Philippa Forrester Diary
December
When I took up composting, everything I heard and read on the Recycle Now website made it all seem so simple. However, I must confess I have always had a little voice in the back of my mind which I haven’t been able to ignore.
“Composting isn’t really for you” it said. “You are the modern generation… you have blonde highlights and children and worry about your lip gloss… you’re a working woman… compost is for gardening experts, older people in touch with their garden…”
But now, after a year of home composting, I can toss my highlighted tresses aside, apply more lipgloss and be confident that saving all my kitchen and garden waste for my compost bin is no longer restricted to the green fingered enthusiast.
More and more of us are realising the benefits. Everybody is getting involved; from glamorous single mums, to jet-setting singletons, to married couples; the young and fashionable are increasingly realising the importance and benefits of recycling. I want to do my bit to help the environment by reducing the amount of household waste my family sends to landfill.
Having diverted all our biodegradable waste to the compost bin for the last year I can say with confidence that it is the easiest and best thing we’ve ever done for the environment. So, why don’t you join the composting revolution and treat a loved one or even yourself to a compost bin this year for Christmas? You never know, you might even start enjoying yourself!
November
My eldest son is learning about the environment at school. Even he knows that sending all our rubbish to landfill is not good for the environment and that everyone should do what they can to recycle as much as possible.
I learned all about this when I was studying for my degree in conservation. Landfill produces methane which is a powerful green-house gas, and contributes to global warming.
The area of land used for landfill is of course no longer available for wildlife and ultimately we only have a finite amount of land left to dump our rubbish into. The government have a commitment to reduce the amount of rubbish we send to landfill and so they are right behind our efforts to compost, which means there couldn’t be a better time to get yourself kitted out with cut price equipment. It simply doesn’t make sense to put so much rubbish out for the bin man when it is so easy to make good compost.
For me there is another benefit – my bank balance! As a keen gardener I have to stock up on compost in the spring from the garden centre. I always make sure I buy peat-free and peat-reduced composts. That’s because they are made from recycled green materials, such as the garden waste your council may pick up from your house. These products are kinder to the environment and are great for the garden.
However, now I have my own home made variety I won’t need to buy nearly as much! In the past I have wheeled my trolley past all the beautiful plants wishing I could spend money on them instead of lugging those heavy sacks of compost home from the garden centre, and now I can!
October
The compost in my bin is really beginning to take shape now. I can’t quite believe it but, for very little effort, all my kitchen and garden waste really did turn into gorgeous garden compost. Brown, crumbly and sweet smelling - how did it happen? As an ecologist I do of course know from my biology lessons how it happened. The bacteria and worms that helped to keep the children entertained were at the same time breaking down and helping our waste to decompose, but like many natural processes that science can explain, it still seems like a miracle.
Over the last few months we have put various ingredients in to the compost bin - peelings from our vegetables, left over fruit, shredded bank statements, the contents of my vacuum cleaner bag, dog hair, cat hair, grass clippings, toilet roll cores, and a little bit of horse manure into this green plastic bin.
This month we have bought some giant pumpkins from the local farm shop – and the farmer reliably told me that he grows his pumpkins with the help of compost. The boys and I have carved them in to scary jack o’lanterns and this year, I even made a pumpkin pie which was a first.
We were able to compost all the insides and cut out eyes and mouth of the pumpkin. When Halloween is over we are going to chop up the pumpkin lanterns and add them to the compost bin. They will then break down in to compost and we can use it to grow our pumpkins for coming years.
September
I don’t have much compost from my compost bin yet – but during the summer months I decided to spread what I have on my vegetable patch in a last ditch attempt to add some nutrients to my struggling home grown produce. Last year, I nearly gave up growing my own vegetables because of the poor crop I had, but this year I am giving them one last chance with my brand new nutritious compost. Ordinarily you should plant vegetables in home made compost - but as my plants are already growing, I dug some compost into the vegetable patch around the plants in the hope that it would add a little much-needed goodness to the crop.
