Page 20 - Allotment Gardener Issue 2 2024

COMPOSTING
WAKE UP
YOUR
COMPOST BIN
Master composter Rod Weston gives us some tips on waking up our compost bin for the start of the growing season.
Composting on the allotment enables you to improve your soil and the productivity of the plot without spending money, by returning organic matter to the soil. This improves biodiversity, soil structure, water retention and reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by trapping carbon in the soil. Composting organic waste also reduces the need for bonfires. It happens that composting is easy, and, at its simplest, requires minimum time and effort.
COLD COMPOSTING
Cold composting is the most popular technique requiring little effort and the beginner usually starts with a simple and cheap moulded plastic bin, e.g. Dalek. If you already use this type of entry level bin and have been adding waste as it becomes available throughout the winter, little decomposition will have taken place during the colder months. The main organisms involved in cold composting are active above 18 - 200C, so as the ambient temperature rises, the activity
of the microbes increases the bin temperature. Removing any finished compost from the bottom of the bin makes room for fresh. This can be used as a mulch on the garden, around trees or bushes and to make seed or potting compost.
All that is needed to make compost is approximately equal amounts of nitrogen rich green materials and carbon rich browns. If the
20 | Issue 2 2024 | Allotment Gardener