Worm-farming tips from Maggie, aged 2

Showing that even the youngest of children can rise to the challenges of worm farming, our friend Magdalena, two, stepped in to look after her worms recently.

One day while feeding the worms with her grandparents, she was quick to spot something new – ants.  Grandma told her this was due to the worm farm bedding being too dry, creating conditions that appeal to ants.

The solution was to gently add some water. Wormery bedding should be neither wet, nor dry. If you squeezed the bedding material it should feel moist with minimal water dripping out.

So Maggie filled up her watering can and got to work, sorting the worms out and making sure they had conditions just as they like them – moist and dark, covered by a few sheets of newspaper as a blanket (or cardboard, or hessian) to keep them feeling cosy and safe.

Then she sensibly washed her hands – which is when things went a bit wrong. As you can see from the photo, the worms and ants weren’t the only ones getting a bit wet!

Maggie somehow got in the way of the water, whether on purpose or not who can say? It’s all in a day’s work for a two-year-old worm farmer.

It’s fantastic to see that Maggie now loves worms. When she first watched her older brother Reggie looking after the worms she was a bit apprehensive and took a back seat but now she appreciates them for the wonderful work they do.

Keeping worms cool

It’s important that wormeries stay moist. In hot weather you can flush your worm farm with half a small bucket of water (5L) once a week to keep conditions moist. When doing this, replace the liquid collection tray with a container that will hold the sudden influx of water.

The moistened bedding sorted out the ants issue for Magdalena, but if you have a repeated problem you could follow this advice shared by wormery guru Mary Appelhof in her book Worms Eat My Garbage:

  • Set the legs of the worm farm in coffee cans with mineral oil or soapy water in the bottom. Any ants would get trapped in the oil or soapy water and would not be able to enter the wormery.  

And so to bedding

Worm bedding is a major component of a wormery. It has several functions, providing:

  •  moisture retention
  •  a medium in which worms can work
  •  a place to bury food waste

Bedding also provides a carbon source which will feed the worms; they will eventually consume the bedding as well as the food waste.

The bedding provided in the Maze Worm Farm is coconut coir, which is a great choice as it is clean, odourless, moisture-retaining, easy to prepare and worms thrive in it.

 Cocount coir, often called coco peat, has a fluffy soil-like texture. It comes compressed in a block that expands when placed in water. Because it has good water-retaining capacities, it can also be mixed with other bedding materials to aid water retention. Coir is a natural by-product of the coconut industry. In the past when coconuts were harvested for their meat and juice, the husk was considered waste until its many uses in horticulture were appreciated.

 In the first few days of setting up a new wormery it’s important that the worms acclimatise quickly and they find coco coir to be a hospitable environment thanks to its fluffy soil-like texture. Coconut coir will get your worm bin off to a great start but an established wormery should happily accommodate other freely available carbon sources.  

Other suitable bedding materials:

  • Shredded newspaper in strips 3-5cm wide. You can use a shredder or tear the strips by hand.
  • Leaf detritus from the bottom of a pile of decaying leaves, or compost.
  • Wood chips – some wormery enthusiasts report that these are excellent when mixed with leaves or other materials that are capable of holding moisture.  Wood chips provide bulk and create air spaces throughout the bedding. You can pick wood chips out when harvesting vermicompost from the wormery and reuse them.  

TOP TIP

It can be useful to add a handful or two of soil when initially preparing bedding. This helps to control moisture, acidity and texture as well as adding some grit to aid in breaking down food particles within the worm’s gizzard. It also introduces an inoculum of a variety of soil bacteria, protozoa and fungi which will aid the composting process.

Mary Appelhof is an inspiring champion for worm farming, describing it as a way to ‘save the world – in your own backyard’.

 In her book she says that through worm farming you will see mounds of waste converted to material you can use on your houseplants and in your garden.

‘You will enjoy healthier looking plants, better tasting vegetables and money in the bank.’

Let’s end with her wonderful description of the added value that worm farming provides.

‘Hopefully you’ll also gain a better appreciation of the intricate balance and interdependencies in nature. You will be treading more gently on the Earth.

As your gardens are enriched, so is your life and mine. You will have joined the worm-working adventurers who say, ‘Worms eat my garbage.’ Isn’t that a grand beginning to a task that needs to start somewhere? You, personally, can make it happen.’

Which composter is best for me?

An image of a green johanna

If you’re new to composting it can be difficult to know which bin (or system, if you like to think in systems rather than bins) is best for your home and lifestyle. Our handy guide can help.

