It’s Compost Awareness Week. But what is compost and why is everyone chatting about it? Essentially compost is decomposed organic matter such as fruit and veg scraps from your kitchen or leaves and grass from your garden. These materials decompose and become a nutrient rich substance that helps plants grow healthily.
Why should you compost? Suffolk Recycling says:
- Compost improves the health of your soil, which is great for your plants!
- It’s free and easy to make from garden and kitchen waste.
- It is an excellent multi-purpose mulch.
- Unlike bought compost, it has no packaging or ‘fuel miles’ and is peat-free.
- Compost heaps and bins improve the bio-diversity of your garden.
- Making it keeps you fit and gets you out in the fresh air!
Sounds good? Here’s how you can compost too:
- Get or make a composting bin for your garden, alternatively you can have a compost pile. If you don’t have room outside you can still compost indoors.
- If you’re composting outside stand your bin directly on the soil to allow micro-organisms access so they can speed up the composting process.
- Start adding your materials, aim for a good mix of garden waste and scraps from your kitchen. You can also add any compostable packaging you receive. Go to Gardener’s World to read about what you should and shouldn’t put in your compost.
- If you’re able to turn or mix your compost occasionally this helps the process.
- Depending on how the compost is kept it will usually take about 6 months for the waste to become useable. When the mixture is a rich brown, crumbly and slightly sweet smelling then you have your very own “black gold”! (That’s compost to you and me).
For more info about composting go to Suffolk Recycling.