How to make and maintain a compost heap
A lack of landfill space is reaching a crisis situation. By composting our own garden and kitchen waste we are each able to do our bit towards reducing the amount of landfill space needed for refuse.
We’ve never had a garden as big as the one we now have. When we lived in London we had a pretty but mini little garden and we gave all our food and garden waste to the council via one of their little kitchen waste boxes and a big brown bin.
Since downshifting and moving to the countryside we nowhave a home made compost pile (made from some old wooden pallets as walls and a couple of sections of fencing). The heap is getting nice and big but does have a lot of fruit flies bredding on it. We have a fair few grass clippings and because we are eating so much more fruit and vegetables than we did in our previous life I have investigated how to get the most from the heap as I vaguely remembered that grass clippings were not good for compost heaps and suspected I was perhaps about to end up with a huge heap of stinky slime instead of rich dark crumbly earthy goodness for the garden next year. I had already figured that worms and a bit of soil were probably useful additions but had not actually looked into what I should do make and maintain a really good compost heap in order to get great compost for the plants I’m planning to plant next year.
It turns out that chucking bits and bobs onto a pile including masses of grass clippings will eventually rot down into soil as it is the planet’s way of keeping everything as tidy as can be BUT the more effort you put in to making sure your compost heap has the right ingredients and conditions the better compost you will get out of the heap (and it will be quicker too).
The following list from www.gardenorganic.org.uk gives an idea of what can go onto the compost heap and what kind of ‘rotters’ they are:
Hotter rotters (activators)
- Comfrey leaves
- Young weeds
- Grass cuttings
- Chicken manure
- Pigeon manure
Other compostable items
- Wood ash
- Cardboard
- Paper towels & bags
- Cardboard tubes
- Egg boxes
A balanced diet
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Tea bags
- Coffee grounds
- Old flowers
- Bedding plants
- Old straw & hay
- Vegetable plant remains
- Strawy manures
- Young hedge clippings
- Soft prunings
- Perennial weeds
- Gerbil, hamster & rabbit bedding
Slow cookers - very slow to rot
- Autumn leaves
- Tough hedge clippings
- Woody prunings
- Sawdust
- Wood shavings
Best avoided
- Meat
- Fish
- Newspaper
- Cooked food
Do NOT compost
- Coal & coke ash
- Cat litter
- Dog faeces
- Disposable nappies
- Glossy magazines
Apparently if most of what you compost is kitchen waste and you are adding it in small batches like I do it is better to augment it with lots of bits of cardboard such as toilet roll middles and used kitchen paper towels. It is better altogether to add a full layer to the heap each time as this means it will heat up properly with the increased microbial action.
If you have a great pile of material (as I now do having been chucking it all in a random heap for the last 12 weeks since we moved here). It is better to give it all an almighty mix up, leave it for a few weeks and mix again after it has heated up and beginning to cool down. More moisture needs to be added if too dry during this mix up session or more dry material such as straw, shredded autumn leaves, cardboard if it is too soggy.
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