Rob Smith knows how to get the best compost
And you literally might only need to spend a penny for it!
This time of year in the vegetable garden can be pretty changeable, from cold and wet to sunny and mild, so it’s best to take advantage of the finer weather whenever you can.
I’ve finally got round to building some new compost bays in the nick of time, with lots of organic matter to fill them, from brassica and squash plants, to marigolds and comfrey. Chop any woody stems into small pieces; this allows them to compost down quicker and makes turning the heap easier, otherwise you’ll have long twigs flying everywhere each time you turn the heap!
When starting a new compost heap, you can buy special activators which help the decomposition process start, but if you have any comfrey or are prepared to pee in a bucket, you can add either of these to the heap and it does the same thing without costing a penny (but you may have to spend a penny!). Adding only vegetation will lead to a poor compost heap, which is pretty wet, so make sure to add dry layers such as egg boxes, screwed up newspaper and any straw you may have used under strawberry plants and this should create a good quality compost to use next year. I’ve a few potted fruit and nut trees that I’m planting into larger containers, including a fantastic miniature walnut ‘Karlik’ (from lubera.co.uk). It’ll only grow to around 1.8m (6ft) tall, so I’m planning on growing it in a container on the patio, using a good blend of John Innes No 3, organic compost, grit and a handful of blood, fish and bone as a slow-release fertiliser. Normally, walnuts grow to an impressive size and take years to fruit, but this grafted tree will stay manageable and at one year old it already has a nut on it! Once potted up, I’ll cover the soil with a 2cm (¾in) layer of gravel to stop any birds digging for worms, plus it helps to suppress weeds. I’m also planning to wrap the container and the stem in old sacking to give a bit of winter protection, then I’ll move it to a sheltered area where it’ll be spared the cold, drying winter winds.