Kansas Compost & Vermiculture

02/26/2026

🌻 March is Calling, Kansas!
The ground is thawing and it’s finally time to wake up those garden beds. Whether you’re a backyard beginner or a seasoned pro, the secret to a prize-winning harvest is in the soil.

Give your plants the nutrients they crave with our premium Aged Compost.

Choose Your Size:

The Grab-and-Go: Easy-to-handle 40-45lb bags.

The Big Project: Bulk loads available for the serious gardener.

Pickup or Delivery?

We make it easy! You can swing by to pick up your supply, or save your back and let us handle the heavy lifting. We offer delivery for both bags and bulk piles!

Ready to grow?

Have questions about how much you need? Want to get on the delivery schedule before the spring rush?

📞 Call us today: 316-651-0876 (Option 3)

Our team is ready to help you get your garden started right. Let’s make this your best growing season yet! 👩‍🌾👨‍🌾

01/30/2026

This year, we will have a few tree stumps that are hollowed out for planters or large stumps for decoration. Give us a call and see if we have what you are looking for.

01/15/2026

What is Aged Compost?

Aged Compost

Maintaining a thriving garden during the summer months can be a challenging task. With the unpredictability of summer heat and rain, your garden’s health is subject to forces beyond your control. However, one powerful tool in your gardening arsenal is aged compost. This nutrient-rich material is essential for ensuring your plants can withstand the harsh elements of the season, helping them flourish and thrive.

What is Aged Compost and What are its Characteristics?
Aged compost is organic matter that has been broken down over time through a natural decomposition process. This decomposition allows the compost to mature, resulting in a material rich in nutrients and beneficial microorganisms. Unlike fresh compost, which may still be in the process of breaking down, aged compost has completed this cycle and is ready to provide immediate benefits to your garden.

This matured compost offers a balanced mix of nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as trace elements essential for plant health. Additionally, it contains beneficial microorganisms that help improve soil structure, enhance nutrient uptake, and promote healthy root development. These characteristics make aged compost an invaluable resource for any gardener looking to improve the health and vitality of their plants.

The Benefits of Using Aged Compost
When it comes to gardening, aged compost is often considered the gold standard for soil enhancement. Here’s why:

Nutrient-rich composition. Aged compost is packed with complex nutrients that your plants need to grow strong and healthy. These nutrients are more readily available to plants than those in fresh compost, ensuring that your garden gets the nourishment it requires.
Improved soil structure. Aged compost improves the texture and structure of your soil. It helps to create a looser, more friable soil, which promotes better root pe*******on and water retention. This means your plants can access water and nutrients more effectively, leading to healthier growth.
Enhanced water retention. In the hot summer months, maintaining adequate moisture levels in your soil can be a struggle. Aged compost helps to retain moisture in the soil, reducing the need for frequent watering and helping to protect your plants from drought stress.
Increased microbial activity. The microorganisms present in aged compost play a crucial role in breaking down organic matter and releasing nutrients into the soil. This microbial activity not only feeds your plants but also helps to suppress soil-borne diseases and pests, creating a healthier environment for your garden.
Sustainable gardening. Using aged compost is an environmentally friendly way to enrich your soil. It recycles organic waste and reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, which can be harmful to the environment. By incorporating aged compost into your gardening routine, you’re contributing to a more sustainable approach to plant care.
How to Use Aged Compost in Your Garden?
While aged compost is incredibly beneficial, it’s important to use it correctly to maximize its effectiveness.

Choosing the Right Soil Mix
Aged compost works best when mixed with other soil types. Depending on your garden’s specific needs, you may want to combine it with one of our specially formulated soil mixtures. For example, if you’re growing vegetables, a mix of aged compost and high-quality garden soil will provide the perfect balance of nutrients and structure.

Mixing Aged Compost with Soil
For optimal results, we recommend mixing aged compost with your soil at a 50/50 ratio. This ensures that your plants receive the full benefit of the compost’s nutrients while still maintaining good soil structure. Mix the compost thoroughly with the soil, making sure it is evenly distributed throughout your garden beds.

