Famous gardener reveals FREE way to get compost to improve the health of your soil – & your plants will love it
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HE’S got pallet bins, daleks, a giant wormery and the biggest composting site I’ve seen for a single garden – so it’s safe to say that Charles Dowding knows a lot about compost.
Famous all over the world for his No Dig theory, which sees the end of back breaking double digging – he instead urges gardeners to simply spread a one inch layer of compost on the surface of undisturbed soil and grow onto that.
Now he’s turned his attention to the compost itself – and explained to Sun Gardening exactly how he turns garden waste into a black gold – in a matter of weeks.
“There’s a lot of mythology around compost,” he told me.
“It’s actually a lot easier than you’d think, and it can be fun.”
First it’s important to consider what you’re putting into it.
“Adding three parts green waste to one part brown is not a hard and fast rule, but a useful guideline to follow,” he said.
“Brown is the carbon – like dry fallen leaves, woodchip, cardboard or straw. It provides air pockets – which are essential for good composition.
“And green is the nitrogen – like clippings, vegetable peel and leaves.
“With the right combination it can create really dark, velvety compost which your garden will love – and is essentially free.”
He said that once you’ve got your chosen compost bin in place: “Spread all new additions in a level layer every few days – don’t throw them all into the middle of the heap. For every 2inch layer of green, add half an inch of brown.”
MUD SLINGING
The most vital thing to get right in your compost is the right mix of green and brown - with Charles recommending roughly 75 per cent green and 25 per cent brown.
When looking at this list – remember he shreds the brown – chucking big sticks on is just going to slow things down.
GREEN
- Green leaves and soft stems from ornamental and vegetable plants
- Grass Clippings (warning – not too many)
- Weed leaves
- Kitchen vegetable peelings and trimmings
- Citrus Peel
- Coffee Grounds
- Fresh manure from plant eating animals without bedding
- Urine
- Hair and animal fur.
BROWN
- Dry fallen leaves
- Woody Prunings
- Paper and cardboard in small pieces
- Woodchip
- Straw
- Egg Shells
- Wood ash
- Soil
- Old compost/ poor-quality purchased compost.
“The best results are from pieces between 5-10cm or less, which allow green and brown materials to bed down in contact with each other.
“If you’re half serious about compost I’d recommend a compost thermometer. It just tells you how busy the heap is. Between 60-70oC is ideal,” he added.
And despite many believing there’s certain things that must not go in a compost heap – Dowding’s taken on bindweed, couchgrass, ground elder, dandelion, stinging nettles and perennial weed roots.
He’s even taken on rotting meat, rhubarb leaves and citrus peel, and diseased plant materials – and reckons he’s won.
“You need a lot of material – it does sink as it decomposing. Just add as much as you can. Coffee grounds are really good.
“I know that a lot of people have slatted sides, but I actually find that cools it down, which is what we don’t want, or to lose its moisture. Solid sides does the job. And line the slatted ones with cardboard.
“Also, add a roof when you’ve finished adding to it. That could be something as basic as a sheet of corrugated iron. In the UK we get a lot of rain, so it stops it getting soggy and smelling.
“Our challenge is to maintain a balance of green and brown throughout the year, so try and stockpile browns for use in summer.
COMPOST MIXES
Choose compost carefully depending on what you need it for
- SOWING SEEDS Combine one part homemade compost, with one part multipurpose. For small seeds add one part sieved composted woodchip, sand, vermiculite, or perlite.
- LARGER POTS One part home made, one part multipurpose, 10 per cent finely sieved composted woodchip, sand, vermiculite or perlite. If you have a wormery – up to 10 per cent worm compost.
- RAISED BEDS One part home made, one part multipurpose – but tamp down well so roots will be well anchored. It’s an advantage the level sinks, so you can add new compost every year.
“And if you’ve just done a load of hedge trimming for example, and it’s still out on the grass. Go out on it with a lawn mower – this will help cut it right down to use on the compost.
“I rely on compost because it’s not a fertiliser in the ‘modern’ sense of the word. Instead it’s a biological stimulant, which feeds soil life and enables soil organisms to help plant roots find food and moisture. Think of it as enabler, more than a primary source of food.
“Hopefully you can improve the health of your soil, your plants, yourself and the wider environment.”
‘Compost’ by Charles Dowding, published by DK Books, is £14.99 and out now.
THIS WEEK IN VERONICA'S COLUMN
TOP TIPS, NEWS, COMPETITIONS AND MORE
NEWS! IN February I reported how the RHS had launched a nationwide initiative to identify which plants are most visited by bumblebees in Spring. This week it revealed the results of Bumbles on Bloom – which shows white petalled flowers received more visits than any other from the vital pollinators. Closely behind was purple and pink – which matches the fact that the top five reported plants that butterflies visit in the project included comfrey, crocuses, chives and heather.
WIN! Online one-stop garden shop Crocus is giving one winner the chance to win these three lovely, different sized grey planters worth £159, and a hand trowel and fork. The sophisticated set of 3 planters- are handmade from light and weather-resistant fibreclay with a diamond-etched design. To enter fill in THIS FORM. For more details visit www.thesun.co.uk/Crocuspots, or write to Sun Crocus Planters Comp, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 12.10.24 T&Cs apply.
SAVE! Time to aerate your lawn. Splash out on this £39.99 hollow tined aerator from Screwfix – or the £22 Magnusson version from B&Q
TOP TIP!– Squeeze your compost by hand – if drops come out, its too wet – add cardboard or paper to balance it out and absorb the excess water.
JOB OF THE WEEK! Prune rambling and climbing roses once they’ve finished flowering. Net your pond to stop all the leaves falling in. Give your lawn a good rake. Raise your pumpkins off the ground if you can, to stop them rotting.
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