Whilst recycling centres and dumps are closed during the lock down, it’s the perfect time to create a compost system in your garden. At our customer’s garden in Leigh Woods I went through their compost bins yesterday. They had been adding organic matter to the bins but had never dug anything out since they moved into the property.
It was a beautiful spring day, and as I dug down the compost was of a lovely consistency, dark and crumbly with lots of worms wriggling about. After weeding the raised bed, I covered it in a nice, thick layer of compost as a mulch. This will help to retain moisture in the soil and will provide extra nutrients to the herbs and plants in the bed. The rest of the compost was added to flower borders in the garden.
Once I had dug out the compost I then started the first mow on their garden of the growing season. Mowing in the sunshine, under the plum blossom with bumble bees buzzing around was absolute bliss. Now that there is room in the compost bin the grass cuttings can be added to it to carry on the system.
There are many types of composting systems that you could utilise in your garden. Building them out of wooden pallets is an inexpensive and easy way. If you have space you could have 3+ bins next to each other so that you can turn the decomposing organic matter as it degrades, moving it along into the next bin. Or you could order one online, there are many different varieties to choose from.
What about a wormery, or digging trenches and burying organic waste in vegetable beds? You can then plant on the top of them. Keeping as many inputs in your garden as you can is a great way to reduce outputs, lessening your impact on the environment. Have a look on Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s website for further information on ways to construct. Enjoy!
