Keep making compost
Once we get to May, the lawns demand a weekly mow, new lush growth is appearing all over the garden and it is time to turn winter’s compost heap and start anew with all the fresh spring material. The secret of all compost making – and there is no one true way – is to provide the best possible conditions for bacteria and fungi to get to work on all your collected organic waste material. This can include anything that has lived, but you should not use meat, fats or cooked food as they will attract vermin. Bacteria and fungi are the keys and they thrive on the combination of nitrogen and carbon (from your waste material), plus oxygen and moisture. If the heap is too full of green material, such as grass clippings, there will be lots of nitrogen but not enough carbon or air, so it quickly becomes an anaerobic, smelly sludge. With too much carbon – ie all dried material such as straw or cardboard – it will only break down very slowly. So mix fresh green waste and dry brown waste well when you add them to the heap, and chop them up if you can, then water it if the heap is dry and turn it regularly to reintroduce oxygen. The rest is up to the micro-organisms.