Food waste composter/digester

The Green Johanna Food Waste Composter and Green Cone Food Waste Digester are both designed to accept foods that regular garden composters don’t, such as cooked food, meat, fish and dairy, so all your food waste can go in together. Compare them to see which one best suits your needs.

Green Johanna Food Waste Composter

  • Produces compost.
  • Also accepts garden waste.
  • Added waste should be a balance of nitrogen-rich content, commonly called Greens, (food waste/fresh grass cuttings/fresh green leaves) and carbon-rich content, commonly called Browns (chopped branches and twigs/wood chips/dead leaves/shredded paper and cardboard).
  • Comes with aerator stick provided to aerate the contents regularly.
  •  Ideally placed on soil or grass
  • One Johanna accepts the average food waste of a household of five and the garden waste from an average-sized garden.
  • With hot composting techniques, higher temperatures are reached than with regular composting.

Green Cone Food Waste Digester

  • Must be dug into a hole in free-draining soil (not clay or chalk).
  • Accepts all food waste, even bones.
  • Doesn’t accept garden waste or paper waste.
  • Doesn’t produce compost – instead it produces nutritious water which drains from its underground basket and feeds surrounding soil.
  • No turning or stirring required.
  • Uses solar energy so requires a sunny spot.
  • Comes with kitchen caddy provided.

Lack of space?

Worm farms

Worm farms, also called wormeries, are ideal for small-scale composting and for introducing children to the fascinating world of worms, which is an education in itself.

  • Require a sheltered spot.
  • Worms will digest many kinds of foods cut up into small pieces and other kitchen waste such as shredded paper, egg cartons, scrunched up newspaper.
  • A little management is needed to maintain the ideal environment for your worms, so be sure to read the instruction booklet.
  • Produce excellent worm-made compost – vermicompost – for your garden.
  • Learning fascinating facts about these tiny eco-heroes is sure to turn children into composters of the future.

Bokashi Bins

  • Kitchen food waste bins that can sit on a worktop or under a sink and accept all chopped-up food waste.
  • Food waste is fermented, resulting in a pre-compost mixture which can be added to a compost bin or wormery, buried in soil in the garden or in large planters in order to break down into compost.
  • Requires the addition of friendly bacteria in a bran or spray to accelerate fermentation.
  • When full of food waste, the container is left sealed for two to three weeks for fermentation to take place anaerobically (without air).
  • Nutritious liquid is drained from a tap at the bottom of the bin and can be used diluted as plant fertiliser or concentrated as organic drain cleaner.
  • Bokashi comes from the Japanese term for ‘fermented organic matter’.

Choosing a compost bin – by the experts

This advice – in note-form taken from a webinar by master composters from Garden Organic – provides extra help.

Green Johanna – reaches higher temperatures – as an enclosed unit it offers greater rodent protection – the twistable top controls ventilation – the solid perforated base means liquid can drain out and micro-organisms can enter – if adding meat, add small amounts, mixed with lots of greens and browns – aerate the top layer every time you add materials – for speedier composting an insulating jacket is available. An alternative way of taking compost out, rather than accessing through the hatches, is to loosen the screws and lift off one or two sections.  Composting slows down in winter but the Johanna continues well and does better than other composters.

Wormery – small and self-contained – ideal for small amounts of waste – year-round composting – can be indoors – worms eat the bacteria on the organic matter – no spicy foods or citrus, only small amounts of meat – food scraps are placed on the top section, casts fall to the bottom. Use the worm-made compost on pot plants or round trees and shrubs. NOTE: If the liquid that is produced smells bad it has gone anaerobic and should be flushed away.

Also:

  • Wormery compost is a great improver to shop-bought compost; you can buy the cheapest of composts but turn it into black gold with the addition of your vermicompost.
  • Sheds are not a good place to house a wormery due to temperature fluctuations – a garage or indoors is better.
  • If you need your worms to move out of way as you harvest casts, add melon or banana – worms love these and will obligingly wriggle over to them.  
  • Don’t forget that with a wormery you are responsible for living creatures.
An image of a toddler using a worm farm. She looks very happy!

Bokashi bin – ferments waste instead of composting so the contents need to be transferred to a composter after a couple of weeks – this pre-compost  acts as an activator in your compost bin – Bokashi bran is needed – fermented contents of the bin will still be recognisable (some people expect compost) – produces liquid which can be used as a drain cleaner or diluted as fertiliser – good to use two bins to keep the process going – ongoing bran purchase required.

