Compost is decomposed organic matter—food scraps, dried leaves, grass clippings, spent stems and leaves, pine needles and other garden material. It’s filled with microorganisms and fungi, and gardeners consider it “black gold.” You may buy it at a host of garden centers, but making your own can be a fun and rewarding experience. What is…

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to build a compost pile from the archives of Northern Gardener magazine.

If you want a productive home garden, add nourishing compost, preferably homegrown. Judith Anthony, whose unusual raspberry trellising system is profiled in the Spring 2024 issue of Northern Gardener, is a Hennepin County master gardener who raises chickens and grows much of her own food on a small one-quarter acre lot in Crystal,Minn. She shared…