This week it's all about compost. Composting is one of the simplest ways of reducing your household waste and improving your garden's output. What a serendipitous circle - you can throw less rubbish into landfill and grow fatter, juicier tomatoes into the bargain. So here are a few ideas to get started with:1. Get a bucket (preferably one with a lid) and start throwing your veg peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells and torn up junk mail inside. When full empty into a compost bin in the garden. You can make your own or buy one from a garden centre.
2. Find out whether your local council has any great offers on compost bins at the moment. Mine was half price (I think - it was actually a Christmas present from my beloved, deposited on the doorstep with him inside)
3. As a end-of-the-summer-holidays project try making a worm farm. These are easy to make and introduce the concept of composting in such a visual and captivating way.
4. Make a leaf litter bin ready for the autumn. Hammer five 4ft poles into the ground, wrap chicken wire round the outside and you have a bin to collect leaves in. After 1 to 2 years this will have decomposed into a good addition to your homemade compost.
5. Make a batch of homemade fertilizer with some nettles or comfrey. Put on some gloves and fill a bucket up to the brim with nettles or comfrey leaves. Cover with water and leave to infuse for a week or two, by which time it should be humming. Dilute one part fertilizer brew to 15 parts water and use to feed your tomatoes, sweetcorn, apple trees etc. A little treat for the plants, which might encourage the fruits to grow just a little bit juicier before harvest.
Hope you enjoy getting busy in the garden this week!
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3 comments:
Hi Melissa - just popped over from Mrs Green's site at MyZeroWaste. I can't agree more about composting and what's great is that a novice can do it. Fantastic results for very little effort. Have you tried Bokashi composting too? That was a new one on me this year, but has proven great for getting rid of cooked food waste. Anyway, great to see you blogging. ;-D
Hi Karen,
Thanks for enthusiastic comments. I just checked out your site and it looks at though you are one busy green lady - excited to read your book next year. I reckon your story would definitely appeal to Green Parent readers.
I haven't tried a Bokashi system. I guess mainly because we have chickens and are all veggie so no food gets wasted. I'd be intrigued to find out how you get on with the system though - do you have to buy new bran quite regularly? Or can you use something else?
Do tell!
Best wishes, Melissa
Hi Melissa - as our council doesn't collect food waste I've found the Bokashi has been truly helpful, especially for odd pieces of meat or fish. I got it about a month into our zero waste week challenge and found that I would fill it up over two weeks. It was mainly to cope with leftovers from my small child that couldn't be reused or
stuff that had gone off through bad planning. Interestingly having become more efficient on the food front, it now takes six weeks to fill, which I am very pleased with.
It does need specific Bokashi bran which is mixture of bran and molasses that has been inoculated with Ems (Effective microOrganisms), which gets sprinkled on top of the food as you build up each layer. When full you leave it closed for two weeks to "ferment", draining off the liquid as you go. The liquid can be poured down the drain or diluted for plant food. The fermented contents can be put in a composter, wormery or dug into the ground, so very versatile. I estimate that the bran should cost about £30 a year, if that but I've yet to find out. I have also heard about a local lady who does make her own, so I hope to track her down too.
That's great what you said about the story, so please feel free to drop me a line if you want to pick this up at anytime. There's tonnes happening out there in the world of waste (excuse the pun) and featuring Mrs Green's Zero Waste successes and Tracey Smith's latest book should hopefully inspire others.
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