Composting at home - Useful tips for those with more time

1. Chop up tough items using shears, a sharp spade or a shredder.

2. Mix the contents regularly using a compost tool, fork or spade

3. When the compost bin is full, empty it out and refill, mixing everything well in the process. You can do this several times if you are able.

 

4. Pernicious weeds such as couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and oxalis may not be killed during composting and can re-sprout after the compost is harvested. To avoid this, put them in a black plastic bag and leave in the sun for several weeks. This should act as a drying out effect. Then chop them up and place them into your composter

5. Poisonous plants such as oleander, hemlock and castor bean can harm soil life and should be added only in small quantities

 

6. Ivy and succulents should be chopped up before composting, or they may sprout in the compost

7. The leaves from plants containing acids and resins toxic to other plants should only be used as a mulch around the plants they came from. Examples are Eucalyptus, bay laurel, walnut, juniper, acacia, cypress and rhododendron

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Making a healthy heap - the essential requirements. Visit The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust for more information