Composting special

Compost is king

To grow great vegetables you need to grow great soil. The secret to great soil is compost. Many people are put off trying to start a compost as the science behind it makes them feel as if they are in school trying to understand the periodic table in a chemistry class! You can get very technical but as with most things my mantra is ’keep it simple stupid!’ Before you reach for the phone and order one of those expensive garden refuse rubbish bins, have a go at making the thing yourself – it can be fun!

The following techniques are different ways to create compost. You may find only one is suited to your situation or may use them all during different times of the year. None require expensive bins or additives, just lots of organic matter.

1. Crater composting

This method is great if you intend to plant trees in the near future. The downside is it requires some digging – no problem if you enjoy a bit of spade work or are lucky enough to have someone burly in the household!

Dig a hole in the ground about one metre square. I make mine slightly smaller as I’m always afraid of losing a small child! Drive a thick stake or length of downpipe into the base of the crater. Place branches or thick plant stalks at the base and then start layering compost materials about a hand-width thick. Alternate green (nitrogen-rich) materials such as lawn clippings, hedge trimmings or weeds with brown (carbon-rich) materials such as straw, leaves, pine needles or sawdust. Sprinkle water on each layer. Sprinkle some manure, blood and bone or wilted comfrey leaves as you build up the layers to activate the compost. Cover with topsoil. After two weeks remove the stake or pipe to aid ventilation.

After four weeks the pile will have subsided so add some more topsoil or plant your tree or shrub.

2. Classic composting

(And no, you don’t need to buy a compost bin for this!)

Drive several stakes, bunches of bamboo or dried corn stalks or downpipes into soil and lightly fork over existing soil to help existing micro-organisms activate the compost. Aim to make the compost at least one metre square. Place course twigs or branches as a base and them start layering hand-width layers of green (nitrogen-rich) matter. Alternate with brown (carbon-rich) matter. Sprinkle with water with each new layer and add animal manure, blood and bone or wilted comfrey leaves.

Try to build the pile with straight sides, at least one metre high. I use real estate signs or wooden pallets as the sides. You want to make the pile all in one go, so start collecting the materials before you are ready to start. Next, remove the stakes or pipes and cover with a tarpaulin or some soil. Check in two weeks. If it is dry, sprinkle more water through it. Reach into the middle of pile, it should be very hot. If it is not, remix ingredients with a pitch fork adding more manure or grass clippings. If you require compost fast, turn the heap every week. If you are lazy, like me, let nature take its course and leave compost for three to five months. By then you should have produced lovely rich, dark compost for your garden.

A good trick is to make your compost pile right next to, or actually in, your vegetable garden. When the compost has matured you only need to push it over and you have an instant garden – no wheel-barrowing necessary.

3. Deep litter compost using chickens

If you keep chickens this is an easy way to make compost. Throw all your weeds, leaves, kitchen scraps, sawdust, coffee grounds, straw and prunings into the chicken run or mobile run. The chickens will scratch through it, eating what they want, pooping in it and constantly turning it over. Each year you can barrow out loads of nitrogen-rich compost and then start the process again.

4. Compost in a bag

Even if you live in an apartment there is now no excuse for not composting using this simple method. It means you can recycle some of your kitchen waste and feed pot plants the resulting compost.

Get a medium sized bag and a twist tie. Place five cups of shredded kitchen scraps in the bag – this could be coffee grounds, teabags, fruit peelings, vegetable peelings, shredded paper, hair from your brush or anything else you can find. Add one cup of garden soil to the bag. This is important as it provides the all-important micro-organisms to kick-start the process. Pour in one cup of warm water and seal the bag. Squeeze and roll the bag to mix contents. Every second day open the bag so air can be exchanged. Keep the mixture moist but not wet. In four to six weeks you should have rich homemade compost to feed your pot plants.