Man emptying food into a bokashi bin

Top 10 tips for composting in schools

Composting is a fantastic opportunity for communities to get together to create a greener environment.

Nowhere is this more valuable than in schools, where children can be taught skills that will last them a lifetime.

Composting enables people to take responsibility for their own waste and deal with it in the most environmentally-friendly way – onsite where it is produced – reducing the energy and cost required to transport it further afield for treatment.

 When people compost they become aware of how much waste they produce; as a result they tend to waste less and recycle more.

What is composting?

Composting is the natural process that occurs when insects, worms and micro-organisms break down organic waste (food scraps, garden waste, paper waste) into a nutritious substance – compost – that can be used to feed soil and plants.

By managing the composting process, we help the micro-organisms to thrive and produce compost faster.    

What are the benefits of composting?

Composting is one of the most worthwhile things you can learn. There are only a few rules, and you only have to learn them once – the laws of nature don’t change. This knowledge will serve you well through life.

Composting:

 * creates free nutrient-rich soil food for your own use

* retains moisture in the soil, so reduces the need for watering

* helps plants to grow stronger and healthier

* cuts the amount of waste sent to landfill or incineration

* reduces your carbon footprint

* has a positive impact on the environment

*  inspires children to become composters of the future

How to make it work

Compost bins are not ordinary bins; some degree of management is needed and there are a few golden rules to follow.

Experience has taught us to give composting communities the following advice:

  • At least one person/member of staff should have overall responsibility and check in on the composter every couple of days to prevent issues developing.
  • Ensure as many people as possible have access to an instruction manual so they get to know the three golden rules: the balance needed between materials; aeration; moisture levels.
  • In a school, composting should ideally be a whole-school project. For example, a lot of carbon-rich materials will be needed and it’s much easier if this can be stored in lidded containers so it’s ready for use. This can prompt fun activities such as cardboard tearing sessions. Children could also bring cardboard from home to get parents involved too.
  • To educate the whole school – staff as well as pupils – put up posters giving basic composting information for everyone who will be adding organic waste to the bin. We have A3 posters available for schools and groups, or children could design their own.  
  • Help everyone to understand that every time a caddy of food waste is added to a compost bin (adding nitrogen-rich materials) this should be followed by an equal amount of carbon-rich materials.
  • Many schools produce a lot of fruit waste, especially in the younger classes, and this needs particular attention as it has a high water content which can create a soggy mess if it’s not balanced with appropriate materials and aerated well.  Sawdust works well as a biofilter to absorb unpleasant smells. Fruit waste and sawdust should be added in thin layers and mixed well.
  • It’s a good idea if someone can keep the composting going during holidays by taking waste from home every couple of days so the bin continues to be fed.
  • Teach children that micro-organisms are living creatures, and the composting process is all about nurturing them.
  • Our blog – Compost School – a guide for absolute beginners – is a useful aid for lesson planning. It’s written simply for children to understand but is also aimed at anyone who may not have composted before.
  • Master composters are people who are passionate about composting and have trained as volunteers to share their composting knowledge. They visit schools and groups to offer advice. Check with Garden Organic – www.gardenorganic.org.uk – to see if there are any in your area.

If all goes well, your composting project can expand to compost even more waste by using several compost bins or a Ridan giant tumbler, which has a cog and gear system that makes the handle easier to turn.

 Get a ‘compost chief’!

Projects involving a lot of people can hit problems if composting methods are not followed by everyone.

Occasionally, Green Johannas have been used in schools as general wastebins for food waste, without the necessary balance with carbon-rich materials, and this has inevitably led to problems. This has usually been the result of there not being a nominated ‘compost chief’ in charge.

Disappointing experiences give the impression that composting doesn’t work, which isn’t the case, so we are keen to help where we can.

What about the Green Cone?  

If you think a Green Cone Food Waste Digester might suit your aims, consider the following points:

  • You need a sunny spot in well-draining soil (not clay or chalk) where you can dig the hole required for the Cone’s underground basket.
  • One Green Cone can accept the food waste of the average family of four – about 1kg per day.
  •  Food waste lands in the underground basket; once the underground basket is full, you should stop adding waste until there is space in the basket for more.
  • Regular additions of accelerator powder are recommended – aim to use one sachet per month. Accelerator powder contains beneficial bacteria which digest the waste and boost the breakdown process.
  • As this is a food waste digester rather than a composter, no compost is produced. Instead, a nutrient-rich liquid seeps from the Cone’s underground basket and feeds surrounding soil.
  • The Green Cone doesn’t accept garden waste or paper waste.