Applying Aged Compost to Your Garden
Once you’ve mixed the aged compost with your soil, apply the mixture to your garden beds. Spread it evenly across the surface and work it into the top few inches of soil. This will help to integrate the compost into the existing soil structure, ensuring that your plants can access the nutrients they need.

Monitoring and Maintenance
Throughout the gardening season, monitor the condition of your soil and plants. You’ll likely notice a significant improvement in plant health and growth as the compost works its magic. If necessary, you can add more aged compost as a top dressing later in the season to continue providing nutrients to your plants.

The Impact of Aged Compost on Your Garden’s Success
By knowing what aged compost is, you can utilize it to your garden’s advantage.

Vegetables
Aged compost acts as a superfood for vegetables. The rich nutrient content supports vigorous growth, resulting in larger, healthier plants and more bountiful harvests. If you’re aiming to grow robust tomatoes, leafy greens, or root vegetables, aged compost is your secret weapon.

Flowers and Ornamentals
For flowers and ornamental plants, aged compost enhances bloom quality and longevity. The improved soil structure allows for better root development, leading to more vibrant and resilient plants. Whether you’re growing roses, perennials, or annuals, aged compost will help your flowers reach their full potential.

Lawns
Even your lawn can benefit from aged compost. When applied as a top dressing, it improves soil health and promotes a thicker, greener turf. The compost’s ability to retain moisture also reduces the need for frequent watering, making your lawn more sustainable.

Herbs
Herbs thrive in nutrient-rich environments, and aged compost provides the ideal conditions for them to flourish. Whether you’re growing basil, rosemary, or thyme, aged compost will support healthy growth and enhance the flavor of your herbs.

Common Misconceptions About Aged Compost
Despite its many benefits, there are some misconceptions about aged compost that can lead to its improper use. Let’s address a few of these:

Aged compost is a fertilizer substitute. While aged compost is rich in nutrients, it’s not a direct substitute for fertilizers. Fertilizers provide specific nutrients in concentrated forms, while aged compost improves overall soil health and fertility. For best results, use aged compost in conjunction with organic fertilizers.
More is always better. It’s a common misconception that more compost means better results. However, using too much-aged compost can lead to nutrient imbalances and negatively affect plant health. Stick to the recommended 50/50 ratio for best results.
Aged compost is only for vegetable gardens. While aged compost is excellent for vegetable gardens, it’s beneficial for all types of plants, including flowers, shrubs, and trees. Any garden can benefit from the improved soil structure and nutrient content that aged compost provides.


Why Choose Our Aged Compost at Kansas Compost:
At Kansas Compost, Jim takes great pride in the quality of our compost soil mixtures. Our aged compost is meticulously crafted to ensure that it delivers the best possible results for your garden. Here’s what sets our aged compost apart:

Premium quality ingredients. We use only the highest quality organic materials in our compost, ensuring that it’s rich in nutrients and free from harmful chemicals. Our composting process is carefully monitored to ensure that the compost is fully aged and ready to use.
In addition to our standard aged compost, we offer arbor chips, aged wood chips with bacteria and moisture ready to go to work.

Don’t wait – start preparing your garden today with our premium aged compost and watch your plants flourish like never before. Call Jim at 316-570-3087, he will answer the question of what is aged compost is, as well as make an individual calculation of the cost of compost and take the order.

12/02/2025

We have firewood available for sale. Contact us for pricing!
Remember save your wood ash it has many uses.

09/02/2025

COMPOST IN THE FALL

PUT YOUR GARDEN BEDSTO BED

Did you know that Fall is the best time of the year to land-apply compost? For most hobby gardeners, it often feels more practical to apply compost when amending garden beds in the Spring. However, some of the leading experts in soil science tell us that the benefits of using compost are far greater if applied several months before the next growing season.

