Traditional Composting

The covered pile will heat up to 60C. The pile should be turned occasionally to help it break down. Once the pile cools, worms usually find it and help to create compost. After 3-6 months the ingredients in the pile can no longer be identified, and you will have lovely compost to use on your garden.

Advantages:

• Best way to deal with large quantities of green and food waste and bulky garden material like prunings. Can keep a large quantity of putrescibles out of the landfill.
• Produces lots of quality compost to add to your garden, ideal for raised beds or a garden with stony, poor soil.
• Is low maintenance once the heap is built, just needs to be turned occasionally.
• No set-up costs. Can make compost for free if you have access to green and brown plant material, and manure.

Disadvantages:

• Not ideal for kitchen scraps, as it’s hard to get enough kitchen scraps at one time to layer the heap properly and reach a high enough temperature.
• Can attract rats if use kitchen scraps, especially in winter when the compost heap is colder and takes longer to break down.
• Need the correct balance of carbon and nitrogen ie green squishy material and hard woody material. This is easy to learn about, but need to be able to source the right materials e.g. pea straw, manure, grass clippings.
• Need to have a reasonable quantity of all materials available at the same time, so can build the heap in one go and let it heat up.
• Takes some time to break down before you can use compost on your garden.
• Need some space outside to build the heap. Best if it’s out of the way a little, as is not the most scenic thing to look at.

How to Compost