Helpful advice

Some people are put off composting because of a fear of pests, but there are steps you can take to make a compost bin and the surrounding area so unattractive to unwanted visitors that they will go somewhere else instead. Read our blogs about how to deter pests and flies.  

How we can help

We are keen to support community composting projects. We can send you several copies of the instruction manuals for the Green Johanna and Green Cone so they can be shared out, as well as colourful A3-size posters about the Green Johanna.   Contact us at [email protected].

Worm farming – like father, like son

One of our young eco-friendly friends, Thomas, aged 8, was delighted to get his very own worm farm recently.

Despite his tender years, Thomas is not a total novice. He’s grown up appreciating the wonderful work that worms do as he’s watched his father tend an old-school wormery that’s been in service for an impressive 35 years since the late 80s. That decade has a reputation as the materialistic yuppie era, but according to Thomas’s dad there was also a growing holistic community too, which didn’t attract as much media attention as the yuppies but was quietly thriving in the background.

Thomas’s dad saw the wormery advertised in an organic seed catalogue and has never looked back. This holistic-minded community has obviously grown and grown as the world has caught up with the philosophy that we’re all linked to the world around us.

Thomas is following a long family tradition of gardening, composting and veg growing, showing that great habits get passed down the generations. We need those great habits now more than ever. Wormeries are a great way to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich compost to feed the plants in your garden.

Thomas might be following in Dad’s footsteps but he’s also relishing having his own little worm community to care for.

In the photo taken in January, when the worm farm arrived, Thomas is seen making sure the worms are settling in well, with a cardboard cover to hand to provide the dark conditions that worms like.  A strip of hessian sacking or a few sheets of newspaper can also be used as ‘blankets’.

A few months later, and with milder spring weather, Thomas is able to manage his worm farm without being all wrapped up!

The wonderful world of worms

  • Worms produce top quality compost (vermicompost) which is richer and more nutrient-dense than ordinary compost, providing you with fertiliser for healthy plant growth.
  • Worm farming is easy composting; your hard-working worms do all the work in turning the compost and by their tunnelling actions they aerate it too.
  • Managing a wormery is a great project for children, showing them how to care for tiny living creatures that are essential to the planet and to us. Children also learn how to follow instructions, wait for results and develop observational and problem-solving skills, such as working out if conditions are too wet or too dry and what to do if a smell might be developing. (Wormeries should never smell bad, only fresh and earthy; a bad smell is a sign of overfeeding, which is easily remedied by feeding the worms less often and adding shredded cardboard to absorb moisture.)

On top of all that, worms are fascinating and fun!

Did you know?

There are over 9,000 species of earthworms, but only seven are suitable for vermicomposting.

A worm welcome

Tips to help your worms settle in.

  • Worm farms need a sheltered spot away from direct sun and rain. A shed or garage is ideal.  If placed outside, cover the worm farm with a tarpaulin in winter.
  • The Maze Worm Farm is simple to start up. There are two working trays; you won’t need the second tray at first until the first one is full. You need to line the first tray with 2/3 sheets of wet newspaper.
  • Coconut peat is provided for the worms’ bedding. This is soaked in water for 30 minutes, then added to the layer of wet newspaper.
  • Worms like a dark environment so cover them with a blanket. This can be any fabric made from natural material, such as hessian, or several sheets of newspaper or cardboard.
  • Leave the worms for a week before adding any food scraps so they can settle into their new home.
  • Feed your worms chopped-up fruit and veg scraps, small amounts of bread/cooked rice/pasta, moist cardboard, teabags, coffee grounds, crushed eggshells.

Leaf mould turns autumn leaves into garden gold

If you’re tired of taking bags of autumn leaves to the tip or paying the council to take them away, why not turn them into leaf mould instead?

Leaf mould is a fabulous soil improver that’s produced from decomposed autumn leaves that have been left to rot down. It has similar properties to peat – it helps to rebuild soil and store carbon – but has the benefit of being a renewable resource.

Like compost, it will improve the physical structure of your soil, increasing water retention by around 50 per cent. It also provides a habitat for earthworms and beneficial bacteria.

