Looking After Your Compost Heap

Composting takes place all around us, not just in a compost heap. From the moment a piece of fruit or veg is cut open and subjected to the air, bacteria and fungi will begin their work of colonising and digesting it.

In the soil there are many different types of organisms each with their own role to play in turning animal and vegetative waste into humus. Humus is the debris, consisting of the bodily remains of the organisms and bodily waste materials, that is left after the organisms have had a field day digesting the food, the excrement created and each other. Humus is wonderful food for plants, containing minerals and nutrients they need for healthy life and growth. Certain organisms that live in the soil, such as slugs, woodlice and millipedes, will eat and shred materials making it easier and accessible for smaller organisms such as bacteria and fungi to enter. Larger organisms such as worms, nematodes and protozoa, eat the bacteria and fungi digesting and releasing the nutrients tied up within them. Larger animals such as arthropods like centipedes and spiders will prey on the smaller organisms and so the vicious circle of life within the soil processes biodegradable waste into plant food.

The compost heap is really a refined version of what goes on in the soil. By creating the correct environmental and dietary conditions in the compost heap we can speed up the decomposition process and make the heap work efficiently for us. There are four main requirements for the QR heap to work successfully:

• Air is required by the beneficial aerobic organisms such as bacteria which need to breathe. Aerobic bacteria can produce antibiotics which kill off bad bacteria. Make sure your bin has good ventilation around the base and sides to allow air to reach the heap.
• Moisture is required by bacteria and protozoa to take up food and release waste materials - it also allows them to move around in search of food. Worms love moist conditions, if it is too dry they move away. Most ‘green’ materials, such as grass clippings or waste from the kitchen, usually have sufficient moisture in them. ‘Brown’ materials such as hay or straw will require soaking overnight, as explained in my previous post. Allowing too much moisture into the heap can halt the hot composting process so good rainproof shelter, such as corrugated sheeting over the top of the heap is essential. The shelter will also prevent the heap drying out through evaporation.
• Good drainage is necessary to allow excess moisture to drain away otherwise this will build up in the base of the heap and cause airless conditions leading to bad smells and putrefaction. If at all possible, build your heap on well drained soil. If not then incorporate at least a 3” (7.5cm) layer of rubble or rough material under the base.
• Retaining the moist warm heat created in the heap will allow the QR activator to permeate through the pile and will also create the right condition for the types of bacteria that work at higher temperatures which can rapidly break down waste materials. A layer of hessian sacking is ideal because it retains the heat but also allows the heap to breathe.

A layer of hessian sacking helps retain the moist warm heat



If you look after your compost heap it will seldom go wrong and you will learn how to make good compost. Failure is usually the result of overlooking one of the four essential requirements listed above. Understanding what goes on in the heap is the key to success and it will all come naturally after building a few heaps.

Labels: allotment-compost, quick-return-compost

From Plant Waste to Plant Loving Compost in as Little as Four Weeks

Here's the third instalment of wisdom from compost expert Andy Davenport who's also available to answer your compost questions - just post them in comments and he'll respond!

Spring is probably the best time of year for making compost. After the long winter rest, nature begins to wake up; the sap starts to rise, bulbs throw up their shoots, seeds germinate everywhere and life returns to the garden. The fresh leafy spring growth is full of the vitality, energy and nutrients that plants have been slowly storing up over winter and is especially good at kick starting the compost heap. The first batches of weeds and grass clippings are full of life and vigour and contain high amounts of simple sugars and nutrients which are the perfect food for the bacteria in the compost heap. They soon get to work quickly breaking it down and their frenetic feeding, breathing and rapid reproduction soon gets the temperature up in the compost heap.

