Why Compost Deserves a Corner of Every Garden

If you garden beside a brook, stream or pond, you already know how much life gathers at the water's edge. Herons, frogs, damselflies and the occasional nosy moorhen all benefit from a landscape that is generous with cover and food. The same principle applies beneath your feet. Soil that is alive with worms, fungi and bacteria holds moisture better, feeds plants steadily and needs far less intervention from you. Compost is the simplest way to get there, and it costs nothing but a little time and attention.

Think of a compost heap as a slow, quiet digestion system. You feed it kitchen scraps and garden clippings, it feeds the soil, and the soil feeds everything else. Get the basics right and you will have a crumbly, sweet-smelling material within a few months, ready for beds, borders and the damp ground near a brookside where richer soil pays dividends all year round.

What You Need to Get Started

You do not need an expensive bin or a complicated system. A heap, a pen made from pallets, or a plastic dalek-style bin will all do the job. What matters is that air can reach the middle and that you can turn the contents when needed. Aim for a space at least a metre square, ideally out of full sun so it does not dry out, but not so shaded that it stays cold and sodden.

• A base: bare soil is best, so worms and microbes can move in. If you must stand it on paving, put down a layer of twiggy prunings first.
• A mix of materials: roughly equal volumes of soft green waste and tougher brown waste.
• A fork: for turning. A garden fork with a good long handle saves your back.
• A lid or cover: an old piece of carpet, tarpaulin or a bin lid keeps rain out and warmth in.

Keep a small lidded caddy in the kitchen for peelings, tea leaves, coffee grounds and eggshells, and empty it every few days. This single habit is what keeps most heaps going.

Greens and Browns: the Balance That Does the Work

Every heap needs two kinds of material. Greens are soft, wet and nitrogen-rich; browns are dry, fibrous and carbon-rich. Too many greens and the heap turns slimy and smelly. Too many browns and it sits there doing almost nothing. Aim for about half and half by volume, and adjust as you go.

• Greens: vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, grass cuttings (in thin layers), annual weeds before they seed, spent flowers, coffee grounds, comfrey leaves, manure from vegetarian animals.
• Browns: shredded paper and cardboard, egg boxes, toilet roll tubes, straw, dried leaves, woodchip in small amounts, dead plant stems, sawdust from untreated wood.

Chop bulky things roughly with a spade or shredder. Smaller pieces break down faster, and a heap that heats up properly will deal with weed seeds and many pests along the way.

Air and Moisture: Two Things People Forget

Composting is an aerobic process, which simply means the helpful microbes need oxygen. A heap that is packed down and wet will go anaerobic, and that is what produces the sour, rotten smell and the matted, sludgy lumps no one wants to spread on a border. Turning the heap every two to four weeks reintroduces air and lets you check on progress.

Moisture matters just as much. Squeeze a handful from the middle: it should feel like a wrung-out sponge, damp but not dripping. If it is bone dry, water it as you turn. If it is sodden, add more browns, fork it over and cover it properly. Beside a brook or in a wet, low-lying garden, drainage around the heap is worth thinking about, so it never stands in water.

What not to add: cooked food and meat, which attract rats; diseased plant material; perennial weed roots such as bindweed and ground elder; and anything treated with weedkiller. Pet waste from dogs and cats should also stay out.

Speed It Up, or Let It Take Its Time

If you want compost within two to three months, build a heap of at least a cubic metre in one go, chop everything small, keep the moisture right and turn it fortnightly. This is the hot method, and it is satisfying to watch the temperature rise.

If that sounds like hard work, the cool method suits most gardens. Add material as you generate it, turn occasionally, and expect usable compost in six to twelve months. Many gardeners run two bins side by side: one filling, one maturing. This is a particularly good arrangement in a wildlife-friendly garden, where you are always cutting back something.

Using Compost Well, Especially Near Water

When the material is dark, crumbly and smells of woodland floor, it is ready. Sieve out any stubborn lumps and return them to the next heap. Spread a 5cm layer as mulch around perennials and shrubs, dig it into vegetable beds in autumn, or mix it with soil and grit for potting. A mulch of compost around plants at the edge of a brookside planting slows runoff, keeps roots cool and holds moisture in the ground rather than letting it drain away.

Compost also feeds the soil food web that supports frogs, hedgehogs and ground beetles, all of which help keep slugs and other pests in check. Do this patiently and your garden will need less watering, less feeding and fewer bought-in products. It is the closest thing to a free lunch that gardening offers, and it starts with a bucket of peelings and a corner of the plot.