John Marchese at his compost piles. He gets spent coffee and tea from a Nestlé plant in Freehold, and hardwood chips from a local tree service. The latter "have to be composted for 30 months to make what I call black gold," says John.

John likes to lay down 20 inches of compost in the plant-row trenches. This helps create a pH of 4.8 or 4.9 and organic matter content of 30-35% in the plants' primary root zone.