Deterred by the cost of compost? Then make your own!
Compost: it is a vital accompaniment to your flower, vegetable or herb seeds, serving as an invaluable fertiliser and soil amendment. It may just be decomposed and recycled organic matter, but it has long been used for everything from gardens and landscaping to horticulture and agriculture. But have you looked at the prices of compost lately? If, like us here at Seeds By Post (http://www.seedsbypost.co.uk), you were not impressed, you may be tempted to make your own.
Bags of compost are becoming more expensive here in the UK, and the situation has only been worsened by the effective outlawing of peat compost, which only those with the relevant rights under their land can now obtain. Customers of our cheap seeds will be pleased to hear that it’s actually very simple to make your own compost, with the help of the vegetables and salad that you have already been using in your cooking.
It all starts with a compost bin, into which you can put your waste vegetables and salad. You can buy such a bin yourself, with prices ranging from £50 to £300. The lower end of that price range will get you a basic wooden bin, while those that can spend a bit more can get a more sophisticated plastic bin that can actually be rotated to mix up the compost. But it’s also possible to make your own compost bin, using any of the many downloadable plans from the Internet.
You’ll need the contents of your compost bin to rot quickly, which is why it is a better idea to place it in a sun-drenched spot than a shaded one. As for the contents of your bin, beginners are advised to combine brown with green waste. Examples of green waste include wet grass cuttings, leftover salad and potato peelings, while your choice of brown waste could be torn up paper, dry leaves, hay or straw.
For the rot and breakdown process to take place, what you really need to do is mix and aerate this waste, perhaps by rotating your compost bin each week if it is a round one. If it isn’t, you could always use a fork, or even invest in a compost aerator that you can use to aerate even the lowest parts of your compost bin. Nonetheless, by always reserving any of the aforementioned green or brown waste for your compost bin rather than your conventional bin, you can soon have great compost for your seeds.
Once your compost gains the crumbly texture of soil, you’ll know that it is ready for use. Combine these techniques with our own well-priced flower, herb and vegetable seeds and accessories here at Seeds By Post (http://www.seedsbypost.co.uk) for the best possible results!
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