Page 37 - Allotment Gardener Issue 2 2024

A Great Composting Day Out
Community Composters and Master Compost champions from North Somerset came to the Chestergate Allotments last year, to see how Bisley Community Compost scheme (BCCS) has been transforming the Parish’s
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Never Mind The Rain
unwanted garden greens into an exceptional soil improver.
BCCS receives garden ‘waste’ (for us this is not waste but a valuable resource) such as grass cuttings, shrub prunings and discarded perennial plants, then layers in six composting bays, where the composting gets to work and within four
to six months has produced a brilliant un- sieved mulch. BCCS also produces leaf mould and has a Garden Organic approved home composting demonstration area (see https:// bisleycommunitycompostscheme.org.uk).
Co-founder Lesley Greene explained that the scheme started because allotment holders in Bisley were looking for ways to get more compost sustainably.
She says “Around 80 tonnes of ‘soil improver’ is produced by this process every year, with allotment holders and gardeners in Bisley
and community groups able to use it on their beds and borders. The compost is especially
important for an increasing number of our
allotment holders doing ‘no dig’ growing and for addressing climate change - because compost
is available by old fashioned wheelbarrow transport! No need to expend fuel or money buying and importing compost from external sources. A lovely circular economy.” The moral of the tale: every allotment needs a community compost scheme!
Gloucestershire and North Somerset Master Composters were joined by representatives from Garden Organic and various local authority waste minimisation and environmental officers.
As well as braving the rain to visit the Bisley scheme, the group also went to Brimscombe with Shelley, Greg and Kate, to see the site of the new Brimscombe and Thrupp Community Composting Scheme (BATCOM) off London Road, which was recently granted planning permission, before having an organic beer and lunch at Stroud Brewery.
BCCS is run by volunteers as a Community Interest Company and has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Lesley Greene - BCCS Director
Allotment Gardener | Issue 2 2024 | 37