Landscaping, Maintenance & Design Services

Essential Composting Tips

Anyone can make good compost, provided you have a good mixture of plant or animal origin materials in the heap and enough oxygen you can have good organic compost in no time.

Compost works by micro organisms act in converting the waste into compost. To do this, you need the correct ratio of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Simply explained you need high amounts of nitrogen e.g. lawn mower clippings, prunings, vegetable scraps and animal manures. Forms of Carbon: Paper, straw, saw dust, and thin wood products. Once you start collecting these materials you can start to build your compost heap.Adequate aeration is needed to provide the micro organisms in the compost heap with oxygen. There are many ways to add air to your heap.
* You can have an opened layered design with bricks at the bottom so as to provide air
* Tie stakes together or rolled up chicken wire and place these vertically in the heap
* Plastic piping with holes in it inserted vertically are very useful because the extra air speeds up the composting process

Turning over your heap is very important, every day if you can or at least once a week altough the more frequent you do it the quicker you can add your compost to the garden.

The way you add your materials to the heap is important. Materials with high moisture content, such as wet grass and fresh vegetables should be mixed in with other materials that can absorb that moisture like shredded paper, straw and saw dust etc.

There are many different types of compost bins you can have e.g.

* recycled plastic bins or old 200-litree drums

* rotating bins, wooden bins, kit bins.

* bins made from polycarbonate or long lasting plastic

If you have a number of bins you can make use of completed compost while other heaps are at different stages of decomposition.

Free Quote Free Quote

    Make an enquiry