I have just finished making compost for 2014. I am not an expert, but am able to get a useful amount of compost every year. It takes about ten minutes every week, and an hour every year to move the compost out of the boxes. It is worth it when we eat fresh tasty tomatoes or raspberries in the Summer.
Compost bin in kitchen
We put left over vegetable and fruit cuttings from the kitchen into a small green compost bin, which was provided by Hounslow Council. Every week I take this to the compost bin in the end of the garden. Since the compost bin is next to the waste bin in the kitchen this hardly takes any extra time. We also add garden waste such as fallen leaves and grass from the lawn. It takes about a year before the box in the garden is full and then we leave this to decompose for another year.
Compost box in Garden – note flower pot on last year’s compost to stop it being filled by mistake.
Then, before putting the finished compost onto the garden I leave it out for three months in the Winter frosts which hopefully kills any pests. I have just put out the 2014 compost which I started in 2012. We added the last compost in 2013 and it will sit out now until the Spring. I use the compost mainly to grow tomatoes and chilli in pots during the summer. I also put it on other plants in the garden.
2014 compost – a vintage year? Note the pots in the foreground ready for tomatoes in the Spring.
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