Best Composting Practice

Some products claim to help composting, but basic ways are best, says Tim Rumball

- Tim Rumball

MAKING compost from garden and kitchen waste, and returning the compost to the soil, is a cornerstone of good gardening. If you take goodness out of the soil by growing plants, you must put it back at some point, otherwise the soil will eventually die. That’s where garden composting comes in and it’s quite easy.

If you make a pile of any organic material, from old ornamental plants to tree prunings and food waste, it will eventually rot down into beneficial humus-rich material that will improve the soil. A compost bin tidies up the process as everything is contained, and it keeps heat in to speed up decomposition.

Standard plastic bins

The plastic ​Dalek compost bins offered by garden centres and many local councils are excellent for a small to medium-sized garden, and work well provided the larger material is chopped up. It’s useful to run two bins side by side. When one is full, turn the contents to let the air in, put the top on and leave it. Then start filling the bin beside it. Many are made from recycled plastic, which eases their environmental impact.