Compost heaps that were built last autumn will have come to a standstill over winter. These can be re-energised and finished off by taking the compost heap down to about half its height and rebuilding the top half of the heap, alternating layers of fresh green materials, such as grass clippings and weeds, with the old compost. It is very important that these materials are fresh otherwise they won’t raise the heat and will have little impact. Nettles are particularly good because they are full of iron and other minerals - they also make an excellent activator and can generate high temperatures in the heap. The layers should be no more than 4” (10cm) deep and should be built by placing handfuls of material working from the outside towards the centre of the heap. Sprinkle QR activator on the heap prior to the addition of each layer and remember to place some hessian sacking or old carpet on top of the rebuilt heap to retain the precious heat. If the bin isn’t fitted with a lid, place some rainproof sheeting over the heap to keep out the rain. A heap rebuilt in this way will make excellent compost in about 4 to 6 weeks.

Alternate layers of fresh green materials, such as grass clippings and weeds, with the old compost









All those dry winter stems and clearings from the borders can be used to build a new heap but they need some preparation first. They need to be shredded or broken up into small pieces which can easily be done by chopping them with a spade in one of those floppy plastic buckets. If they are dry then give them a good soaking overnight. Rainwater with some soil added, urine or rain water mixed with some well rotted manure are all good for the job and will also add valuable minerals, nutrients and enzymes to the heap which will assist in the breakdown of tough materials . After soaking, leave them to drain off for a couple of hours so that they are not too wet. They can then be used to build into layers of the heap alternated with layers of fresh greens. Add the QR activator, heat retention and shelter as explained earlier. A heap built like this in the spring can make great compost in about 6 to 8 weeks. As the seasons progress the vitality and nutrients in the plant materials gradually reduces and so the time to ripen slowly increases, despite warmer summer temperatures. The summer compost heap usually takes about 8 to 12 weeks to reach maturity and an autumn heap about 12 to 16 weeks. However these timings are still very fast compared to other methods - it is no wonder that Miss Bruce called her system the ‘Quick Return’ method.

Labels: allotment-compost, quick-return-compost

Hot Composting - without turning the heap!

Another article from Andy Davenport on the joys and secrets of Quick Return Composting

There are many different methods of composting but generally they can be divided into two main types – hot composting and cold composting.

Cold composting is very popular because it doesn’t take much work or preparation of materials before they are added to the heap and is quite a relaxed approach, the drawback is that the results can be a bit hit or miss and it can take a quite a while – up to a couple of years which is obviously a long time to wait. This can also mean having lots of compost heaps everywhere or compost bins tied up for long periods whilst waiting for compost to mature.

The great thing about hot composting is that it can bring results much more quickly – in a matter of weeks or months rather than years! The catch is that with most hot composting techniques they usually require the arduous task of turning the heap in order to get sufficient aeration to the organisms to enable thorough breakdown of the waste materials. Of course, you could go out and spend a lot of money on a compost tumbler – but these have the drawback that they do not allow beneficial creatures or organisms to enter the heap once temperatures have dropped. If they are in the compost bin when it’s hot, where temperatures can reach up to 70oC, then they will be killed off. When the Quick Return (QR) method was invented by Maye E Bruce back in the 1930’s, she discovered that the herbal activator that the method uses actually removes the requirement to turn the compost. This can save a dramatic amount of work given that a compost heap may normally have to be turned at least 3 times to get good compost. For large heaps with up to a tonne of material that’s a lot of work! It also saves on having extra enclosures or space available to turn the compost into.

The QR method does take a little extra care and time to construct but this does not increase the build time by a massive amount. The heap has to be built in layers of alternating materials, greens alternated with browns, coarse alternated with soft etc. These layers should be built quite firmly with the material placed in by hand, working around the bin from the outside towards the centre. The QR herbal activator solution is sprinkled into the heap (a bit like putting vinegar on your chips!) prior to the addition of each layer. A careful and gentle treading after a few layers allows the activator to permeate through the waste material, spreading through the pile with the moist warm heat created when the bacteria start to breakdown nitrogen. Keeping the heap covered with some sacking or old carpet will keep this valuable heat within the compost. A rainproof lid or sheet on top of the bin is also essential or rain may seep in which will cause cooling off and will mean rebuilding the heap. ‘It is after all just common sense’ as Miss Bruce used to say!

