Composting at home or at your allotment is a great environmentally-friendly way of getting rid of your kitchen and garden waste – and you’ll be creating a compost that you can then go on to be used to improve the soil in your garden.
Once you have a compost bin then you can compost all year round – although some months will see greater activity than others. Here is our breakdown of the seasons and their months with their relevant composting facts and figures.
Spring
Spring is a great time to start composting for the first time as the temperatures are starting to increase – making it easier for you to work outdoors – as well as the increased temperatures making those microorganisms which take part in the composting process to be more active.
However, you will need kitchen and garden waste to add into your compost bin so it might be best to wait until late Spring or Early Summer to actually start using the bin when more things will be growing providing more ‘greens’ for the bin. It’s very much dependant on the weather so don’t feel as though you have to stick to a set timetable – it has to be a good time for you to work weather wise and a good time to be generating waste – for example once your lawn is ready to be cut for the first time.
March - with Springs arrival it’s time to give your garden a tidy and as you cut back, prune and remove dead leaves these can be added to your compost bin, ideally shredding any woody material before adding it to speed up the composting process. You can also be adding the offcuts from the last of your winter vegetables as you harvest them.
Wake up your compost bin with the addition of coffee grounds
As the temperatures start to increase in the Spring months, if you have an existing compost bin then it will start to reactivate naturally although you can give this process a boost with the addition of some coffee grounds.
Coffee grounds are great to add as they are rich in nutrients which are essential to plant growth, especially nitrogen, so helping to produce a compost that will feed your plants. Nitrogen rich materials like this will help the materials within your compost bin to break down more quickly – but use with caution. You should always remember that for composting to be effective you need a good mix of materials to be added, with carbon rich and nitrogen rich waste materials being added in relatively equal amounts. Adding an excessive amount of one type of waste can have a detrimental effect. So when adding coffee grounds into your compost bin we recommend adding a similar amount of shredded paper or dry leaves.
April - at the same time as new growth on your plants, you’ll also be seeing the arrival of weeds as they take advantage of the better weather. Ideally remove the weeds as they are still young, removing as much soil as possible from the weeds as you do so. There is conflicting advice on adding weeds to a compost bin – the important thing is to ensure is that seeds and roots of the weeds are killed either before they are added to the compost bin - so leaving them to dry completely before adding them – or during the composting process – seeds and roots will be killed at temperatures over 63 degrees Celsius.
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Compost Thermometer Monitor the temperature in your compost bin easily and accurately with this bi-metal dial thermometer. Its large 2inch diameter head shows the temperature in degrees Celcius and also colour-codes the zones for warm, active and hot. To kill seeds and roots the temperature of your compost needs to be in the top end of the hot zone. |
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Did you know?
New research has shown that almost half of the food waste that people normally put in their rubbish bins could have been put into a compost bin instead.
May - during this month you’ll have lots of fresh, ‘green’ material perfect to add to your compost bin, so it’s important to remember that you need a good mix of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials to be added to your bin continuously – too many of one and not enough of the other can cause problems!
A simple way to know what you should class as part of the ‘green’ ingredients or ‘brown’ ingredients for this important compost recipe is to think about their colour.
Greens – as the name suggest, these are often green or from green plants, are soft and nitrogen-rich. So included within the greens are :
- Coffee grounds
- fruit and vegetable trimmings
- grass clippings
- old cut flowers
- soft prunings
- tea bags
- uncooked kitchen waste
- weeds
Browns – usually brown in colour or turn from green to brown over time. These dry, brown, carbon-rich ingredients include:
- cardboard
- dried grass clippings and leaves
- hay
- paper
- plant stems
- straw
- woodchips.
Did you know?
International Compost Awareness Week is held every year in early May. It’s aim is to raise the awareness of the benefits of composting to both you and the environment and to encourage more people to take up composting.
When choosing your first compost bin think about your requirements based on your garden and your lifestyle – there are lots of bins available to purchase but we want to make sure that you select the correct one for you.
Would a wormery be better?
If you only have a small garden but still want to be environmentally friendly and convert small amounts of plant waste and your food waste into a useful compost then a wormery might be the answer. These compact units are perfect for smaller households – they take up very little space, whilst their worms rapidly convert your waste into a nutrient rich compost ready to use.
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Maze Wormery This stylish wormery is ideal for siting on a balcony, decking, patio or in your garden. At just 38cm square this wormery is lightweight, portable and easy to maintain. Whilst the worms within it can eat their way through 4kg of organic kitchen waste every week! |
Summer
June - for allotments and larger gardens one of your main priorities when choosing a compost bin will be to get one which can cope with a large amount of garden waste. You will probably not be restricted when it comes to siting a larger capacity bin so have a look at the different styles on the market.
Traditional timber compost bins tend to larger than modern plastic ones. You might be tempted to make one of your own – but purchasing a pre prepared kit which you simply need to assemble will be much easier than having to cut and measure your own timber. Plus you’ll have the benefit of a professional design.
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Slot Down Compost Bin With its massive 650 litre capacity per bin this traditional wooden compost bin is ideal for larger gardens or allotments. Made in the UK using rough sawn, carbon neutral timber the clever corner posts make it easy to extend if your needs change. And when it's time to empty the individual side panels can be removed to give access to the nutrient rich compost for your garden. |
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If you have created an attractive kitchen garden at home you are probably still generating a lot of garden waste which could be turned into usable compost – but are maybe looking for a compost bin which will not take up to much space but will still look good in your garden.
