The Compost Heap

Mystery surrounds the compost heap but its really just a simple means of making your own manure. Every garden should have two.

Make them side by side. Two post and wire enclosures 3 or 4 feet square mean that while one is full and rotting the other is being filled. With just one heap the whole business becomes confusing and messy.

Make both fronts removable so that the finished compost can be easily extracted.

What Goes In

All annual weeds, vegetable waste, lawn mowings, cabbage leaves, potato peelings, tea leaves, coffee grounds, pea pods, crushed egg shells and soft prunings.

What Stays Out

Thick rooted perennial weeds and woody stems. Household food (because there is the risk of encouraging rats and mice).

So far, so good, but how do you make it all turn brown? The answer is to mix all your ingredients together so that theres no concentration of one thing in one place. Firm the heap regularly by trampling. Turn a hose on it at the first sign of dryness and throw a piece of old carpet or sacking over the top to keep moisture in.

Over every 9 inch layer add a sprinkling of garden soil and a couple of handfuls of sulphate of ammonia or a propriety compost accelerator. Theres no need to turn the heap at intervals provided everything is mixed up when its put in.

Three to six months later (the cooler the weather the slower the rotting) you will be able to dig out brown and crumbly goodness and dig it in or spread it on your soil. You will notice the difference in plant growth.