Making leaf mould was our family’s entry into composting. Our garden is swamped with leaves every autumn as it’s overlooked by several trees.  The cost mounted as we paid the council to take away our bags of raked leaves, so we finally decided to get two 900L Graf Thermo King composters to reap the benefits ourselves. 

What to do with autumn leaves?

The Royal Horticultural Society encourages gardeners to leave autumn leaves on borders as they encourage worm activity and increase humus content in soil. But leaves have an annoying habit of not staying where they’re put; they tend to team up with the wind to dance around and end up on the lawn or path, and in our case the hallway too.

 So it’s good to keep a balance between the leaves you sweep and the leaves you leave. Leave the leaves on soil and around trees and hedges as they replenish the soil with nutrients as they decompose, providing food throughout winter. Removing leaves can contribute to the slow death of trees from malnutrition. Leaves also protect tree roots from weather extremes.

If the leaves are dry they will blow away so dampen them with rainwater from a water butt to weigh them down a bit.

 Although leaves create a habitat for insects and pollinators, too many can attract rats and ticks so don’t let huge piles grow. Rake them off lawns and plants to prevent them smothering growth.

Stockpile for compost

Keep some leaves in storage for your compost bin; stockpile them so you have readily available Browns (carbon) to balance the Greens (nitrogen). Most people find they have a ready supply of food waste providing them with nitrogen-rich content but finding carbon-rich Browns can be harder, especially through winter.

  • Store dry dead leaves in old compost bags or lidded containers next to the compost bin so they’re ready when needed. 
  • You might want to wait until all the leaves have fallen unless you don’t mind a lot of raking.

How to make leaf mould

Making leaf mould is a simple, relatively slow process, relying on the action of fungi rather than the faster heat-generating bacteria of the composting process.

  • To collect the leaves, you can rake them up into a pile or set your mower on a high cut setting and mow them up, using the grass collector added to the back of the mower. This mulches them up for you. You can also use a shredder.
  • Shredding the leaves increases the surface area in contact with microbes, speeding up decomposition. Shredded leaves also take up less space if you don’t have much room to store them and they’re also less likely to mat down in a bin, excluding air from the compost.
  • You can also whizz them up with an edge trimmer in a dustbin (like using a food stick blender) or use a pair of hedge clippers and a board.
  •  Some leaves break down more quickly than others. Evergreen leaves take far longer to rot and should only be added in small quantities.

Storing leaves

The most basic way of storing leaves is to keep them in a black bin bag, pierced at the bottom and sides to allow the contents to breathe.  If the leaves are very dry, moisten them before putting them in the bag. You don’t need to add anything else – just the leaves.

If you prefer a container, the Thermo King compost bins that we use make life simpler because:

  • Two large flaps make it easy to remove compost.
  • The lid allows humid air to escape and is adjustable to summer and winter weather conditions to regulate air circulation.
  • The base allows micro-organisms to enter whilst deterring rodents.

How can I use my leaf mould?

If leaves have been left to rot for two years or more, they can be used in seed-sowing compost or mixed equally with sharp sand, garden compost and soil for use in potting compost. The leaf mould will be dark brown in colour with an earthy smell and crumbly texture, like compost.

  • As mentioned earlier, leaf mould makes great mulch and soil improver, and if less than two years old can be used as autumn top-dressing for lawns or winter-covering for bare soil. Soil needs more winter cover than you might imagine – around 5 – 7cms.

Autumn glory – leaves left around the trees at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield.

A clean sweep

If you can’t bear to see leaves going to waste, why not join the eco-warriors all over the world who sweep pavements in their neighbourhoods to collect leaves for composting? A few words of advice if you do:

  • Don’t sweep busy streets because the leaves could be contaminated with pollution from traffic fumes.
  • Stick to quiet areas or alleyways where there is no traffic so no fumes and no soil/trees needing to be fed over winter. On pathways leaves are wasted, either creating a slip hazard or dispersed by wind and rain. You just need to watch out for hidden dog poo.   

Julie

Why should I compost?

‘I don’t garden so why should I compost?’ This was what a friend said to me recently.

Where to start to answer this question?

Composting is an obvious activity for gardeners – you make your own top-quality plant food by recycling your organic waste.

 Like my friend, I too am no gardener.  I started growing a few things during the pandemic and finally realised when I saw the transforming effect of plants why gardeners do what they do.   

But the point I tried to make in answering my friend was that it wasn’t for the sake of plants that I started composting but for the sake of the soil itself.

A health soil sign that reads 'Healthy soil is the beating heart of organic growing - full of life and support life'.

