How To Make Compost

Let us face it we can buy bags of compost from any garden centre but they are not cheap to say the least, particularly now that peat compost has in effect been outlawed (In the UK you can only get peat compost if you have the rights under your land to do so).

So why not make your own compost?

Making compost is really easy, and indeed if you use vegetables or salad in your cooking then you have everything to hand to make great compost. All you need to start making compost is a compost bin to put your waste vegetables and salad into.

You can buy all sorts of compost bins from basic ones made out of wood, to fancy plastic compost bins that you can rotate to mix the compost up.

If you buy one, then note that they are not cheap, varying in price from £50 to £300. However you can make your own with a lot of simple plans being freely available on the Internet to download. A compost bin will do best when in a position of full sun as this means that the heat from the sun will cause the contents to rot far faster than if your bin is in a shaded corner.

When it comes to starting a compost bin be aware that they work best with a mixture of both brown and green waste. Brown waste is hay, straw, torn up paper or cardboard, dry woody stems and dry leaves. Where as green waste is left over salad and vegetables, potato and vegetable peelings, as well as old teabags, and wet grass cuttings. Mixed together these form the ideal basis for compost.

Personally I never throw any vegetable peelings or left over salad or vegetables into the bin, I put every single bit of waste vegetables into my compost bin. Now for good compost you need to mix it and aerate it in order for everything to rot and breakdown into good compost. This can be done with a fork however you can do it far better by having a round compost bin and rotating it weekly. Or you can buy a compost aerator, which looks a bit like a giant corkscrew that can be used to reach the very bottom of your compost bin.

You can tell when your compost is ready to use when it is nice and crumbly like soil in texture.

By Richard Allen -

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