5. Super-speedy compost

Collect the ingredients for your compost and lay together on the lawn. Mow over it with a lawn mower shredding it (be sure to wear safety glasses). Pile the material as high and wide as you can on top of a large tarpaulin or large piece of black plastic. Wet the pile with water. Cover with another tarpaulin or large piece of plastic. Turn the pile every three days by rolling the tarpaulin, rewetting every time. Within two weeks you will have rich compost. The secret to this method is the frequent turning, the finely shredded matter and the high nitrogen level.

6. Project – make a harvest high rise

This contraption does four jobs at once. It makes rich compost, it provides support for plants, it provides warmth and it automatically feeds your plants. Better still, it follows the ideas of recycling and reusing in your garden.

I grow my tomatoes like this in my garden but you can grow peas, snow peas, cucumber, eggplants, capsicums, runner beans or any other crop that requires some support during its growth.

Materials required

• 2m-long piece PVC downpipe
• Reinforcing steel mesh or galvanised wire (about 4m wide by 1.5m high)
• 3 support stakes
• 1 plastic drink bottle
• 30cm length tie wire or 4 cable ties

Step 1 Create a column around one metre in diameter with the steel mesh or chicken wire. Secure with wire or cable tires and position in garden in a sunny spot using the support stakes.

Step 2 Drill holes in the downpipe about the diameter of a pencil, up and down the length of pipe – around 20 holes in total.

Step 3 Jam the plastic drink bottle in one end of the pipe to act as a bung.

Step 4 Stand the pipe vertically in the middle of the wire column with the bung (bottle) at the bottom.

Step 5 Fill with layers of organic material around the pipe, remembering to layer green (nitrogen-rich) material with brown (carbon-rich) material. Sprinkle water between the layers and add some animal manure with the layers as you build up the compost to the top.

Step 6 Plant three to four tomato plants (or any other plants) around the base of the column. As the plants grow, tie them to the wire for support. Water the plants through the pipe. The water will run through the compost feeding the plants’ roots with nutrients. The heat from the decomposition will keep the plants warm and protected from any late frosts. Any weeds can be thrown on top of the column to add to the compost. When you have harvested your crop, tip over the column and use the rotted compost on the garden.

What can you compost?

Basically you can add anything that was once living, including:

• coffee grounds, teabags
• newspaper
• full vacuum cleaner bags
• shredded cotton clothing
• hessian sacks
• pine needles
• seaweed
• nut shells and hulls
• untreated sawdust
• human and animal hair
• feathers, fur and wool
• wood ashes
• leaves, lawn clippings, hedge trimmings, weeds

Don’t try to compost these

• Pig, dog, cat or human manure. They will just encourage flies and can spread disease.
• Plastic, unless you are happy to wait several thousand years.
• Big bones, unless you want bones sticking out of your garden and don’t mind feeding the local rat population or having the police called by concerned neighbours! Bury big bones under trees when planting instead. They will slowly rot down replacing vital nutrients.
• Fat, oil, salt, borax, herbicides, pesticides as they will kill all the good micro-organisms.
• Weed seeds, unless you are sure your compost will heat up to above 50°C. If you can put your hand into the middle of the compost comfortably, it is not hot enough to kill weed seeds.
• Meat, unless you are happy seeing every rodent within spitting distance playing tag around your compost all day and night.
• Thick layers of grass clippings or anything which may clog together. Mix them up with other stuff and they will be fine.

Spring planting

We have launched into spring and as the air temperatures rise so do the all-important soil temperatures. Warmer soil means faster growth for most plants. The following seedlings can now be planted straight into the garden:

• broccoli
• spring onions
• cabbage
• peas
• bok choy
• lettuce
• mesclun
• kale
• carrots
• beetroot
• parsnip

However, Jack Frost may still decide to give us one more late visit, so instead of planting out the following more sensitive seedlings, get them started in seed trays in a warm spot:

• courgettes
• tomatoes
• capsicums
• chillies
• eggplants

The kitchen windowsill, next to the north side of the house under the roof eaves, or in a cold frame are all good places. A really simple cold frame is a pane of clear glass placed over the seed trays.