Compost Heap
Cole Park Allotments, Twickenham Road, Isleworth

How to make good compost

A good compost heap is like a good sponge cake: light, moist, made of layers and full of lots of different flavours! Keep that in mind and you won't go far wrong.

When you start your compost bin or heap, find a sunny spot in the plot on well drained level ground. Fork the soil over lightly, then put a layer of scrunched up or shredded paper on the ground. There are two types of marterial called 'green' and 'brown' which need to be added in roughly equal amounts. Add a layer of green material over the paper, and then some brown material over that. When adding woody material and leaves, try to shred them if possible - the smaller the better. It's really important to aerate the heap or bin, so the addition of shredded or scrunched up paper is vital if the rest of the contents are dense or finely chopped (such as grass cuttings or material that has been through a garden shredder). For a list of items you can compost, see below.

If the material is quite dry, water it a little. If its very dense and compacted or very finely shredded, add some more scrunched up paper or ripped up cardboard to keep air pockets in the mix.

Continue to build the levels up making sure you keep them light, spongy and moist.

You can also add a few handfuls of soil, some well rotted compost from another heap or some horse manure if you have access to any. This will encourage the helpful microorganisms to colonise your new heap very quickly.

To keep the heap moist and warm, water it then cover it with an old piece of carpet or put a lid on it. Remember the composting material needs to be moist throughout, not just on the top - but it doesn't want to be soaking wet!

A good heap will start to heat up as all the rotting process takes place. The hotter it is, the faster it rots and some heaps will reach 70 degrees celcius if they are big enough and have the right materials in them.

What can I compost?

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