Step 4: Boost Compost + Accelerate Chop-and-Drop Breakdown

As summer crops finish up, your garden beds are full of spent plants, trimmings, and clippings. Instead of hauling it all away, you can turn this organic matter into next season’s soil fuel — with the right care.

Fall is the perfect time to supercharge your compost pile and help your chop-and-drop debris break down faster. By giving microbes what they need now, you’ll have rich, living soil ready to use by spring.

Here’s how to make the most of your garden leftovers.

1. Chop-and-Drop the Right Way

Leaving plant matter directly on your beds is one of the easiest ways to return nutrients to the soil.
Chop stems, leaves, and trimmings into small pieces — the smaller, the faster they’ll decompose.
Spread evenly across the bed and lightly cover with mulch to speed breakdown.

2. Balance Your Compost Pile

A healthy compost pile needs a balance of:

  • Greens (nitrogen-rich) — fresh clippings, garden scraps, coffee grounds

  • Browns (carbon-rich) — dried leaves, straw, shredded paper

Aim for a 2:1 ratio of browns to greens. Turn your pile weekly to aerate and keep moisture
at “wrung-out sponge” consistency.

3. Supercharge with KozGro GardenGro

While organic matter will eventually break down on its own, you can accelerate the process and
improve the quality of your finished compost with a regenerative boost.

GardenGro adds humic acid, kelp, alfalfa, and essential oils that:

  • Jumpstart microbial activity

  • Break down tough plant material faster

  • Enhance nutrient cycling in compost and soil

  • Reduce unpleasant odors

💧 How to Apply: Mix 1–2 oz per gallon of water and spray evenly over compost piles or chop-and-drop layers.
Repeat every 2–3 weeks until the material is well on its way to becoming rich humus.

4. The Payoff: Living Soil for Spring

By giving your compost and chop-and-drop a regenerative boost now, you’ll create dark, crumbly,
microbe-rich organic matter that’s ready to feed your soil next season — no synthetic fertilizers required.

🍂 This is Step 4 of the KozGro Fall Prep Series
Next up: Prepare Your Houseplants for Life Indoors.
Follow along here and on Facebook & Instagram to keep your whole plant world thriving.