Heaps of Praise for Compost!
I notice in the latest Organiclinker poll that “lack of space” seems to be a significant factor for the non composting contributors. Here are a few ideas to help you overcome that obstacle and make you feel you can do something, (unless what you really have is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the compost bin detracting from your dahlias!)
Next time you cut the grass, use the mowings to mulch under shrubs, trees, climbing beans and fruit trees. It will keep in moisture, gradually rot down and add nitrogen to your soil. Far better than those sacks of glutinous waste waiting for the next trip to the municipal tip.
Everything organic decomposes eventually, so when autumn leaves descend on your garden don’t get into a ferment of leaf sweeping and burning or filling those plastic sacks, just sweep them into a pile in a suitable corner and leave for a year to rot down into leaf mould. Alternatively, if you can overcome that tidying urge, leave them on the lawn for the grateful worms to take down into the soil.
A purpose built or purchased wormery is a neat way of disposing of vegetable and fruit peelings - worms will eat their own weight of waste every day and provide a compost that is incredibly rich in soil nutrients which can be used as a top dressing for your garden or pot plants- no digging required! You can buy them from a number of sources including www.OrganicCatalogue.com or make your own. Put the kids in charge if you’re squeamish about wriggly things, it’s a great way for them to appreciate the cycles of nature.
Finally, another method I’ve used successfully is trenching. If you think you might have a shot at growing runner beans next year, or any of the legumes, and can spare an area in your garden about 6 feet long x 1 foot wide x 9 inches deep you can use this method. Dig your trench of 6 feet or more and over the winter months gradually fill it with fruit and vegetable waste - never with meat or fish! It will slowly start to decompose and in the spring you can top the trench up with about 4″-6″ of garden soil before planting your beans. The bean family actually add nitrogen to the soil via their roots, which compensates for the nitrogen used up by the decaying waste, and in return the beans benefit from a humus rich, moisture retentive site.
It has to be said that composting in any form is probably not for lovers of “manicured” gardens. I don’t garden, I try and cooperate with nature, so there’s always a slightly unkempt look to my domain. Seed heads are left for birds to feed on during the winter, piles of wood and prunings shelter insects, toads, and a hedgehog or two and the ivy is left cascading down stone walls behind which butterflies, bees and all manner of creepy crawlies shelter during the frosty months. Come the spring the birds take over the ivy thicket and we have colonies of sparrows, robins, wrens, warblers and blackbirds nesting along the tops of the walls, providing us with a constant source of pleasure and amusement.
Organic gardening / composting is not an exact science - that’s part of the fun, the trial and error. It’s more like the Olympics - it’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking part!
