How to make compost for your garden in 2022

Ideally, the pile should come into contact with the soil to allow bacteria to get to the compost – but if that’s not possible, add a shovel of old compost or garden soil to the pile once a month to enter these communities.

Aim for a bin or pile about one cubic meter in size that is large enough to generate the heat needed to break down waste. You can make your own basket with pallets or mesh or buy a plastic compost bin online.

Regardless, make sure the pile is covered with a piece of old carpet, cover, or a piece of tarp to trap heat inside and prevent rain from saturating the compost.

Troubleshooting

Wet and smelly compost: You probably overdo it with too much mowed lawns without balancing the fibrous material. Load shredded paper or cardboard more often.

Citrus peels that will not rot: your main problem is probably a lack of moisture. Add a watering can once a week.

Rodent activity: Avoid cooked food and put it in a metal compost bin with a mesh bottom to prevent it from getting into the pile.

Slow decomposition: Mowed grass is applied a little and often adds nitrogen and heat, which moves things.

In addition, try adding a layer of manure every now and then, which also provides bacteria and heat. Cut all twigs and hard leaves to unify the rot process throughout the pile. Finally turn the material, if possible, to aerate and revitalize biological processes.

What to put on the compost pile

Balance is the key to good compost. You need to target a mixture of 50/50 soft green waste and fibrous brown material. When we look at our wheelbarrows, they are very rarely evenly divided into such perfectly proportioned quantities, but fear not – as long as your pile balances over time and prevents one type of material from becoming too dominant, you’ll be fine.

• Green / soft nitrogen addition material
• Vegetable peels
• Mowed grass
• Spent cut flowers or dead heads
• Annual weeds
• Fiber and wood (carbon-rich material)
• Herbaceous stems
• Spent litter plants
• Woody trimmings – cut into small pieces or chop to speed up decomposition
• Dropped leaves
• Eggshells
• Broken paper
• Cardboard
• Soft hedge trimmings

What you should not dispose of in a compost heap

• Cooked waste food
• Meat and bones
• Perennial weeds such as dandelion, twig, elderberry and bunch
• Sick plant material such as tomatoes affected by burns
• Dog and cat waste
• Weed seed heads

Tom Brown is a principal gardener at West Dean Gardens, West Sussex. Follow him on Twitter @HeadGardenerTom; and on Instagram @tombrowngardener

This article is updated with the latest tips.