Make your own Compost heap

If your getting through some serious garden clearance during the summer, you may want to consider mulching or composting the remains, as this is a great way to make your own organic soil, which is of course FREE! Todays gardening tip comes at a time when we need to be thinking about sustainability in our gardening, and for a little extra effort we get some great soil too.

Making compost requires next to no skill, all you require is a free corner of your garden, some vegetation to compost and some elbow grease to get it started. If you have all of these three, making your own compost will be an easy job.

Making your own compost is a great way to improve the sustainability of your garden

First, try and identify an area of your garden that you can allot to your compost making, a 2m x 2m space would be adequate (obviously this can be increased / decreased according to your requirements). This area should ideally be level and have good drainage, as standing water can rot your compost and make it unusuable.

For your container, you can go with a fine mesh cloth, a plastic water barrel or simply pile the compost on bare earth, it is entirely up to you. Be sure to leave adequate drainage in the bottom of any water troughs, so you dont get a muddy swamp forming at the bottom.

For the actual compost, you will need a mix of brown and green plant material. This mix of nitrogen and carbon rich material will ensure a great decomposition. Green materials include grass clippings, weeds or kitchen waste. Brown materials include wood mulch, dired leaves or sawdust for example.

When making this compost mix, you would look to only include a small amount of green material as it is notoriously slow to decompose - a ratio of 1 to 20, green material to brown is about right. When you first compile your compost, be sure to give it a quick watering with a hose pipe, this wil help create a great environment for bacteria and creepy crawlies to start decomposing your plant material. Every few weeks, give the material a turn with a garden fork and you are ready to go when your material has broken down into a fine compost.

NB: You can even try introducing some worms to the soil to increase the decomposition rate - good luck and enjoy the great compost!