Easy Steps to Composting
It is becoming
more and more obvious these days that we need to recycle as much as we
can, and anyone with a garden has a head start and can make a great
contribution. To many novice gardeners, including myself, this subject
can be somewhat difficult to grasp; but in fact it is really
straightforward – there are just a few very simple rules:
You need a compost
bin, and the type you decide on rather depends on the size of your
garden, but there are a couple of options:
A purpose built
plastic bin purchased from a garden centre, not too expensive; and you
just fill up from the top and a few months later, you can take compost
from a small hatch at the base.
Alternatively, if
you can wield a saw and some nails, you can make a wooden slatted
enclosure, one metre square – or you can buy them ready made – and
cover it with a piece of old carpet to keep the worst of the weather
off.
What
you can compost:
- all
uncooked vegetable and fruit peelings
- teabags,
tea leaves and coffee grounds
- egg
shells
- dead
flowers from the house
- and
from the garden, soft prunings, spent bedding plants, dead leaves, lawn
mowings
- spent
compost from hanging baskets or containers
- some
dryer materials such as shredded paper, rabbit and guinea pig bedding.
The only thing you
have to be careful about is to mix different types of material; if you
have too many grass clippings in a big mass, they will turn soggy and
slimy, or if there is too much paper and prunings, it will be too dry.
So keep an eye on it, especially if you are using the wooden enclosure,
and mix it with a fork occasionally.
What
NOT to
compost:
- all
meat products and bones; bread, cooked food – these will attract vermin
- dog or
cat waste
- woody
material – which takes too long to compost
- weeds –
these can ‘infect’ your compost with their seeds
- anything
that is non-biodegradable.
And because you
won’t always feel like taking a trip to the compost heap when it’s wet
or cold or every time you peel vegetables why not keep a lidded
container by the back door which you can fill up and then make the trip
to the compost bin every one or two days?
Over a period of
time – 3 months to 1 year, depending on conditions – all this matter
will have broken down into lovely dark brown crumbly compost, which you
can fork into your beds and borders. It makes an excellent soil
conditioner and can be used as surface mulch, helping conserve moisture
and discourage weeds.
You can also
convert fallen leaves into wonderful compost. Rake up any leaves from
your lawn – you may have to do this several times over the autumn – and
collect them from the borders. Put them all into a black waste sack,
sprinkle with water, put a few holes around the sack with a fork, tie
the top, and leave it in a corner for about a year. What you end up
with is known as leaf-mould.
Fran Barnwell
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Linda
Frances Barnwell
Rowan House, Lower Dimson
Gunnislake, Cornwall, PL18 9NT
fran@newtogardening.com
© Linda Frances Barnwell
All Rights Reserved
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