You see my dears the earthworms in our garden are the epitome, the most wonderful of organic gardening compost machines, and for that reason we refer to them as being 'most uncommon.'

Some would have you believe that compost requires a pit. Beatrix is here to tell you that a "pit" is not entirely necessary. All you need is a flat space of ground where you can put all of your compost materials, this space needs to be where you can provide water, turn the compost and provide a most essential ingredient, air.  You will then eventually put your compost through a screen to get rid of any sticks or extraneous matter.

It is an absolute fallacy that you need to dig a deep hole for your organic compost. You don't need some kind of a "pit" to begin the exciting adventure that is making organic gardening compost. What you need is simply a small flat piece of ground to put your compost material on top of.  This is probably the singular and most efficient way to begin making organic garden fertilizer, the organic compost that is going to make your vegetable garden thrive and be absolutely wonderful.

Well, your faithful servant and gardening buddy, Beatrix Potter the "Organic Gardening Maven" has, unfortunately run out of space, much to your chagrin. In the next volume of, "Danger in the Vegetable Garden" we will be taking a look at, "Garden Tools-Dangerous Instruments that Maim or a Gardener's Best Friend?"