PHIL’S recipe for success

1. GET THE BLEND RIGHT To break down efficiently, a compost pile needs a balance of high-nitrogen (green) and high-carbon (brown) materials. Green materials include kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, fresh lawn clippings, weeds, garden trimmings, and poultry, sheep, cow, horse and goat manures. Brown materials include straw, dry leaves, dry lawn clippings, woodchips, wood shavings, and shredded cardboard or paper. For every bucket of kitchen waste or other ‘green’ materials added, toss in a half to full bucket of dry or ‘brown’ materials to maintain balance. 2. CHOP UP MATERIALS When the materials you add to the pile are chopped or chipped into small pieces, it increases their surface area, which increases microbial activity and the rate at which the materials break down.

3. AERATE THE PILE The microbes that break down the organic matter in the compost pile need air. So when the pile starts to slump, turn it over with a garden fork to aerate it, or use one of those giant corkscrew aerators, which makes it a breeze. Aerating the heap increases microbial activity and speeds up the breakdown of the materials.

4. MANAGE MOISTURE Microbes also need moisture, but not too much. To test whether your compost pile needs any extra water, squeeze a handful of the mixture. It should feel just moist, not dripping wet. If your compost pile doesn’t have a lid, cover it with cardboard or a hessian sack to help hold in the moisture. Then when you have days of heavy rain, throw a tarp over it to stop the compost getting too wet. A compost pile that contains too much green material will often be too wet. If that’s the case, mix through some additional brown materials to restore the balance.