Garden design, garden planning, garden layout, planting plants and planting schemes

Popular questions about composting

Posted on June 17th, 2008

Well another great week of dry and sometimes hot weather which facilitated good progress with our landscaping projects. At this time of year, everyone seems to either want a new garden or work outdoors. Yes it can be nice but also very uncomfortable especially when it becomes very hot. There are reports doing the rounds of a slow down in activity, I’ve even been contacted by some suppliers who tell me phones are so quiet, they thought they were broken! I must admit I see no evidence of any slow down, on the contrary we are turning away projects on a regular basis, it does annoy me but we are operating at full capacity, heavily committed and thus the disappointment to our web enquiries. We are very excited about some really interesting projects over the coming months and more details will be provided later. We will also be adding more features to our website to make it easier, better and hopefully more enjoyable for visitors to access our Showcase of Landscape Projects.

Before I go, I would like to answer some popular questions about composting.

My Compost decomposes very slowly. Why?

The compost process requires material, water and air. If the heap is too dry, the process slows down. Simply add some water. Introduce some air into the composter by turning contents over with a fork. During very cold periods place some polystyrene or old carpet on top of the compost inside the bin to help retain heat.

Will my composter attract vermin and flies?

If you avoid adding cooked food and meat, your composter will not attract rats or foxes. In the summer you may find fruit flies hovering over your composter but they pose no health hazard. If you really don’t want them, simply cover compost heap with a thin layer of soil and they will disappear within hours.

Will my composter smell?

Provided that you do not add large quantities of grass cuttings, a compost heap does not smell. The problem with grass is its high water content and lack of structure. This can cause a slimy heap. To prevent this, tear up an old newspaper and add to the pile when you empty the grass box, but remember you are trying to achieve a good mix of different ingredients.

Can I add weeds to the composter?

Yes you may but many would recommend that you avoid weeds to composter for fear of dispersing weed around garden.

Do I need to add an ‘activator’ to my composter?

If you have included a good all round mix of high nitrogen (grass, plants, vegetable cuttings) and high carbon (dried leaves, hedge clippings) ingredients in your composter, you should not need to add an activator or accelerator. The most important role of most is to add nitrogen to the heap, which stimulates bacterial activity. Animal manure is a good natural activator (but do not add cat or dog faeces), and there are of course proprietary activators/accelerators available from your local garden centre.

Happy gardening.

In the Beginning

Posted on June 16th, 2008

Starting today, we begin a journey ‘Sunblogs’ and being the latest addition to our website, we hope to share with many readers useful tips on a range of topics relating to landscape design, garden construction and gardening. Our Blogs will also be an opportunity perhaps for us to share some experiences from the ‘coal face’ as it were. We will at all times avoid the frivolous, preferring instead to be as relevant and informative and perhaps even on some occasions share some moments of magic and humour. As posts grow and develop we will hopefully retain a structure whereby all posts will be arranged in distinct categories thus facilitating quick and easy access.

Designing and building gardens is always challenging and frequently hard work, but always very rewarding. It is after all a great privilege to be granted the opportunity and associated responsibility to design and build the paying client’s dream garden. It is a challenge that we take on with great relish and our extensive skills and inherent enthusiasm for this type of creative and construction work will also be brought to bear and I have no doubt that our approach and determination will ensure that our Blogs will also achieve relevance and popularity.

Seeing we’re starting just after completing BLOOM 2008, which incidentally I thought was a great success this year. Well done Bord Bia and Expo Exhibitions for organising a super show. Yes the weather did help and wasn’t it a glorious weekend, I’m sure also memorable for many visitors to the event. It was a fantastic showcase bursting with ideas for gardens and products for the outdoor living spaces. We’re certainly looking forward to BLOOM 2009.

