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Compost
WHY COMPOST?
Making compost is a very simple process. If you throw the stuff in the dustbin it will be wasted and end up in an expensive and undesirable landfill site, where it will do no good at all. The result of composting is a free supply of the best possible soil improvement material for your garden and an alternative to all the expensive artificial fertilisers and peat.
BUT, ISN'T IT COMPLICATED?
Nah, not really. It's all based on natural processes that ensure most living things that die rot away (or decompose). The world is full of organisms that feed on dead material, breaking it down to products at the foot of the food-chain - they are Nature's Recyclers. Wherever you find dead things you'll find a concentration of them doing their job. In composting we simply utilise their natural abilities to turn waste vegetable matter into a nutrient rich humus which you can add to your garden soil to boost it's growing power, improve it's structure and moisture content.
You don't need any fancy equipment to begin a compost heap. Start in an out-of the-way spot in your garden on bare soil, not on paving or concrete, and simply start to build a heap from all of your waste vegetable material. It's best to start off with a course layer of prunings, bark and twigs to allow air to enter the heap more easily (more of that later). You can knock together a rudimentary three-sided frame out of old pallet wood to hold the heap in place and help it's efficiency (Click here for instructions); or you can make your heap in an old plastic dustbin with the bottom cut off.
Once the heap has reached a reasonable size, those tiny organisms will really get to work. In fact they work so hard that the temperature in the middle of your heap can reach 70ēC within two or three weeks (although it is more usual to find temperatures of around 50ēC). It will take four to eighteen months (depending on conditions) before your heap is ready to add to your garden soil. You'll know when it's ready when it's dark in colour and has a sweet earthy smell. Of course, the recently added material at the top of the heap won't be ready yet, so simply use the stuff from the bottom of the heap and put the rest back to continue.
WHAT CAN I COMPOST?
Fruit and vegetable peelings
prunings and broken-up twigs
Grass cuttings*
Cut flowers
Autumnal leaf falls
Horse, rabbit, pigeons & chicken manures
Straw
Feathers, hair and fur
Tea leaves/bags and coffee grounds
Shredded wood/branches
Crushed egg shells
Shredded newspaper
WHAT SHOULDN'T I COMPOST?
Meat, meat products, fish or cheese
Cooked scraps or scrapings
Persistent weeds** or weeds in seed
Diseased plants
Soot or coal ash
Human faeces or used nappies
Pet litter or pet waste
Metal, glass, plastic, artificial textiles
* In layers not exceeding 10 cm.
© 2007 Green Home, Inc.
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