How to compost

Follow these guidelines to compost:

Use a mixture of tough and sappy ingredients to ensure active composting
Add as much as possible to the heap at once as this will help to generate heat and so speed up the process.
Provide sufficient moisture but don't let the heap become waterlogged.
Fork the heap to build air into it
Cover the heap to keep rain out and prevent heat loss.
Never use pesticides on a compost heap.
Shredding or chopping larger items can speed up the process.
A composter needs to be placed on the grass or soil so that worms can enter.
Put a wire mesh under your composter to prevent animals getting in.
The composting process will slow down during the winter.
Add leaves to the mixture if it becomes wet and heavy.

You can compost:

Benefits of composting

The advantages of home composting for you and your garden are:

it saves money by avoiding having to buy peat based composts from garden centres
adding compost to clay soils makes the soil drain better
adding compost to sandy soils can help the soil retain more moisture
compost can help produce healthier plants which are more resistant to pests and diseases therefore reducing the need for chemical pesticides
most of the nutrients needed by garden plants can be provided by compost therefore reducing the need for chemical fertilisers

Home composting also has a number of environmental benefits including:

most commercially produced composts are peat based; using your own compost reduces the amount of peat extracted from peat bogs - many peat bogs contain rare and endangered species
extracting peat from these areas can lead to irreversible damage and loss of wildlife
less waste in the bins means fewer emissions from refuse collection vehicles
reduces the amount of organic waste that is deposited in landfill sites. In a landfill site, organic waste breaks down and forms a liquid (leachate) which can escape form a landfill site and pollute the environment

Quick Links