Recycling

Find out the Best Ways to Improve

Recycling Vegetable Compost & Water in Your Garden

For the keen and environmentally friendly gardener a compost bin or heap is a must.

It saves waste being dumped at the tip in the countryside or at sea. More importantly it provides really good humus and nutrients that when spread on the flower beds or vegetable garden improve plant vigour, growth and resistance to disease. The soil quality is improved by helping to break down heavy clay or improving the moisture retention of light sandy soils.

Re-use all organic waste from your home and garden.

Do not put in the roots of vigorous perennial weeds such as docks, dandelion, convolvulus, nettle, horseradish etc as they will possibly re-grow. Most other green leaves, seed heads, fruit etc. will rot down and be made into great compost by the heat generated in the heap / bin.

At times it is advisable to cover the heap. In very hot and dry weather to keep moisture in to help the rotting process. In winter it will also prevent too much rain from washing the nutrients out. An old tarpaulin, piece of pond liner, carpet or underlay, corrugated tin, ply etc. can all be used successfully.

Chop up or shred any vegetation or domestic green vegetable waste into small pieces.

Ensure that different materials are mixed together in the heap and not left in layers.

An agent (such as Garotta) to help speed the process can be added if required at intervals depending upon how much waste you create.

Grass cuttings and general hedge trimmings can be mixed in.

Do not leave grass cuttings in a blob on their own as they will just become a slimy smelly mass with little nutritional value later on.

Use the rich compost to help your garden plants thrive, grow well and improve the resistance to pests and disease. but don't forget to shred the contents first and ensure that they are well mixed to avoid large clumps of the same material.

Lawn cuttings should be mixed up well with other garden and vegetable waste to allow the air, insects and worms to do their job in rotting the compost well ready for use.

My 91 year old father, who used to teach gardening swears by adding a bit of garotta regularly to his compost as it increases in size. It helps the green vegetable waste to rot down quicker for use on your veggie plot or flower borders over next winter. There are a range of good natural plants that will help the compost to work harder and these include Comfrey, Nettle Leaves & Stems, Lovage which can all be added to your composter.

The panel below offers a selection of composters and wormeries. There are a number of pages of similar goods to view and buy if you click on the pages link within the yellow box.

Wormeries

Buy one of the many proprietary systems and produce your own rich liquid plant feed along with highly concentrated fibrous compost.

Re-use all organic waste from your home and garden.

Chop up or shred any vegetation or domestic green vegetable waste into small pieces. Do not put in the roots of vigorous perennial weeds such as docks, dandelion, convolvulus, nettle, horseradish etc as they will possibly re-grow.

The liquid produced from your wormery must be well diluted with water. It makes a great feed for all types of plants from container grown shrubs and annuals to vegetable borders. Especially good in the greenhouse for tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, courgettes, peppers etc. We also use it in a very diluted solution when watering our house plants during their flowering and growing seasons. This helps them to thrive, flower well and be as disease free as possible.

To find more composting and recycling garden products have a look through the great items available from our associated suppliers that follow. By clicking on the button at the bottom of the box panel below that says "next" you will discover many more products that could help you to be a greener and more environmentally friendly gardener.