Compost Making
| Published: 24th June 2007 18:03 |
How do we make compost and what is ‘compost'?
Put simply, compost is made up of anything organic which can rot. If it can rot, it will compost. To be honest, however, some items are best avoided for composting.
Some things, like grass mowings and ‘soft weeds' rot down more quickly. These work as ‘activators', starting the process of composting much more quickly. Left on their own, however, they are inclined to decay to a smelly mess.
Older and tougher material is slower to rot but gives ‘body' to the finished compost. Woody items decay very slowly and are best chopped or shredded first, where appropriate, in order to speed up the process.
For best results, use a mixture of types of ingredient when building compost. The right balance of mixture comes by experience.
Below are some examples of materials which may be composted.
Activators, quick to rot:
Comfrey leaves, grass cuttings, poultry manures, young weeds
Older, slower to rot:
Fruit and vegetable scraps, tea bags and coffee grounds, old straw and hay, vegetable plant remains, strawy manures, old flowers and bedding plants, young hedge clippings, soft prunings, perennial weeds, gerbil, hamster, rabbit and other vegetarian weed bedding
Very slow to rot:
Autumn leaves, especially types such as beech, tough hedge clippings, woody prunings, sawdust, wood shavings or coarse woodchip bark, compost making contd..
Other compostable materials:
Wood ash, cardboard, paper towels, bags and packaging, cardboard tubes, egg boxes
Best to avoid the following:
Meat and fish (attract vermin)
(Martin Horne)
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