Now the autumn is here, I am proud to report that I have had my best harvest ever! My courgette and squash plants have been huge, as are the tomato plants which are still growing in our compost in the greenhouse. Thanks to the compost we have had an abundance of good vegetables which we have eaten fresh for our dinner night after night. In fact, our harvest has been so good that our freezer is also rapidly filling up with soups and sauces which will be fabulous in the winter.
My son is celebrating harvest festival at school and I was proud to send him off to school with armfuls of home grown produce. I have always loved growing and harvesting my own vegetables and have loved teaching the children about it; it is such fun to share the magic of the process from seed to meal with them.
Composting has somehow made the cycle complete for my sons and they understand the whole process now; decay, decomposition, the idea of good nutritious soil, growth and harvest. For me as a parent, that is immensely satisfying.
Not all the vegetables actually make it into the house - I don’t think any carrots, for example, have made it to the cooking stage yet. The boys keep pulling them up to eat fresh out of the ground. I don’t mind however, as they’ve both commented that my carrots don’t taste the same as those from the shops – they think carrots from the ground taste much nicer – which makes me really happy.
August
It’s the summer holidays and the boys and I have just been peering into the compost bin again. Lurking just below the surface of peelings and garden clippings, we can see the transformation taking place before our very eyes, with a very definite pile of freshly made compost filling our bin.
It’s probably because this is the first batch of compost that we have ever made, but over the last few months we have been so impatient to see the results.
I can’t tell you how many times I have peered into my large green plastic compost bin in the garden. Even when I am running late and dashing up the garden path to empty my kitchen caddy, I can’t resist having a quick peek and wondering whether the contents will really change to something I can use on the garden.
So imagine my delight when this month some of the compost at the bottom of the bin was ready for use – it was a nice dark brown colour and crumbly in texture. It generally takes six to nine months for waste to decompose in to compost for use on the garden so we’re well on schedule!
There are so many uses for compost and with my limited supply I set out to find out what is the best way to use it on the garden.
I have been speaking to friends and family and avidly reading the information on the Recycle Now website www.recyclenow.com/compost to find out how I can use compost.
I have learned that you can spread a thick layer of home compost over the top of the flower beds between the plants to keep your garden greener during the summer heat. The compost acts as a mulch; a sort of barrier between soil and air to reduce evaporation and keep the water down in the soil, so it is best to do it after it rains. I’ll definitely be doing this next year.
You can also mix it in even parts with sharp sand to use as a lawn dressing or with one third sharp sand and one third loam to make a mix for planting seeds – these will certainly be good uses for the compost we will have over the next few months.
July
After the first month I looked into my compost bin to find that it was a bit of a sludgy lump. I was convinced we should concentrate on adding green waste to the bin, but too many ‘greens’ had left me with a sludgy lump - not quite the mixture I was hoping for. So I went back to my leaflet that came with my bin and was intrigued to find out about the important roles of greens AND browns… Greens are readily compostable things like veggie peelings and grass cuttings. Browns are the things that take slightly longer to decompose, like leaves, paper or cardboard. It seems I had got the balance of materials in my bin wrong. I had been enthusiastically shoving peelings and cuttings in but hadn’t even thought about adding any browns, hence my sludge. Suddenly I was struck with inspiration and added all the shredded bank statements and confidential documents from my office bin, which are now mixing in well and rotting down nicely. The kids also added in their scrunched up, empty cereal cartons and egg boxes. The compost is already beginning to look healthier and I should think that the compost bin is one of the safest places for these confidential documents.
And I’m not the only one to be converted. My husband and children now use the compost caddy and any guests are quickly trained! The great thing is that no-one seems to mind. Home composting really isn’t a big deal. Just as I can’t bring myself to throw glass in the bin these days, now that we have our compost bin and caddy I can’t imagine going back to the old way of throwing all that kitchen or garden waste into the dustbin. Part of the beauty of this way of life is that less is wasted. During the summer we tend to eat out on the patio, and if the children leave some fruit or there is leftover salad, it all goes into the compost bin to be used to make the garden beautiful! There are more ‘greens’ during the summer as we have to mow the lawn and tidy the garden more often, but simply adding them to the compost bin saves trips to the tip. And we now make sure we keep the balance right by adding plenty of brown household waste. So far, I love it – home composting’s neat, practical and easy - one New Year’s resolution that is here to stay.