We had exhibition space (which did not go unnoticed receiving a Special Commendation from the Judging Panel – Thank You) at BLOOM 2008, and we made determined efforts with great success I must admit, to promote our Victorian Summerhouses as well as a host of other garden products including our Water Features (always popular at Shows), the Beehive Composters which continues to confuse many visitors, is it a beehive or is it a composter? Many fail to see it can be both! Most agree it is very well constructed, durable and certainly a very pretty Composting unit. When the visual association with Beehives and garden composting is finally made, most are full of admiration for what is after all a modest example of everyday iconic garden (product) design. Still fresh in my mind, there were many questions about composting raised at Bloom, and given the time of year, growth rates are probably at peak, so it seems a good time to tackle the big question of how and what to compost etc.

Our Beehive Composter is a quality product designed to enhance any garden and give many years of service, while at the same time improve your garden soil and plants, and that surely is good for the environment.

So let us start with Composting and all you need to know.

Why should I compost?

• • Organic matter improves soil structure and gives life. It opens up heavy soils, aids drainage and provides good growing conditions. Light or sandy soils benefit from its moisture retentive properties.
• • It provides nutrients for plants. The nutrients in your compost depend on what has been put in your bin, but will always contain a wide range of trace elements and plant foods.
• • It is a completely natural product. In nature, all living things eventually decay; composting simply speeds up the process.
• • It is free and environmentally friendly. Up to 30% of household waste is organic and can be converted into compost for use in the garden. Composting is good for plants, good for the environment and good for us.

Where should I locate my Composter?

• • Preferably in a warm or sheltered position, but this is not essential. If you are the lucky owner of one of our Beehive Composter Units, then you will know that it has a beautiful eye-catching shape so unlike the more common plastic ‘bin’ looking composting ‘bin’ types, the beehive composter is a feature and does not have to be tucked away.
• • lace on bare soil. This will aid drainage and allow worms and bacteria to enter and aid breakdown of the raw material.

What can I put in it?

• • Garden Waste: All types of garden waste including annual weeds, grass cuttings, fallen fruit and old vegetable plants, bedding plants, chopped prunings, hedge clippings, horse and poultry manure and urine, straw, feathers, dried fallen leaves, sawdust and wood shavings, shredded wood and twigs, seaweed, spent compost.
• • Household Waste: Teabags/leaves, egg shells, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable waste, human and animal hair, feathers, shredded and soaked cardboard, paper, wood ash.
• • Avoid: Cooked food and meat (attracts rodents).

How to Make the Best Compost?

The composting process requires raw material, water and air. Good compost comprises a balance of as many ingredients as possible. Too much grass will create a slimy mess; too much woody material will create a dry heap, which decomposes very slowly. Chopping and cutting ingredients into small pieces before adding to the composter will facilitate faster decomposition.

The most important balance to achieve is the proportion of woody, high carbon material (e.g. dried leaves, straw, paper, twigs, hedge clippings) to sappy, high nitrogen material (e.g. plants, weeds, vegetables & fruit, grass, manure). The woody material keeps the compost open and aerated, preventing the soggy mass that results from composting too much nitrogen-rich material (such as grass cuttings). However, it provides little or no nutrients for the bacteria in the heap, which creates the heat required for good composition. Soft material contains the nitrogen needed by bacteria, plus water. During colder months a piece of polystyrene or old carpet placed in the bin on top of the compost will prevent heat loss.

An essential ingredient for composting is air. The best way to introduce air into the composter is to fork up the contents and turn it over. It is a good idea to do this on a regular (monthly) basis.

When will the compost be ready to use?

Shredded material that has been kept moist and turned several times can be ready for use in the garden in just a few months but six months is more typical. The length of time really depends on the mixture of ingredients, air temperature, size of coarser material and how quickly the composter unit was filled. Compost at the bottom will always be ready first, so always remove from the bottom first.

If a finer texture is preferred, sieve out the coarse material; this can be used as mulch around the garden or in the base of planters/garden pots to provide drainage and nutrients, or simply replace in the bin for further breakdown. Do not use garden compost for delicate seedlings because it is not sterile.

Next time I’ll answer some of the frequently asked questions about composting. Finally, before I go, may I ask that you say a prayer for Monty Don (of BBC’s Gardener’s World) and wish him a speedy and full recovery from his current illness. Until then…Happy Gardening.