Compost is a wonderful thing, it contains all the nutrients most of your garden plants need, and is made by the simple process of rotting down old vegetation and vegetable matter. Keen gardeners will know how expensive it can be to purchase pre-packaged compost from the garden centre. It is much more environmentally friendly to make your own. By making your own compost you should have a constant supply all year round to benefit your garden (with the added benefit of not having to travel to the garden centre every time you need to top up).

Step One

The first thing you will need is a compost bin. These come in a huge variety of forms, from moulded plastic ones that hold about 140 litres, to tiny ones that are designed for city gardens. You can purchase these from all good garden centres, and normally your local town council will have a list of good suppliers as well (often with good deals). If you can’t stretch to a pre-made compost bin, you can make your own. To make your own you can either make yourself a container out of some old wood, or just set aside a corner in your garden where you will be able to control your compost pile.

Step two

Collect compostable materials. Not everything can be composted, so make sure you separate what can and what can’t be composted before you put it in the compost bin. Things you can compost include:

Garden waste, such as weeds (make sure there are no seeds, as these will spread through your garden), grass clipping, leaves, but avoid too much wood.
Kitchen scraps such as vegetables peelings, eggs shells, tea bags, tea leaves and coffee grounds.
Other household items, such as dead flowers, used pet bedding (from rabbits, hamsters etc).

Make sure you have a good mix of these as too many of one type will not compost properly.

Don’t compost meat or bones, as this attracts rats and other vermin. Don’t compost any dog or cat waste, too much woody material (will take a very long time to compost), or anything that isn’t bio-degradable such as plastic.

Step three

Start filling up your compost bin. A handy way to do this is to keep a small container in your kitchen for scraps, and then you don’t have to walk to the end of your garden every 5 minutes when it’s raining, just empty the container when it’s full. Try to get an even spread of compostable materials, and turn the compost with a fork every six months or so. If you are having an extremely dry summer, empty a watering can full of water into the compost bin once a week, to keep everything damp, and to help it to degrade. If everything is a bit slow processing, you can buy a product called garrotter which will speed it up for you.

Step four

Wait. Making your own compost doesn’t happen over night. If you have a lot of dry materials it will take longer than if you have lots of damp materials. Some things may compost down in two or three months, where as others may take 12 months or longer.

Step five

You will be able to tell when your compost is ready by opening up the compartment in the bottom of the compost bin (or whatever the access point in your compost bin is), and doing a touch and smell test. The smell should be earthy, not smelling like rotten vegetables, and the compost should be soft and crumbly and not too damp. Your compost is now ready to be spread across your garden where your plants can take advantage of all the wonderful nutrients.

The initial step of getting started with composting takes the longest, but once you have started, you will be able to have a constant supply of compost as long as you keep putting your waste materials in to it.