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Mistakes to avoid when it comes to composting
Sep 30, 2024
I got my first compost bin when I moved into my second house share in London. It was hidden under an overhanging bush and half full of sticks and chunks of concrete, but I cleaned it out and began adding our kitchen scraps and torn up egg boxes. The compost it went on to produce was never particularly good – it took a few years before I came close to perfecting the formula – but I remember being astonished that I had sent so much to landfill over the years when I could have been using it to benefit the garden.
What do I add?
I currently add all of the following to our compost bin:
All uncooked organic material left over from cooking (i.e. vegetable peels, egg shells, banana skins, mouldy fruit, veg that is past using, etc.)
Empty egg cartons and loo roll tubes – roughly torn up
Paper-stem cotton swabs
Used tea bags and coffee grounds
Weeds from the garden (nothing in seed or that might regrow from the root)
Hedge clippings (if there’s room)
Dead houseplants
This mixture is ok on its own, but I discovered last year that the real secret ingredient is shredded paper. Any non-glossy paper in our house goes through the shredder and out into the compost bin: junk mail, envelopes with the plastic windows removed, newspaper, paperwork – even the paper bag I buy my porridge in. I mix a shredder-full into the compost bin every couple of weeks, and the resulting mixture breaks down much more quickly and produces better quality compost as a result. Roughly speaking, adding slightly more shredded paper than everything else you put in each week seems to be a good ratio.
We have a little compost caddy in our kitchen that I empty roughly once a week into the larger outdoor bin. Every couple of weeks (or really just when I remember) I give the contents of this outdoor bin a good mix with a garden fork to make sure air gets into it. It’s amazing how much you can put into the compost bin for the creatures in there to break down. I only empty it once or twice a year to mulch the flowerbeds, and sometimes I take out a few handfuls from the bottom to plant something in a pot.
Mistakes to avoid
Don’t use ‘compostable bin liners’ to line your indoor compost caddy. In my experience they don’t break down in a home compost bin, and you end up having to pick out the tattered remains of the bags before you can use your compost.
Don’t use your homemade compost indoors for your houseplants. It’s great that it is full of beneficial creepy crawlies, but you don’t want them in the living room!
Don’t add too much ‘green’ and slimy waste (e.g. vegetable peels) or too little ‘brown’ and dry waste (e.g. cardboard, shredded paper, etc) as you’ll most likely end up with a smelly anaerobic mess. If you have a lawn, adding a load of grass clippings all at once has the same effect as it becomes one slimy mass.
Don’t add cooked foods and keep an eye out for evidence of rodents visiting your heap.
You’ll have gathered by now that I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to the compost bin, but I suppose if you’re this far through this article you must be too. I’ve read a fair bit about the subject, my favourite book so far has been ‘Teaming with Microbes‘ by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis. I’d highly recommend giving it a read if you are at all interested in what actually goes on out in your garden – and there’s a lot in there about making your own compost.
I find the whole composting process fascinating, and marvel at the number of worms and other creatures that are unearthed each week when I give it a mix. It’s seems odd to admit, but it gives me a lot of peace knowing that through this one process I am at least making our tiny patch of the world a better place for wildlife and the plants they depend on. There aren’t many things in life that are as easy, beneficial, and that feel as all round ‘right’ as recycling waste to make your garden healthier.
Mistakes to avoid when it comes to composting
Sep 30, 2024
I got my first compost bin when I moved into my second house share in London. It was hidden under an overhanging bush and half full of sticks and chunks of concrete, but I cleaned it out and began adding our kitchen scraps and torn up egg boxes. The compost it went on to produce was never particularly good – it took a few years before I came close to perfecting the formula – but I remember being astonished that I had sent so much to landfill over the years when I could have been using it to benefit the garden.
What do I add?
I currently add all of the following to our compost bin:
All uncooked organic material left over from cooking (i.e. vegetable peels, egg shells, banana skins, mouldy fruit, veg that is past using, etc.)
Empty egg cartons and loo roll tubes – roughly torn up
Paper-stem cotton swabs
Used tea bags and coffee grounds
Weeds from the garden (nothing in seed or that might regrow from the root)
Hedge clippings (if there’s room)
Dead houseplants
This mixture is ok on its own, but I discovered last year that the real secret ingredient is shredded paper. Any non-glossy paper in our house goes through the shredder and out into the compost bin: junk mail, envelopes with the plastic windows removed, newspaper, paperwork – even the paper bag I buy my porridge in. I mix a shredder-full into the compost bin every couple of weeks, and the resulting mixture breaks down much more quickly and produces better quality compost as a result. Roughly speaking, adding slightly more shredded paper than everything else you put in each week seems to be a good ratio.
We have a little compost caddy in our kitchen that I empty roughly once a week into the larger outdoor bin. Every couple of weeks (or really just when I remember) I give the contents of this outdoor bin a good mix with a garden fork to make sure air gets into it. It’s amazing how much you can put into the compost bin for the creatures in there to break down. I only empty it once or twice a year to mulch the flowerbeds, and sometimes I take out a few handfuls from the bottom to plant something in a pot.
