The Joys Of Compost
Potato peel banana skin, all go in the compost bin
Bacterial rod and fungus spread
And heat the inner layers of bed
We turn and mix to give them food
Then soon the waste is looking good
For wiggly worms to breed and eat
And when they’re full they will excrete
A cast that joins bacterial rot
Now for us to sweat and toil
As we rake it on our soil
To help to feed our seasons crops
-Anon, 2021
This blog post started with me asking my family a few questions about composting on the allotment. It’s compost week, 2021. I’m going to be helping on the allotment and I feel I have a lot to learn! The more I thought about it, the more I felt inclined to ask for a few more opinions.
When I moved back to the North East, I brought with me my young floristry and also my design and illustration businesses. My aim was to work with homegrown flowers when they were in bloom and focus on my design work throughout the year - giving it more of my attention in the Winter months. I also wanted to get out into my own garden and learn how best I could help plants to thrive on the allotment.
On my journey I was very keen to make connections with people growing flowers in the North East - so I asked google and I was excited to come across Caroline Beck.
Caroline was based over on a small farm in Sacriston when we first met in 2016 and I was thrilled to find her. She is a fantastic flower grower and founder of the Verde Flower Co, now based in a Victorian walled garden near Durham. I knew when I decided to write a blog about compost, Caroline would know heaps - pun intended.
Caroline Beck, Verde Flower Co
“WARNING - Composting is seriously addictive. I’ve been composting for over 20 years, and it still wows me that I can put rubbish in, and get pure gold out a few months later.”
How/why did you start composting and has your approach/technique changed over time?
I started composting when I got my first allotment in 1999. Everyone did it, so I just followed what they did. I made a lot of mistakes. It was either too wet, (and very smelly!) or too dry (and didn't break down properly). The trick is to get a good mixture of dry stuff like stalks, leaves and dry grass, and wet things like green annual weeds, waste vegetables and fruit and grass clippings. Then you need to layer them up like a huge compost sandwich.
Do you need certain types of compost for specific plants?
Home compost, unless you've got a 'hot-bin', tends to be quite rough and ready, but it's still great stuff. You can sift it if you've got time to get out the lumps, but I usually compost all the material from the walled garden - the garden is an acre and a half, so there's a lot of stuff to compost - then put it back on the soil as a mulch and a soil improver. It works incredibly well, feeds the soil and reduces the water bills. If you're buying compost for a specific project - seed compost, potting on seedlings, feeding mature plants - make sure you get the right compost for the right job. Not all compost is the same! We buy ours from Dalefoot, which is made in Cumbria from waste sheep wool and bracken, and is fully organic.
What is the basic setup/equipment needed to start your own compost and how long before one can expect to see results?
If you're composting at home, you need a compost bin which you can either buy or make from wood. Either way, it needs to be rat-proof if you're putting waste fruit and vegetables in it. Again, the secret is to 'layer up' by adding dry stuff, then wet stuff. This keeps the balance right, aids microbial activity which breaks down the waste, and encourages the worms in the compost to keep breeding.
If you're keen to start right away, you can buy the worms online to get you going.
What sort of differences do you notice between areas with and without compost?
Soil without compost is like bread without butter. We could never grow the flowers in the quantities we do without regular additions of our home made compost. It's free, it's organic and it hasn't got any peat in it. NEVER buy compost with peat in it, despite what the marketing blurb says. Peat is a valuable and non-renewable material, and one of the best things for carbon capture, so to use it in compost rather than leaving it in the ground to mitigate climate change is mindless!
WARNING - Composting is seriously addictive. I've been composting for over 20 years, and it still wows me that I can put rubbish in, and get pure gold out a few months later.
Here's a pic of one of the six compost heaps around the garden at Verde Flower Co, which they add to all year round. Photo from Verde Flower Co.
Caroline Beck, Verde Flower Co
https://verdeflowerco.org/
The next wonderful person I spoke to was Sue Fraser. Sue is a gardener and flower grower based in County Durham. I first met Sue when I was visiting the site of another British Flower grower based in York. I had gone to visit Flower Power York as I felt really inspired Mamta and her social enterprise. Sue popped in for a cuppa and then we realised we lived half an hour from each other back in the North East. Sue has supplied many beautiful flowers for weddings I have done up here. Sue was also on my compost fact checker list . I have learnt so much from Sue.
SUE FRASER, CAROLINA MOON FLOWERS
“Where garden compost has been used in the borders the soil is much easier to work, crumbly and much less compacted.”
What are the benefits of composting?
Using garden Improves quality and structure of your soil which means healthier plants better able to fight off pests and disease.
Green waste can be kept on site reducing the environmental impact. Reduces my costs as I can use it mixed with garden soil, sharp sand and feed granules to use in large seasonal display pots which are then just dressed off with shop bought compost.
How/why did you start composting and has your approach/technique changed over time?
I’ve been composting my garden waste for 20 years. It all started when I had the allotment where there was no where to get rid of waste. The allotment rules are reuse and recycle and It wasn’t easy to bring bought in materials to site.
I’ve always built my compost frame from 3 old pallets with one open side. It’s not text book but works for me and I’ve limited space. Ive honed my composting practice over the years and now make sure I add collected rain water intermittently as it lives under the trees, (keeping it moist speeds up the decomposition) I keep a wiggle stick stuck into it to aerate it every time I walk past( it saves having to turn it! ) and since I’ve got my battery hedge trimmer I now chop it up a couple of times a year to speed up composting. I usually get 2 loads of compost in a season from my garden waste.
How do you know when the compost is ready?
It’s ready when it crumbles and you can see worm activity. I make sure I add a mix of green and brown waste ( cardboard, woody stems and small twigs) other wise it can become sludgy. I don’t put in perennial weeds or kitchen waste (rats!)
Do you need certain types of compost for specific plants?
I use my compost for most plants, but wouldn’t use for seed sowing or potting on. Seedlings are precious and need best possible start.
What sort of differences do you notice between areas with and without compost?
Where garden compost has been used in the borders the soil is much easier to work, crumbly and much less compacted. A good soil structure will have air spaces. Garden compost doesn’t eliminate weeds but the weeds are easier to remove, even the ones with long tap roots such as docks.
Sue Fraser, Carolina Moon Flowers