 When I learned a few years ago what magical powers compost has in rebuilding the poor, degraded earth of the Earth, I realised that composting was a no-brainer.

The health of our soils is fundamental to life as we know it, but according to the charity Garden Organic, half the planet’s topsoil has been lost in the last 150 years.

And yet there’s something we can all do about it! Home composting might seem a small act on an individual level but multiplied by millions it’s huge.    

Climate crisis ally

For instance, did you know that one of compost’s superpowers is to help soil capture carbon in the atmosphere and pull it down into the ground? Along with oceans and forests, soil is an important carbon storage medium. And yet we’ve been letting the organic ingredients for compost rot in landfill for years, emitting greenhouse gases instead of capturing them. It makes no sense to throw nutrients away as rubbish when we can easily separate them to speed up the natural breakdown process.

 According to WRAP, the waste reduction charity, a home composting bin can divert approximately 150 kg per household per year of organic waste from landfill or treatment centres.

Save our soils

The minimum we can all do is to ensure that soil is not left bare. Bare soil is vulnerable to erosion, weeds and carbon loss.

  • Cover soil with mulch and just leave it. Chuck it on in layers of around 5cms. You can cover borders, around shrubs, trees and bushes. Worms will come up and take the compost back down into the earth where it will improve the soil structure.
  • Compost also helps worms to thrive, and they need all the help they can get, under onslaught as they are from chemical sprays, artificial grass and the paving-over of gardens.    
  • Give your lawn a boost by spreading compost thinly over it. Worms will pull it down into the soil, which will boost soil quality and by extension the grass.

Benefits for us

Michael Kennard (pictured) the founder of the food waste collection service Compost Club, has studied soil biology and is keen to spread the word about how soil is the foundation of our health. If we destroy it, it’s to our detriment.

‘Everything is a reflection of the soil,’ he says. ‘If the plants have that natural cycle going on, they’re really healthy. When we eat those plants, that’s what informs our gut health.’

Other benefits that compost provides include:  

  • preventing erosion
  • improving drainage
  • encouraging worm activity. Studies have shown that the simple act of introducing worms to degraded soil in poor regions of the world has increased plant yields by 280%.
  • preventing flooding. As more and more gardens are paved over there is less and less earth to absorb heavy rainfall. In order to slow down runoff and encourage water infiltration into soil, swap paving for plants and mulch, or ensure paving is permeable. In his book The Science of Gardening, Dr Stu Farrimond says that covering soil with mulches in late autumn protects it from pummelling winter rainfall (each bullet-like drop travels up to 20mph).

Benefits for plants;

Used on plants, compost holds on to important nutrients, improving the plant’s quality while also protecting it from pests and diseases.

 As compost breaks down further, it releases important nutrients into the soil, including the main nutrients that plants need: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Compost also increases the number and variety of beneficial bacteria and fungi in the soil, which helps plants to grow.

The ability of compost to absorb water is important as it’s able to slowly release water to grass and plants so they need watering less frequently. This is obviously vital in hot weather and droughts. Studies on compost’s water-retaining abilities have shown that for every 1% of organic matter content, soil can hold 16,500 gallons of plant-available water per acre of soil down to one foot deep.

Compost also helps water to get to plant roots more effectively by reducing crust forming on soil, so water can get into the soil more easily, and by helping to disperse water laterally from where it hits the ground, which means it will evaporate less quickly.

But I don’t have time to compost

Composting can be as time-consuming as you want to make it. If you’re pushed for time, go for cold composting.  If you want to invest a bit more time and effort, try hot composting, which means a wider variety of food waste can be added to the bin and compost produced faster.  

Or use bokashi bins, which ferment food waste thanks to the addition of beneficial bacteria in the form of a bran or spray. Once it has been left to ferment for a couple of weeks, this pre-compost mixture can then be added to a composter.

People whose local council operates a food waste collection might think, Well the council composts my food waste, so I don’t have to. But many people take the view that if they are already separating food waste to leave out for the council to collect, they might as well compost this valuable resource themselves at home for the benefit of their own garden or allotment.

 By 2026 all councils throughout the UK will have to comply with regulations requiring them to operate separate food waste collections.  

There are around 15 million gardens in the UK. We call them ‘our’ gardens but of course that portion of the earth isn’t really ours – we’re merely its custodians for a while.

Once you see the difference you can make to that tiny patch of the planet, without much effort, you can’t help but become a compost convert.

Julie

Spare Parts