Using compost as a top dressing or mulch
Using compost in the Fall, especially as a top dressing or mulch layer, helps slow the leaching of nutrients during winter months. The more time that compost can mature or age, the better it will be! Applying compost in the Fall provides extra time for the compost to transition into more stable humus as soil microbes continue to work on the compost, which leads to better soil structure and higher nutrient levels come spring. As rain or snow falls onto the garden beds, nutrients from this new top layer will disperse and work their way down into the soil, to the plant root zone, ensuring that nutrients do not get washed away with all the heavy winter weather. Then, nutrients that leached deeper into the soil can be more readily accessible for the plants in the Spring. When compost is added in the fall months, it’s like fuel for the soil food web!

Since “April showers bring May flowers” garden soil tends to be muddy and dense, and can be overly saturated in the Spring, making it much harder to till and work if the soil is compacted. In the cooler climate of September and October, the soil texture and moisture levels are much more favorable for working and amending. Getting a head start in the Fall also makes the Spring planting process a little bit easier and more efficient! Putting compost on empty beds in the Fall will also keep w**ds from emerging!

How to: Remove any w**ds or grass that may grow through the compost mulch. Then, apply a course compost mulch (1-2”) over the garden bed to conserve moisture, for w**d suppression, and/or for aesthetic purposes. A rate of 1-2 tons compost per acre is common practice. For more focused application, place some compost around the base of each plant extending as far as its outermost leaves.

Green up your lawn with some compost!
There are many benefits to using compost to grow a more lush and vibrant lawn, and who doesn’t take pride in having a beautifully green front or back yard to enjoy? Compost can help improve turf grass quality over time by increasing the coverage and growth of grasses versus w**ds. Compost improves the physical structure of soil (reduces bulk density, increases aggregate stability, and increases water infiltration), which in turn, promotes better root development, even in various types of grasses. Stronger roots improve the turf’s resistance to stress which can reduce patchiness over time. And chemically, compost can bring the soil pH closer to neutral, allowing better availability of manganese (which aids in the suppression of leaf and root diseases) and iron (which plays a role in spring green-up) (Cornell Waste Management Institute).

How to: Compost should be uniformly dispersed over the entire area. An existing lawn top dressed with a 1/2″ layer every other year is a good maintenance practice on both cool and warm season lawns. Drag a rake across the soil surface to help thin out and evenly apply the compost. The soil surface should be free of any large clods, roots, stones, and other material that will interfere with the maintenance. A finely screened compost (1/4″ – 3/8″) works best.

Soil Science: compost can buffer soil pH
Compost has the unique ability to buffer soil pH in soils that are either acidic or alkaline. Soil pH can influence whether or not nutrients present in the soil can actually be taken up by plant roots. This process is called the soil’s cation exchange capacity (CEC) and compost boosts CEC! The pH of soil and compost naturally become more acidic over time, which is another great reason to amend the garden soil every few years, and especially in the Fall!

To understand how this works, it’s important to understand some basic chemistry and what pH actually is. pH stands for “potential hydrogen” and is a way of measuring the concentration of Hydrogen ions present in a substance. The pH scale runs from 1 (highly acidic) to 14 (highly alkaline). The pH of finished compost should be near neutral, though values between 6 and 8 are common (UMASS Extension). According to Oregon State University Extension Service, most plant-based composts are moderately acidic to moderately alkaline (pH 6.0-7.5) though many plants may prefer lower or higher pH.

A soil that is said to be acidic has an overabundance of positively-charged hydrogen ions. When compost is added, its negatively charged particles attract and hold, or bind, the free, positively-charged hydrogen ions. When enough hydrogen ions are bonded to these attachment sites and are taken out of solution, the pH level of the soil will rise, increasing towards a more neutral substance.

Adversely, in alkaline soil, compost’s complex, hydrogen-rich molecules provide a source for hydrogen ions to be released. Many get stripped away, leaving their electrons behind. When enough ions are released into the soil solution, the pH falls or becomes more acidic. The negatively charged sites on the compost particle (the sites that used to hold the hydrogen atoms) are now available to bind with positively charged ions, like soil nutrients. In this way, compost is like a magnet and can reserve nutrients for future use; compost is your garden’s nutrient insurance policy!