June
I have been home composting now for a few months. In the cupboard under our sink I have a neat little caddy with a fitted lid to seal in any smells. I get rid of all our biodegradable waste - Partnersfrom egg shells to tea bags and vegetable peelings - into the caddy. When it’s full, we simply tip it into the compost bin in the garden, rinse and start again. There is hardly any mess and each time I forgo the traditional bin in favour of my compost caddy, I know that I’m helping the environment and that gives me a nice, warm feeling. Even on my busiest days, I am doing something to reduce global warming - a wonderful thing to be able to do so easily!
I was also initially worried that composting would take a lot of effort to understand. I am a working Mum and don’t have much extra time on my hands between cleaning, washing and rushing to meetings. However, I needn’t have worried. With the bin comes an ‘at a glance’ fridge magnet and really handy leaflet to make it quite clear what to put in and what to leave out of your bin. It also gives timings on how long you have to wait for your lovely compost. I felt like an expert in minutes.
May
I have two young boys and now that the compost bin is in place, tucked into a sheltered spot behind some shrubs, they love peering into it to see what is happening to all the rubbish. It is filling with kitchen waste remarkably quickly - I hadn’t actually realised just how much a family of four can generate. I have also tidied a pile of shredded leaves into it and added some grass cuttings.
The children often wander out with me to empty the caddy from the kitchen.
When I first lifted the lid, there was a steamy haze caused by the compost getting hot, which amazed the boys. It was like we had performed magic of some kind. At first I didn’t think we would be able to fill the bin but you would be surprised. We gathered up all our kitchen and garden waste, popped it in and, after just two days, things had already started to happen. After a week, I put my hand inside to mix it about with a garden fork and was surprised to feel the heat inside. I explained to the boys that it was quite hot which prompted my five year old to ask if a dragon was living in there. But when we dug around a bit and I showed him that there was no dragon - just worms - that was more than enough to keep him interested.
I then found myself giving an impromptu lesson on the work of worms in the garden, how they break down matter and soil, and he was fascinated. We then talked about bacteria and how our old food was being transformed into compost for the garden. And as we peered at the decomposing peelings and I explained that it would all turn to a kind of soil, I realised that he was keeping up with advanced biology! Another unexpected benefit and surprisingly fun family activity - so far, so good.
April
I have always been a recycler - anything glass or cardboard goes straight into the kerbside collection green bins and boxes. I’m also a keen amateur gardener and, having studied for a degree in environmental conservation, am acutely aware of the causes of global warming and the fact that we need to reduce the amount of waste we are sending to landfill. However, I hadn’t thought seriously about adding home composting to my recycling repertoire. It might sound silly and selfish, but I didn’t really think I had time. As a working Mum I am really busy and any extra effort is a bit of a no no! Originally home composting just seemed too complicated for me to master in my five minutes of free time. However, it is a really effective weapon in helping reduce the amount of rubbish we send to landfill sites. When I tell friends the rubbish they send to landfill doesn’t rot down, they are always surprised. I don’t think a lot of people realise that it actually produces a methane gas which is slowly having a damaging effect on the planet.
Having previously sourced my compost from the local DIY store, I am now pleased to report that my conscience prevailed and this year, for the sake of the environment and to get free compost for my veggie patch, I decided to take the plunge and start home composting. If I had known it was this easy I would have started years ago. As well as reducing the amount of times we have to empty the kitchen bin, there are so many other unexpected benefits. For example, I thought I would be the one doing it all. What I didn’t realise was that home composting is something for all the family. When our compost bin arrived we spent a hilarious afternoon in the garden with the children getting it all set up. The boys loved it; my two year old spent most of the afternoon running off with the hatch or hiding in the bin! It was a lot of fun for the boys, as well as for us, and I realised that composting was actually turning into quite a fun family activity.