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Composting

Getting Started!

First you need to get the right mix of materials in roughly the right proportions.


50% Green -soft, fresh materials such as raw fruit & vegetables, grass, weeds, fresh plants.

50% Brown -dry & hard materials such as dead leaves, wood chippings, twigs, scrunched up paper, egg boxes, hay, dusty contents from your Hoover bag.

Water -you will need to add water approximately once a week to moisten it enough without getting it so wet it stagnates and goes smelly.

Air -you also need to ensure that there are air spaces within the material. Turn the material every week to allow air to circulate.

The secret of compost making is to set up the ideal environment for the bacteria that allow for the decomposition process. Finally, make sure your composter is in a sunny location in your garden and on top of soil to allow the worms to work their magic!

What not to put in your composter

Food waste needs to be composted carefully. Cooked food, dairy produce, bread, raw meat, potato peelings, and whole fruits are food to a variety of creatures you don't want.

You can however add raw vegetable peelings, fruit peels, dead flowers, tea bags, coffee grounds and onion skins.

It is best to keep meat or fish out of your composter and dispose of in your normal household bin. Other risk materials that cannot be composted include dog and cat faeces, nappies, coal ash and diseased plants.

Should I use an activator?

If you make your compost correctly, mixing the materials in the right proportions, you should not need to use an activator. Activators available from shops are generally either chemical nitrogen or a bacterial culture, neither of which is really ideal.

If you want to introduce more bacteria, the easiest way is to always inoculate each heap with a proportion of the previous heap. Also a light sprinkling of soil will introduce millions of bacteria.

Natural activators include: urine, seaweed and nettles!