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The Sweet Smell of….
If I told you that one of the highlights of my tenure thus far on this planet was my first sniff of worm poo you would probably assume that I am a somewhat sad individual… and you may be right.
But it smelt beautiful, like a cross between mushrooms and oranges, a sweet perfume like smell, and I had made it… well the worms had. I’m talking compost here, sweet suburban compost.
I used to think that people who composted were just old home brewers who had sobered up and were trying to pass the time. Then a neighbour of mine expressed her utter surprise that I wasn’t composting.
Did she mean that she was surprised that my body wasn’t rotting and decomposing from the years of abuse I had given it? Or was she surprised that I hadn’t taken to recycling my household and garden waste?
I surmised that her surprise related to the later.
“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature." (Zeno)
Get The Mix Right
Aerobic Composting is the use of air and heat to make organic matter decay. Once the matter has decayed and if the mixture is roughly right earthworms come up into your barrel and eat the decayed matter turning it into compost.
So what can go in? Good compost comes from a mixture of what are called ‘Greens and ‘Browns’. The ‘Greens’ are high in moisture and rich in nitrogen. They are your grass, fruit and vegetable waste, tea and coffee leftovers and cut flowers. You should aim for about 60 % of these nitrogen rich elements or ‘Greens’ in your mix.
The ‘Browns’ are the things that grow above the ground and have a woody element, such as hedge clippings (no conifers, laurels or pines, they take forever), twigs, shrubs, leaves, anything you can trace back to wood and also a lot of things that have come from wood such as newspaper (scrunched up) light cardboard, the insides of loo rolls and cardboard egg cartons. These carbon rich or ‘Brown’ elements should make up 40% of the mix. These also help aerate the pile by giving it some structure, and air is vital to the pile.
A simple way to get your mix of carbons and nitrogen while aerating the lot is to wrap your fruit and veg waste in newspaper before you throw it in.
A word of warning in relation to grass. It is a good ingredient; it is rich in nitrogen and a natural accelerator. But too much grass at any one time clogs the pile. Never put in more than about a half a black bag at any one go and always aerate it well by mixing in some egg cartons or the insides of loo rolls or scrunched up newspaper.
Your bin should be able to hold at least 300 litres to be effective. If it has no bottom the first thing you should throw in is some twigs or hedge clippings these will help aeration and drainage from the start.
Place the bin on soil or grass where it is easy for people to access even in winter months. Position it so as it will get the most sun possible. Throw in your waste keeping that 60 % ‘Green’ to 40% ‘Brown’ ratio.
Keep the pile moist, if you thinks it’s too dry water it, too wet add some ‘Brown’ elements. It can be a good idea to leave the lid open during summer months.
Once you aerate well as you go along you shouldn’t need to turn or stir the pile.
Have patience your first batch of compost may take up to 12 months to get ready.
When it’s ready it will be a black brown moist crumbly soil texture. If you recognise anything in it just throw it back in the top. And when you hold it up to your nose and smell it…ah yes, worm pooh.
'The soil must be man's most treasured possession: so he who tends the soil wisely and with care is assuredly the foremost among men'
(Sir George Stapleton)
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DO COMPOST
Manures and bedding materials
Grass mowings
Leaves
Sawdust
Straw and hay
Fruit and Vegetable scraps
Hedge clippings
Wood ash
Scrunched paper and card
Coffee granules and tea leaves/bags
Weeds and dead flowers
100% cotton or wool articles
Nail clippings and hair
Egg shells
Seaweed
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Three Golden Rules
1 – Absolutely no meat fish or dairy – they cause smells and attract vermin.
2- Aerate, aerate, aerate. Mix in the loo rolls and the egg cartons and the scrunched up newspaper, and the twigs, hedge clippings etc.
3 – Never put too much of any one thing in at any one time – especially grass or leaves.
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DON’T COMPOST
Dog and cat faeces
Treated wood products
Do not shred green laurel leaves
Coal ash
Glossy magazines
Persistent and pernicious weeds
Some diseased plants
Cooked foods
Man made fibres
Glass
Sand
Metal
Plastic
Meat and fish products
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