You’ll find a range of timber compost bins on the market which have be designed to look like an old-fashioned beehive yet still provide the perfect environment for composting to take place.
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Beehive Compost Bin With it's attractive design this traditional timber bin is perfect if it's going to be in view of your house. Made from pressure treated softwood for long life, once in your garden it will be easy to fill via the full sized lid. When it comes to harvesting ready to use compost simply flip the lower front panel open so you can reach the compost with a fork or spade. |
July
Making the most of your lawn
During the spring and summer months lawns can grow at a frantic rate so will be generating lots of grass clippings. The perfect ‘green’ addition to your compost bin they are low in carbon, high in nitrogen, have no structure and are fast to decay. But you need to be careful when adding grass clippings to your compost bin as you shouldn’t add them in huge amounts all at once – here are three top tips to keep your compost bin working effectively as you add lawn clipping throughout the summer months:
- Ideally don’t add them straight away – spread the clippings out and let them dry for a few days before adding them
- Don’t just add in one big layer of clippings, break it into small layers of clippings with layers of high carbon material such as shredded paper, corrugated cardboard, straw etc.
- Keep checking the bin through these busy months – if it starts to smell use a compost aerator to stir the waste and add in pockets of air.
August
The compost within your compost bin needs to be kept moist even during dry weather. So throughout the summer months keep a regular check on your compost pile. When you turn the heap to introduce fresh air – which you should be doing on a monthly basis – is the perfect time to check the moisture level. If it looks like the contents are getting too dry then add some water as you turn the waste.
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Compost Aerator One of the main reasons why the composting process can fail is because fresh air is not being introduced into the compost heap which the microorganisms need to work effectively to breakdown your waste. Air is quick and easy to add using a Compost Aerator. This specially developed tool features ‘winged’ blades at the tip which open as the tool is retracted through the heap, creating pockets within the compost, aerating it as it does. |
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Autumn
September - if you have a kitchen garden or allotment then you will have a lot of crops which will be coming to an end and autumn crops which will be ready to harvest. As you harvest simply top and tail your harvest by the side of your bin adding the trimmings straight in.
Whilst the plants that have come to an end can be uprooted and composted – just be careful that any contaminated plant matter is not added – so if you’ve had problems with club root with brassicas or white rot with onions, for example, these plants should not be added.
October - whilst you prune fruit trees and bushes and keep on top of cutting your hedges, use a shredder to reduce woody pieces into small, manageable pieces that will decompose within your compost bin – the smaller the pieces the faster they will breakdown.
November - it’s time to recycle and compost Halloween! If you decorated with pumpkins then these are perfect for adding to your compost bin – they are packed full of nitrogen and moisture which are both good for your compost bin.
If the pumpkins were carved, painted, covered in glitter or filled with candles, just make sure any of this non-compostable material is scrapped away. The pumpkin it sled can then be smashed or cut into small pieces and added into your compost bin.
Try to avoid adding any pumpkin seeds into your compost bin – these are very hardy and can over winter in the compost and when you use it on your garden the following year you might find yourself with lots of little pumpkin plants starting to grow.
During the Autumn months there is likely to be a glut of autumn leaves – but before you add them all to your compost bin remember that it’s always best to have a mixture of waste within your bin – so don’t let one type dominate. So, if you do have loads of autumn leaves why not turn them into leaf mould?
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Composting Sacks Leafmould which you’ve made yourself makes a great mulch, soil improver etc. It’s so easy to make if you have a large garden or allotment with trees it’s the perfect solution for tidying up all the leaves which fall during the autumn. Simply fill these sacks with leaves as you collect them. Stack them out of site in your garden for up to 2 years when its then ready to use. |
Winter
December - as the temperatures decrease it’s important to keep a check on the temperature within your compost bin. Material takes longer to break when it’s cold – if the core temperature of the heap remains constantly low then decomposition can stop altogether. So try insulating your compost bin to help retain heat – and insulation will have the additional benefit of reducing the amount of water getting in (especially with traditional timber compost bins) as you don’t want the heap to become overly wet.
There are lots of ways in which you can insulate your bin depending on its size and location. Cover it with a tarpaulin, old carpet, flattened cardboard, straw or polythene sacks filled with straw – just remember you will need to access the bin to keep adding any kitchen or garden waste you have even during these winter months.
January in with the new and out with the old, don’t forget that you can add some of your Christmas and New Year waste to your compost bin!
The key thing to remember when recycling in this way is that foil, glitter and polystyrene cannot be composted – this also applies to your recycling bin which is emptied by your council. These items need to be put in your general waste bin – by putting cards, wrapping paper or other decorations which have glitter on them in your recycling bin not only makes your waste unrecyclable, it can contaminate the entire lorry load of recyclables which has been collected!!
If you had a real Christmas tree then use a shredder to reduce your tree into small enough pieces that you can add to your bin to successfully compost. This also applies to natural wreaths, where you can compost holly, ivy or fir as long as you ensure that anything woody has been put through a shredder.
Anything made from paper or card can be added to your compost bin – so that’s Christmas cards, paper hats, paper based crackers, wrapping paper (which does not feature glitter, foil or has been laminated), cardboard packaging etc etc. Simply tear them into small pieces or shred them before adding to your bin.
February
When using a ‘standard’ compost bin there are certain items which you cannot add including meat, fish, bones or cooked food. However, if you’d like to be able to compost these items there are some alternative options available to you, including for example the Green Johanna Compost Bin or the Green Cone Food Digester.