Mistakes to avoid
Don’t use ‘compostable bin liners’ to line your indoor compost caddy. In my experience they don’t break down in a home compost bin, and you end up having to pick out the tattered remains of the bags before you can use your compost.
Don’t use your homemade compost indoors for your houseplants. It’s great that it is full of beneficial creepy crawlies, but you don’t want them in the living room!
Don’t add too much ‘green’ and slimy waste (e.g. vegetable peels) or too little ‘brown’ and dry waste (e.g. cardboard, shredded paper, etc) as you’ll most likely end up with a smelly anaerobic mess. If you have a lawn, adding a load of grass clippings all at once has the same effect as it becomes one slimy mass.
Don’t add cooked foods and keep an eye out for evidence of rodents visiting your heap.
You’ll have gathered by now that I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to the compost bin, but I suppose if you’re this far through this article you must be too. I’ve read a fair bit about the subject, my favourite book so far has been ‘Teaming with Microbes‘ by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis. I’d highly recommend giving it a read if you are at all interested in what actually goes on out in your garden – and there’s a lot in there about making your own compost.
I find the whole composting process fascinating, and marvel at the number of worms and other creatures that are unearthed each week when I give it a mix. It’s seems odd to admit, but it gives me a lot of peace knowing that through this one process I am at least making our tiny patch of the world a better place for wildlife and the plants they depend on. There aren’t many things in life that are as easy, beneficial, and that feel as all round ‘right’ as recycling waste to make your garden healthier.
Mistakes to avoid when it comes to composting
Sep 30, 2024
I got my first compost bin when I moved into my second house share in London. It was hidden under an overhanging bush and half full of sticks and chunks of concrete, but I cleaned it out and began adding our kitchen scraps and torn up egg boxes. The compost it went on to produce was never particularly good – it took a few years before I came close to perfecting the formula – but I remember being astonished that I had sent so much to landfill over the years when I could have been using it to benefit the garden.
What do I add?
I currently add all of the following to our compost bin:
All uncooked organic material left over from cooking (i.e. vegetable peels, egg shells, banana skins, mouldy fruit, veg that is past using, etc.)
Empty egg cartons and loo roll tubes – roughly torn up
Paper-stem cotton swabs
Used tea bags and coffee grounds
Weeds from the garden (nothing in seed or that might regrow from the root)
Hedge clippings (if there’s room)
Dead houseplants
This mixture is ok on its own, but I discovered last year that the real secret ingredient is shredded paper. Any non-glossy paper in our house goes through the shredder and out into the compost bin: junk mail, envelopes with the plastic windows removed, newspaper, paperwork – even the paper bag I buy my porridge in. I mix a shredder-full into the compost bin every couple of weeks, and the resulting mixture breaks down much more quickly and produces better quality compost as a result. Roughly speaking, adding slightly more shredded paper than everything else you put in each week seems to be a good ratio.
We have a little compost caddy in our kitchen that I empty roughly once a week into the larger outdoor bin. Every couple of weeks (or really just when I remember) I give the contents of this outdoor bin a good mix with a garden fork to make sure air gets into it. It’s amazing how much you can put into the compost bin for the creatures in there to break down. I only empty it once or twice a year to mulch the flowerbeds, and sometimes I take out a few handfuls from the bottom to plant something in a pot.
Mistakes to avoid
Don’t use ‘compostable bin liners’ to line your indoor compost caddy. In my experience they don’t break down in a home compost bin, and you end up having to pick out the tattered remains of the bags before you can use your compost.
Don’t use your homemade compost indoors for your houseplants. It’s great that it is full of beneficial creepy crawlies, but you don’t want them in the living room!
Don’t add too much ‘green’ and slimy waste (e.g. vegetable peels) or too little ‘brown’ and dry waste (e.g. cardboard, shredded paper, etc) as you’ll most likely end up with a smelly anaerobic mess. If you have a lawn, adding a load of grass clippings all at once has the same effect as it becomes one slimy mass.
Don’t add cooked foods and keep an eye out for evidence of rodents visiting your heap.
You’ll have gathered by now that I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to the compost bin, but I suppose if you’re this far through this article you must be too. I’ve read a fair bit about the subject, my favourite book so far has been ‘Teaming with Microbes‘ by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis. I’d highly recommend giving it a read if you are at all interested in what actually goes on out in your garden – and there’s a lot in there about making your own compost.
I find the whole composting process fascinating, and marvel at the number of worms and other creatures that are unearthed each week when I give it a mix. It’s seems odd to admit, but it gives me a lot of peace knowing that through this one process I am at least making our tiny patch of the world a better place for wildlife and the plants they depend on. There aren’t many things in life that are as easy, beneficial, and that feel as all round ‘right’ as recycling waste to make your garden healthier.
