Is compost making worth the effort?

They say seeing is believing and this photo showing the results from top dressing with compost of two hollows on a local football pitch should convince almost anyone. The areas that have been top-dressed are very much greener than the surrounding grass. Try it on your lawn.

Look at any good gardening book and you will find the advice for almost any vegetable is to dig in as much humus or manure in the autumn as possible. Our heavy clay will take all the compost you can make.

There is not enough space in a newsletter for an article on compost making. However, Gardening Which in April 2007 had a very good four page article on the subject and it is still available in the Huntingdon library. The article explains how regular turning over of the material in a compost bin will accelerate the process. It is a bit of a chore but well worth the effort.

An alternative source of information can be found on the Henry Doubleday Research Association website. They have a two part video guide to compost making so you will need a computer with speakers attached.

Cut grass from the lawn can be a problem because there is often too much. I have found that mixing in each lawn mower box full with the existing material as I mow will avoid the problem of soggy grass that is not breaking down. Another local allotment holder with a lot of grass mixes his with shredded paper. The grass quickly dries out and shrinks so that the result can then be added to the compost bin. Obviously anyone with a huge lawn probably also needs to use his or her green bin as well. If you can get hold of bedding from Guinea Pigs do so. The high urine content in the bedding will raise the temperature of your compost significantly and speed up the breaking down process. Rabbit or chicken litter is equally as good.

Pernicious weeds such as bindweed and couch grass must be avoided at all costs.

It is important to remember that garden compost is very rich and should not be used neat for seeds or seedlings. I have had good results using a 50% mix of homemade compost and soil or any of the commercial composts.