A careful and gentle treading after a few layers allows the activator to permeate through the waste material

Labels: allotment-compost, quick-return-compost

Getting the Most from Your Compost Heap

You may remember that a few months ago, I flirted with the idea of QR composting (am still flirting with it, in fact) and was fascinated by the whole concept. Well, Andy Davenport who wrote Quick Return Compost Making has agreed to write some guest posts for me!

So the next six weeks will be Compost Wednesday on allotment blog - and if you send in questions I'll pass them to Andy to answer, or you can just make a comment and he'll give us some feedback. Here's post number one!

Making a successful compost heap is probably one of the gardening activities that most conscientious gardeners have high on their list of priorities. After the necessary efforts, there is a certain sense of pride and triumph when you finally get to run your fingers through lovely, cool, dark compost. It is especially rewarding when you think about what went into the compost bin and how you have worked with nature to produce such a wonderful commodity – and it’s totally free!

But this really is just the tip of the iceberg. Good fertile compost such as that made using the Quick Return (QR) method, can literally transform the nature of a garden. By adding the compost to our soils many radical changes can take place benefiting every living creature that exists in the garden (including us) and every plant that has the good fortune to grow there.

The soil in our garden is predominantly heavy clay and when we first arrived there about 8 years ago the borders were pretty difficult to work. However, with the addition of a yearly mulch of QR compost the soil has become loose and friable and this penetrates many inches down - and that is without digging. All manner of creatures including birds, small mammals and worms all help by doing the job for us. Our soil doesn’t get heavy anymore and is very free draining and yet it doesn’t need as much watering. Not only does the soil have greater water holding properties but plant roots are able to penetrate the soil more easily and thoroughly allowing them to extract greater reserves of moisture during drought conditions. We all know that water drains down through soils but compost fed soils also allow water to move laterally through the soil- this can be a tremendous help to plants under cloches for example which can take up moisture without the need for lifting the cloche to water.

Weeding must be the most disliked job in the garden – sometimes enough to actually put people off gardening. But with the nice loose soil structure created by the addition of compost the weeds can be pulled out with ease – roots and all. Suddenly, weeding becomes quite a pleasure, especially when you add them to the compost heap, knowing that they are full of minerals that will be returned to the soil in the future. If the compost is applied as a nice thick mulch and renewed on a regular basis then weed seeds are suppressed and don’t get the chance to germinate. Mulching also has the added benefit of helping to retain moisture within the soil.

As more compost is applied to the soil over the years it becomes darker and darker. This helps the soil to warm up and can extend the growing season. Dark soil acts like a big heat sink - particularly under glass. Cloches and compost fed soil go hand in hand.

Probably the most important thing we can get from compost is our health. Bacteria and other micro organisms abound and flourish in the compost and in turn in the soil where it is added. These organisms are the building blocks of life and the beginnings of the food webs that exist in the soil. Their abundance, health and vitality is paramount to the health and vitality of all the plants and animals that exist within the ecosystem in the garden. Quite simply this health means greater resistance to pests and disease. In our own interest, we can inherit this health and robustness when we eat the fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in our compost garden.

Labels: allotment-compost, compost, quick-return-compost

Allotment composting

Today we don’t have snow! Instead we have torrential rain and gale force winds … can you hear me sighing in despair?

While all I can do is watch the mini-rivers running down the allotment paths, I’ve been trying to plan ahead and one thing that caught my eye was the QR Compost Making method.

QR stands for Quick Return and apparently it’s been a successful way of speeding up compost production since the 1930s. There’s a whole book dedicated to QR here and I think I’m going to give it a go. The herbs in question are nettle, dandelion, chamomile, yarrow, valerian and oak bark. Honey is also included in the formula because it is a powerful activator apparently – and the claim is that a nutrient rich compost can be produced using normal garden waste in a matter of weeks, without turning (and I do hate turning compost) and without needing to add manure. It also talks about a 'closed loop' system which means that the minimum of materials enter or leave the garden and the lowest possible range of resources (including the muscle work of the allotment holder) are expended. Also there’s a foreword from Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association and a donation will be made to the Soil Association for each copy sold.

