New MC Sam Clarke sharing composting tips at the recent Seven Roads Open Gardens in Oxford
David Garrett at Garden Organic recently asked us to submit our top composting tips for publication in an upcoming Grow Your Own magazine.
Oxfordshire Master Composters came up with an impressive response.
There was just too much to print, but here is an edited selection of some very good top tips:
- Security - add your shredded personal documents to the bin as ‘brown’ to balance the ‘green’.
- For quicker-made compost, place bin in a sunny place, chop up garden waste and mix, adding straw if you don’t have enough browns to stop the compost turning wet.
- Did you know you can site your compost bin on slabs? The friendly bugs will still find their way there.
- Keep your paper shreddings by the compost heap so when the grass gets cut you have something to mix it with.
- Top of my list would be using the Bokashi system or a wormery to process kitchen waste.
- If you chop everything up small, it will make turning easier and decomposition quicker.
- If you are using a plastic compost bin, don't let it get too dry. Either leave the top off when you know it is due to rain or just add a little water.
- Be wary of composting anything spiky - the prickles seem to take a lot longer to rot down than anything else!
- Roll your own – a lidded water butt is a cheap alternative to a tumbler if you have space to roll it on the ground. Mine is full of grass cuttings and a little sawdust.
- Once you've gone to all that trouble to make it, don't forget to use it.
- Ask your local cafe or restaurant whether they have used coffee grounds going spare - they're great for the heap!
- Definitely talk loudly about compost making at a party - you'll be surprised how excited people get about it!
- If it stinks, don't despair. Turn it over and give it some air (that one rhymes).
- My kitchen caddy is next to the kettle, so I can tip spent coffee grounds and tea bags straight in.
What's your top composting tip?
