Tag Archives: Compost

Scots urged to Spring into Home Composting

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The start of the growing season is a great time to get out in the garden and also give your compost bin some attention. It’s time to clear out your winter garden debris and fill your garden with bright flowers.

Composting is a great way to turn all those garden clippings and trimmings into a useful soil conditioner for your garden.  If you don’t already compost at home, spring is a great time of year to start.

Zero Waste Scotland’s top five tips to a blooming wonderful garden this Spring:

1. Rake your lawn to get rid of old growth, twigs and stray leaves and put it in your compost bin. This lets the light and air into the soil level encouraging grass to grow. Your grass will be looking lush in time for your first summer BBQ!

2. Cut back last season’s plants and add the trimmings to your compost bin.

3. Give your soil a boost by adding nutrient rich homemade compost in preparation for Spring planting.

4. Moisturise with mulch! When planting new shrubs and fruit trees, mulch heavily around the base with compost. The mulch will prevent moisture loss which means you’ll do less watering.

5. After your Spring clean, add the vacuumed dirt and dust to your compost bin.

Don’t forget to use your compost bin over the holiday period

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 We are back to freezing weather again so I keep the lid on my compost bin as this helps keep the snow out and the warmth in – just like us the mini beasts inside like to be warm! I’ve covered the top of the compost with a piece of old carpet to try to keep the freezing temperatures out.  I’ve swapped my 5 litre kitchen caddy with a 15 litre one temporarily for the holiday period so it can take all the extra  potato, carrot and sprout peelings as well as orange, Satsuma and banana skins.  I put scrunched up wrapping paper in the bin as well if it isn’t covered in foil or I can reuse it. I’m looking forward to all this seemingly useless waste being turned into compost in 2011.

Window Ledge Farming!

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When I was little one of my favourite things to do was help my granddad in his vegetable garden. I spent many a happy hour, tending to the strawberry plants, harvesting pea pods, and pulling up potatoes and carrots. Although I am definitely not very green fingered, it always fascinated me that something that you can grow from a tiny seed can become something tasty to eat. I vowed that when I got my own home the first thing I would do would be to plant a vegetable plot.

Several years on, I am now a happy new home owner, still with the ambitious dreams of a vegetable patch to wow my neighbours with, unfortunately though living in a garden less flat!

Now I am not one to be beaten, and am always trying to pursue my dreams so decided that the little matter of not having a garden would not hinder my green fingered ambitions – so I took over any available window sill space I could find!

Now I am sure my new neighbours are probably questioning what I am up too but I am ecstatic with the results! In the photo you can see my 5 tomato plants, 2 red pepper plants, 2 yellow pepper plans, my chilli plant, basil, oregano, chives, parsley, mint and rocket! I feel like a proud parent happily watering my little plant babies every day and checking how much they have grown overnight. Unfortunately my boyfriend was not so impressed as I bounded in early waking him up one morning to inform that the first tomato had appeared!

It just goes to show, that even in the smallest of spaces with a little bit of sunlight, water and tender loving care you can still become the green fingered gardener you once aspired to be.

Growing your own needs no fancy tools or equipment, nor do you need to be Alan Titchmarsh to join in the fun. Just a packet of your chosen seed, some lovely compost (preferably peat-free) and a pot to grow them in – infact you don’t even need a pot. I couldn’t keep up with my ever growing jungle and had to salvage any means possible to accommodate my new family. I have discovered cake tubs, ends of juice bottles and pasta sauce containers make perfect pots for growing my crop!

Window ledge farming (as I like to call it) is a great way  for us city folk to reconnect with nature. Growing your own helps you learn where your food comes from, saves you a bit of money and allows you to share in the joy of watching something grow from seed to lunch!

Once you have harvested your gorgeously grown fruit, vegetables and herbs remember to visit the Love Food Hate Waste website for some scrumptious recipes to turn your hard grown work into!

Calling all composters… this is your week!

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It’s compost week. Or more specifically “Compost Awareness Week”. Can you believe we’ve reached the point in Scotland where composting gets its own week? Up until very recently it would have been lucky to get a day, or even just a minute or two. What a fantastic sign that we are beginning to accept responsibility for our own waste. Or perhaps it shows that we’re becoming better connected to our outdoor spaces. After all, composting’s not just for gardeners. There are plenty of communal composters on green spaces in both rural and urban areas of Scotland. Also, many local authorities now accept food waste as part of their kerbside collections which they compost on a large scale.

Basically, composting is a good thing and now the Scottish Government and Waste Aware Scotland want you to “turn your back on your bin” when it comes to fruit and veg peelings, grass clippings and all manner of other compostable items.

As part of the week Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham has said:

“Composting at home is relatively easy and helps reduce the 900,000 tonnes of kitchen and garden waste that Scotland produces every year. That’s why I’m getting involved in Compost Awareness Week. I am determined to help create a cleaner, greener Scotland which is one of this Government’s priorities. Composting at home also creates a great free, soil conditioner which can help improve the health and growth of your plants.”

A Waste Aware Scotland campaign covers the delights of home composting and points out the numerous benefits of trying to avoid sending food waste to landfill (which generates Methane, 20 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide!):

  • It reduces waste sent to landfill.
  • It saves money by avoiding having to buy compost.
  • It provides a free soil conditioner and helps soil retain moisture.
  • It improves plant health and growth – and can increase yields of fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs.

For more about composting please see the web pages on our website.

I have a compost bin in my garden which I bought cheaply through our campaign. I have to be honest and say that it’s not been an entirely easy ride. I am yet to produce a viable compost material. However all my food waste (except meat and cooked scraps) now goes into my kitchen caddy then my compost bin. So, as long as I can work out how to get it to turn into dark rich food for my vegetables (which may involve adding a touch of something unusual or using our very own Compost Doctor), I’ll be more than happy with my decision to become a composter.

For more details on Compost Week see the Scottish Government’s own webpage on the subject.