Please note: bagged compost is the same exact product that is sold in bulk.

03/16/2025

We are busy mixing and bagging compost. Give Jim a call before you come if you have an order of 10 or more. It's moving as fast as we can bag it! 316-570-3087. We want to fulfill everyone's orders. Bulk is also available by appointment.

New this summer are the smaller 20 # bags.

03/05/2025

🌱✨ BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! ✨🌱

We’re excited to share our brand-new Kansas Compost commercial with you! 🎥💚 Whether you’re growing fresh veggies, stunning flowers, or just want the healthiest soil possible, our aged equine compost is the secret to incredible plant growth! 🌿🌻🍅

💪 Bagged & Bulk Compost
🌳 Bagged & Bulk Arbor Chips
🚛 We Offer Delivery of both bags and bulk
📍 We're located in Derby, KS

Watch the commercial and see why Kansas Compost is the #1 local choice for gardeners and growers! 🌾

📞 Call us today at 316-651-0876 (Option 3) to place your order and start growing something amazing!

💻 Visit us online at kansas dash compost dot com



Commercial by Mark Love

02/15/2025

NATIONAL COMPOST DAY IS MAY 29TH🤩

02/13/2025

Compost – A Valentine to Your Garden

What do you give your garden for Valentine’s Day? A layer of compost would make a lovely gift that will help keep your garden green and growing all year.

What Is Compost?
As a noun, compost is defined as “decayed organic matter used as a fertilizer”. As a verb, compost is defined as “make into compost”. This hardly scratches the surface of the wonder that is compost. Think of compost as the rich humus on the floor of a forest that fertilizes and nurtures the plants by returning the nutrients from dead plants to the soil.

Benefits of Compost
Compost has many benefits for the soil and the plants growing in it. Here are the major things it does.

Improves Drainage
Compost clumps clay particles into larger groups so that water can flow between them. This helps the water drain instead of standing in one place and rotting your plant’s roots. For sandy soil, the small clumps of organic matter act as tiny sponges, storing the water and releasing it gradually instead of letting it all run through right after a rain. In either case, the compost helps the soil stay evenly moist instead of swinging from very dry to too wet.

Aerates Soil
Roots need air as well as water. Compost makes space for the air to occupy in the soil. In addition, the organic matter in compost attracts earthworms. Earthworms bring minerals and other nutrients from deep within the soil up to root level where the roots can use them. Earthworms also leave spaces for air and water to occupy near the roots.

Adds Fertility
Compost is considered a soil conditioner rather than a fertilizer. However, it has nutrients that your plants need in a handy slow-release formula. You are less likely to have spikes in foliage associated with excess nitrogen when using compost because the nutrients are available slowly. In addition, the minerals are not leached out of the soil by rain as can happen when too much fertilizer is applied.

Nurtures Soil Microbes
Soil microbes break down nutrients so that our plants can use them. However, the soil microbes will only stay around if there continues to be food for them. Compost contains beneficial soil microbes and also feeds the microbes already in the soil. These soil microbes will be there for the long haul whenever your plants need them.

Using Compost
Compost is used in two basic ways: when constructing a new garden bed and when used on existing vegetation.

Constructing A New Bed
When constructing a new landscape area, you should till the earth to a depth of six to twelve inches. Spread a 3 inch layer of compost over the tilled area. Mix the compost into the tilled soil so it is evenly distributed throughout the soil. Collect the soil mix and send a sample to the soil lab. Adjust the fertilizer by following the soil test recommendations. You are now ready to plant your new landscape area.

Topdressing
Every spring, spread compost on your lawns and around existing plants to give them a good start to the season. For lawns, spread ½-1 inch of compost over the grass. Use a leaf rake to rake the compost so it falls down between leaf blades and contacts the soil. For landscape beds, spread an inch of compost around your plants and work it into the top 2 to 3 inches of soil.

Obtaining Compost
You can either buy compost or make your own. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

01/23/2025