There’s a lot of twaddle written about making compost.

Because of this, young gardeners today tend to see it as a mysterious and onerous process,  practised only by their grandparents, or organic gardeners.

In fact it’s one of the easiest things to do, if you take all the mystification out of it and follow the  Five Step GardenEzi process

The benefits of making your own compost are:

·         It recycles kitchen waste
·         It is absolutely the best way of improving your soil
·         It puts lots of valuable nutrients into your garden
·         It saves a lot of money on artificial fertilizers and soil conditioners
·         It is the most natural way of maintaining a healthy garden

What type of container?

I use a very simple two-bin system

Each bin is about 3 ft (90cm) x 3 ft (90cm) and 3ft (90cm) deep.  This doesn’t have to be exact to the last half inch or centimetre but should conform roughly to these proportions.

In my case the structure is of chicken wire supported by six star pickets.  This is actually one long bin (6 ft/180cm) divided in the middle to make two, and with a gate at each end made simply from chicken wire attached to a timber frame.  The timber is recycled and the gates are simply fastened by string (wire ties or octopus straps would do just as well).  It’s rough ‘n ready, but it works!

I use chicken wire because it’s cheap and allows air to circulate freely, preventing my compost from getting sloppy.  But any sort of material will do to make a compost enclosure – 2 x 4 planks, recycled lumber, corrugated iron – anything that will hold composting vegetation and give you two adjacent bins of sufficient length, width and height, with a gate at each end.

Once the structure is in place (mine took about two hours to make, mainly because the gates are a bit fiddly), you’re ready to start making compost.

Step One

Make your bins, as above, with the material of your choice.

Step Two (you can get this step going while you’re making your bins, or even before!)

Start saving your kitchen waste.  Almost everything edible can be composted though as a general rule it’s best NOT to use left-over cooked food, meat, fish or animal bones in your compost heap – too mucky and smelly!  Have a special container (I use a large bucket with lid) for compost waste in your kitchen and when it gets nearly full empty it into one of the two compost bins (I do this about twice a week).  If time permits, chop up large objects like cabbage stalks before putting in the bin. Cover the waste lightly with torn up newspaper or some kind of organic mulch (I keep a bale of straw handy for this purpose).  This is not essential – but it helps stop flies and looks less unsightly.  Add lawn clippings and soft tree or shrub clippings (no hard stalks) to the heap if and when available.  Try to keep out large, woody material as this will inhibit composting efficacy.

Step Three

When you’ve accumulated enough material, it’s time to start turning all this kitchen and garden waste into actual compost.  I do this twice a year here in the sub-tropics; in early spring and late summer.  The timing is really up to you and depends on your climate type – obviously you won’t be doing it in autumn and winter in cold climates.*  If you make a lot of kitchen waste,  or need more compost, you can do it more often provided the weather is  reasonably warm.

Rake all the material out of the bin and remove/chop up any really lumpy things.  It will already be party decayed and composted.  Put a layer of leaves or soft mulch on the bottom of the bin, then add a layer of vegetable waste, sprinkle it with blood and bone, then a layer of organic mulch such as straw, then a sprinkling of animal manure. Then repeat the four layers until you’ve filled the bin to three feet (90 cm)*.  You can modify this a bit – for example using a product that combines animal manure with blood and bone (in which case you’d only need to make three layers, not four) or adding other components such as urea, potash (perhaps in the form of ashes) or dolomite.  The important thing is to seal off the top with a layer of the organic mulch (or newspaper), which will protect the compost, help it to heat up sufficiently, and still allow rain to penetrate.

Once you’ve made your heap, give it a good sprinkling of water.  In dry weather, sprinkle lightly a couple of times a week, making sure the water can permeate down into the mix.  A dry heap won’t heat up sufficiently to create good compost.  Nor will a heap that’s too wet. 

Step Four

Now just leave it for six weeks and don’t add any more material.  The warmer the weather, the less time you need.  And vice versa. Generally speaking, where and when the daily temperature averages around 25 ° C (or 75°F), six weeks is enough. It’s hard to be exact about this because much depends on variables such as whether your bins are in sun or shade, in a sheltered or exposed spot, the different types and proportions of material used, excessive rain, no rain at all, unseasonal drops or rises in temperature.  No matter – provided you’ve followed the ground rules, sooner or later you’ll have a binful of lovely compost!

The important thing is to test your heap after a month,  to see whether composting is taking place – just open it up a bit with a big fork to test whether it’s nice and warm in the middle and all the material is turning a nice dark blackish-brown.  Or take a spadeful from the middle of the heap, being sure to seal it over again. If the compost is too sloppy, open up the top layer a bit to let it dry out (sealing it up again with a layer of organic mulch or newspaper).  If it’s too dry, give it a good soaking and continue to make sure it gets a sprinkling of water every few days.

IN THE MEANTIME, once you have sealed off the first bin, start putting your kitchen and garden waste into the second bin.  The idea is that while one bin is composting, the other is filling.  Thus by the time one lot of compost is ready to use, the other is gathering material, ready for the whole process to begin again.  By alternating the two bins, you’ll always have enough compost for your needs during the main growing season.

Step Five

After six weeks, fork it all out again, turn it over and put it back.  No layers this time but give it a good sprinkling of water and cover the top again. Leave another couple of weeks, by which time your compost should be a nice, dark, crumbly mix – ready to be used in the garden.

Compost tea

A side benefit of compost is the so-called “compost tea”.  This is made by mixing one part fresh compost to three parts water.  Leave to stand for 24 hours,  strain, throw the solid material back in the compost heap and use the “compost tea” as a liquid fertilizer for young plants, pot plants and seedlings. This is a good old-fashioned way of doing things and it’s a lot cheaper and better for plants than a synthetic plant food.

*Take a tip!

·         Lawn clippings generate a lot of heat so plenty of these in your heap will speed up the composting process and help keep it all nice and hot in the middle
·         Best materials for sealing the top of the heap are straw, dried leaves or torn-up newspaper strips (or any shredded paper)
·         I DO sometimes put smellier items such as prawn shells into my compost heap but only if there is a small amount.  I bury this type of material deep within the heap.
·         If you live in a climate with long, cold winters and lots of snow you can still recycle vegetable waste.  Use a well-sealed bin, either one you make yourself, or one manufactured especially for composting, or just one or more large trash bins.  Just keep on filling with kitchen waste (raw stuff only).  It will break down very slowly in the bin and once spring comes can be put into your compost bins, ready for you to turn it into useful garden compost.
·         Commercially-produced composting bins are available from garden centres and other gardening retail outlets.  Some of these make better compost than others – look for models that are well aerated because breaking-down vegetation in a poorly aerated bin can easily turn into a stinking, waterlogged mush!  On the plus side, as sealed units, they do avoid any problem with flies or other critters and are particularly useful in small gardens because they look so neat and tidy. However, they are expensive compared to simple home-made bins and the sizes on offer allow only the making of very small amounts of compost at one time.  It’s important to follow the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter and to monitor the quality of the compost regularly.  Note too that the large types on frames that allow turning can become too heavy to handle – more about this on my Blog at www.gardenezi.com/blog. And llook for more good gardening information at www.gardenezi.com