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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.

Items to be composted:

• Vegetable and fruit scraps
• Grass trimmings, leaves and weeds
• Straw, hay and sawdust, woodshavings
• Newspapers, cardboard, paper towels (all torn up)
• Stale bread
• Pasta
• Egg shells and egg cartons
• Livestock manure and vegetarian animal waste (rabbit/guinea pig)
• Coffee (ground/filter) and teabags

You can also find out about the benefits of home composting.