You Can Do Allot of Good With Compost this National Allotments Week
There’s never been a more popular time to join the organic revolution and the Recycle Now Compost at Home Campaign is encouraging gardeners to complete the organic cycle by using compost made from their own kitchen and garden waste, such as garden prunings and vegetable peelings, to grow their own fruit and veg.
There are approximately 330,000 allotment owners across the UK, growing all manner of produce and creating piles of organic waste every year. In fact, each year, two wheelbarrow loads full of organic waste are produced for every man, woman and child in England. That’s enough organic waste annually to fill the Royal Albert Hall more than 400 times over. This waste can be recycled in to nutrient-rich compost for use for all manner of plants in allotments, gardens and homes.
And it’s not just allotment holders who can join in the composting craze. Even if you grow your own fruit and vegetables in your garden vegetable patch, borders or planters, you will find that adding home compost to your soil is a great way to help everything from rhubarb and raspberries to potatoes and pumpkins to grow strong and taste great. It takes between six and nine months to produce your own compost – but if you can’t wait that long, peat free and peat reduced composts (also made from recycled green materials), are another great ingredient for your garden and are available from most garden centres.
Neil Dixon of National Allotments Week, which aims to promote gardening and vegetable growing, says: “We are delighted to be working with Recycle Now this year to celebrate National Allotments Week and the benefits of growing your own. Allotments have been experiencing a great revival in recent years and attract a diverse range of people – from young professionals, to families, to students, to the older generations.
“People are becoming more aware of where their food comes from and how it is grown. Composting is an easy step to take for anyone trying to do their bit for the environment or live a more sustainable lifestyle – and that’s especially true for anyone who has an allotment because they’re likely to be generating plenty of organic waste. And what’s more, compost makes for great fresh produce, so everyone’s a winner.”