Labels: allotment-compost, quick-return-compost

Allotment strawberry beds

My new strawberry plants arrived in the middle of last week, so I grabbed the chance on Monday to go and plant them out. Okay, that’s not strictly accurate, I skived off work (I work for myself, so I had to explain myself to myself when I got back from the allotment) to take advantage of the good weather, and I’m glad I did because it has rained, non-stop, since then.

I ordered Strawberry Alice because they are late season and I already had runners from our old strawberry bed, which are mid-season, so I hope this will give us strawberries for longer. I’ve decided to plant them in two different raised beds, partly because the way the runners from the old neglected bed (which, let me remind you, was not neglected by us but by the previous allotment owners) had managed to travel at least two yards outside the bed, so anything that limits that rampaging has to be a good thing! Himself put in another two rows of broad beans, which makes five (and I feel sure there should be a joke about how many rows of beans make five, but I can't think how it would go) while I planted the two strawberry beds.


The top of the plot, previously known as the allotment shame, has been rotavated and as I had a new compost bin to install, I got on with that too, turning the compost from bins one and two and setting up bin three. I’m expecting the compost from bin one to be ready in spring, bin two in the autumn of next year, but bin three won’t be ready for a couple of years as it has been started off with a lot of twiggy stuff that came out of the rotavation process.

Now we need to get some weed-suppressing membrane down over the dug area, in the hope of smothering a few of the perennial weeds that will recover from being chopped to pieces in short order. In fact, if you want to propagate bindweed (but who would be so insane?) rotavating it is the best way, as every tiny fragment puts out roots and becomes a new plant. I hope I got most of the bindweed out before the machine arrived but it doesn’t take more than a single length of the disgusting stuff to spread itself right over a lovely newly dug area – especially if the blades have chopped it up and spread it out, all ready to take over!

Labels: allotment-bindweed, allotment-broad beans, allotment-compost, allotment-strawberries

Rhubarb facts, myths and a recipe

Rhubarb is the monster in the garden. It grows as fast as Jack’s beanstalk and is supposedly poisonous. Served as part of school dinners it occasioned grimaces and fake spewing up in the lunch-line when the whisper went back ‘It’s rhubarb and custard for afters’ and it’s the name of a cartoon dog remembered fondly by people of a certain age.

Rhubarb is delicious, but the leaves are poisonous so you shouldn’t be eating them or feeding them to livestock. It is safe to compost them, but if you’re canny, you’ll tear them up a bit to ensure they biodegrade thoroughly. Rhubarb poisoning symptoms include: burning mouth and throat, breathing difficulties, eye pain, stomach ache and nausea, vomiting, coma and seizures – scary or what?

And don’t eat raw rhubarb stalks (as if you would) because although it won’t kill you, it will make you feel wretched.

But rhubarb is also delicious, easy to grow and keeps rabbits out of the plot if you plant it around the edge. And if you make it into a meringue, your family will love you to bits.

Rhubarb Cloud

1 kilo rhubarb
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 egg whites
180 grams castor sugar
A small piece of grated fresh ginger, or half a teaspoon of powdered ginger

Preheat oven to 220°c. Cut the rhubarb into thumb-length chunks and then mix it with the brown sugar. Put the mixture in a lightly buttered ovenproof dish and cook for around thirty minutes until it has softened and is giving up its juices.

Put the rhubarb aside while you let the oven cool to 180°c. Beat the egg whites until stiff and as they reach the peaking stage, add the castor sugar in a couple of stages and ginger. Now spread this over the rhubarb and bake for twenty minutes until it has a golden tinge. Serve at once.

Labels: allotment-compost, allotment-recipes, allotment-rhubarb

Composting in autumn

Have you ever wondered why so many people have so many compost heaps? Well it’s because they have different ‘maturity’. Young compost is hot and wet, mature compost is brown and friable (breaks up easily, to you and me) and there’s every stage in between, but hopefully not the black, slimy, fetid stage which is called ‘failure’!

