If you are interested in the environment, gardening and wildlife then you will more than likely want to start your own compost if you haven’t done so already.  For those who have no experience in composting you might think that it’s going to be very difficult.  The good news is that it’s pretty easy as long as you do your research beforehand.

Types Of Compost

As with most things, there are a number of different types of compost you can create in your garden.  If you want something very simple and easy then you can buy plastic compost bins.  Basically they have an open bottom which is placed on the ground and then there’s a lid on the top that allows you to add the composting ingredients.

The problem with the type of compost bin described above is that only worms can get into the compost.  Worms are fantastic and are very much encouraged, however if you want to be truly wildlife-friendly you will want to attract other creatures.  For those in the UK, this means you’ll want to attract hedgehogs and toads plus other creatures.

This means you will need to build a compost heap which is easily accessible for these animals.  The simplest form of compost is literally just a heap of organic matter covered up with an old carpet.  Unfortunately these compost heaps don’t look particularly attractive.  However if you create a screen made from a trellis or bamboo then you can hide it pretty well.

What To Add To Your Compost?

There are two main ingredients of a compost and these are dry items and wet items.  Dry items include paper, cardboard, wood chippings, sawdust and leaves.  Wet items include fruit, vegetables, lawn clippings, seaweed, tea bags and coffee grounds.

It’s imperative that you aim to add equal amounts of dry and wet items to your compost.  If your compost is too dry then you will have problems with it smelling badly and it will also attract flies.  If it’s too dry then the compost won’t break down.

There are some things you shouldn’t add to the compost either.  Don’t add in cooked food, meat and fish because this will attract vermin.  Don’t use perennial weeds because this will cause them to spread to your compost.  Also be careful about adding roses with thorns on the stems because they are slow to break down.  When you go to use the compost you might accidentally cut yourself on the thorns.

Where To Place Your Compost?

First of all it’s a good idea for it to be fairly near to your kitchen so that you don’t have to walk too far to add kitchen scraps.  Otherwise, it doesn’t really matter where you locate it.  However it must be on bare earth to allow worms into the compost.  The worms are very important in processing the organic materials into a useable form.  

Slugs and snails will also find their way into the compost to help the decomposing process.  You might not like the idea of encouraging slugs and snails into your garden however think about it this way:  if they’re happily munching away on the food in your compost, they won’t have any reason to leave and start munching your prized plants!

How To Get Oxygen Into The Compost?

The reason why composts are so beneficial the environment is because they don’t create methane gas the way that organic materials in landfill does.  Why is this?  Well, it’s simply because of the oxygen in the compost.  Landfill is so compressed there is no way for oxygen to get in.

There are different methods of getting oxygen into your compost and some of them involve quite a lot of work whilst others are pretty simple and straightforward.  The most tricky method involves turning the compost over.  So basically you take the top layers off the compost and put them somewhere else so that eventually the bottom layer of compost is now sitting on the top.  The involves a lot of work and also space in your garden which you might not have.

The simpler way to oxygenate your compost is to use a garden fork or compost turner/aerator to mix the contents of the compost.  Please note that you might have a hedgehog or toad living in your compost so be careful you don’t use the fork too violently.

Another way of keeping oxygen in the compost is too add items such as egg boxes, twigs and cardboard toilet rolls in along with all of the other ingredients.  Simply by doing this you will create air pockets in the compost.

Although all of the above information might seem like quite a lot if you have no previous experience in composting, the truth is that it’s really simple.  You don’t have to have “green fingers” in order to start a compost and it should be able to fit into any garden - big or small.