Making compost

We use all our garden and kitchen waste to make compost. Now that we have the smallholding, we need all the compost and manure we can get. In the current pandemic lockdown, many councils have suspended collection of garden waste so I have set myself the task of encouraging people to use a compost bin or heap instead. Hence this video I filmed last month. We use commercially produced compost bins and ones we have made ourselves from old pallets. Avoid putting food waste into compost bins - food should never be wasted. Leftovers are for eating, not for throwing out. Kitchen waste such as the inedible parts of fruit and veg can go into a compost bin but leave bones out. Dry them out in the over to the point they are brittle, and then smash them up to make bonemeal which can then be used as a slow-release fertiliser.

We also avoid putting animal waste into the same bins as garden and kitchen waste. Manure should not be put into beds which are used to grow vegetables that are eaten raw. Put it on your potatoes and rhubarb instead.