And different heaps, made at different times of year, have different properties – the best heaps are made between late summer and late autumn because healthy compost requires around two thirds 'brown’ material such as leaves, shrubs and twigs and one third 'green material' – grass clippings, green leaf clippings, fruit and vegetable peelings and kitchen scraps. Usually you have no problem supplying the green material but it is the brown material that is more difficult to find. However, the situation is reversed in autumn when leaves, shrubs and twigs become plentiful and by creating a compost bin in autumn, you’re stockpiling this carbon-heavy material which will improve your compost composition no end.

If you have a bazillion leaves, say for example you’ve just taken over a plot with a pear tree on it, and the leaves are not diseased, you can create a wire bin or separate leaf pile under a polythene sheet and compost down the leaves there, as they will take longer, up to a year, to break down, but leaf-mould, as we all know, is pure garden gold.

And remember that, as it gets colder the composting process slows down to hibernatory levels so if you want a faster composting rate, you can line your compost bin with cardboard or pile blankets on top to trap the heat generated by the biodegrading process.

Labels: allotment-compost, allotment-leaf-mould

December allotment tasks

If like us, you’re struggling with allotment motivation in this bad weather, it’s worth thinking about all the good things that next year will bring you if you put in the effort now. This is what our neighbours have on their allotment ‘to do’ lists:

Winter pruning apple and pear trees to remove diseased wood and improve the shape – especially to try and get trees down to a reasonable height, because one of the major problems with allotment trees is that if the previous plot holder didn’t stay on top of pruning, you inherit something you can only harvest with a thirty foot ladder! It really should be a sacred trust to keep trees in trim, because it’s so hard to get them back down to picking size once they get out of hand.

Digging in manure where the brassica bed will be next year, and turning the compost in bins or heaps, to let in a bit of air which will speed up the decomposition process through the winter months when the normally active bacteria become dormant in the cold.

General weeding – especially along paths and around fruit bushes and trees, and general maintenance like checking roofs for leaks, gutters for blockages and compost bins for seeping or rotten areas if they are wooden.

Lots of plot holders are using this damp and miserable weather to highlight the areas of their plot that are holding water, and as soon as the rain stops and the frosts begin they will dig in sand and compost to help with drainage – the frosts will help break up the soil and add air to it, which encourages water to drain and gives added fertility.

Labels: allotment-compost, allotment-crops, allotment-december, allotment-fruit, allotment-tasks

This week's chore

I spoke to my father last night. His allotment is in Torquay, so their weather is definitely more clement, most of the year, than ours, but we’re still undertaking the same task – ye good olde mucke spreading.

It’s the perfect time of year to get compost or well aged manure onto your plot; the frosts will give it a good chance to break down over the winter if there’s anything that still needs to break down, it acts as a mulch around anything that needs protecting from the cold snaps, and it’s easier by far to spread goodness now, than wait until spring and have to work round all the plants that are already coming up.

It is back-breaking work though. Barrowload after barrowload to be wheeled around the site, tipped out, forked over the surface, and then back for another barrowload. One of my neighbours seems to have the right idea – more barrows!

But there’s also something very satisfying about knowing that what you do now will earn you dividends over the year ahead – all that rich food that will penetrate the soil, giving nutrients to the plants, and breaking up the soil surface to make it easier to work and better at holding water, it does make the task worthwhile.

Labels: allotment-compost, allotment-manure, allotment-winter-tasks

Salford lead the way in recycling ... their own waste products!

Salfords's allotmenteers are an imaginative bunch. The plot holders at Tindall Street allotments, in Peel Green, are hoping displays will come up smelling of roses after their own 'manure' is spread on their flowers.

Dan Griffiths, site manager, said, "We are very proud to have this toilet - we think it’s the first of it’s kind in Salford and will help us plough back manure into our plots. We won’t be using it on our fruit and vegetables - just on the flowers."

The toilet unit, bought with a £6,000 Lottery grant, has two internal boxes. After availing him or herself of the facilities, the user puts a handful of sawdust-type material inside the toilet bowl to encourage composting. After a year, the compost will be ready to be used on the allotments.

When that happens, the gardeners will transfer their attentions to the other box and the whole process starts all over again.

Labels: allotment-compost, allotment-facilities, allotment-toilets