Carrickfergus in Bloom Advice: Composting your Garden Waste

The Carrickfergus in Bloom initiative encourages all Borough citizens to create a pleasant environment by not only by providing colourful floral displays but also disposing of their garden waste in an environmentally sustainable way. Anyone can transform their garden waste into useful compost simply by installing a Composting Bin in their garden. Carrickfergus Borough Council sells Composting Bins for £5 each, for further information contact our Sullatober Depot on 93351192.

Loosen soil beneath the compost bin in order to help drainage and to make it easier for worms and bacteria to enter the bin from the earth surrounding it.

If you place a few inches of manure or kitchen waste onto the loose earth this will help to attract worms and micro-organisms.

A good mix of waste material in your composter to aid decomposition is essential.

Get yourself a kitchen bin to collect scraps. You won't need to trot down the bottom of the garden to the composter every time you prepare a meal. A large ice-cream container is okay.

Vegetable and fruit peelings: Mixed together there are excellent - high in essential nitrogen and carbon.

Evergreen clippings: Take a long time to decompose and should be added to only in small amounts. Watch out for the resin you get from conifers. It's toxic and needs composting for longer.

Leaves: Contain lignin and take a long time to decompose, the same as wood. Best dealt with separately in leaf mould piles.

Annual Weeds: The compost temperature should rise to about 66oC/150oF, which kills off most weed seeds and diseases. Never attempt to compost pernicious weeds such as couch grass, bindweed or creeping buttercup. They simply love compost heaps and will keep on growing.

Grass cuttings: High in nitrogen and a good activator. Avoid thick layers as they can compact and turn to slime. If you have a lot of grass mix it with more woody and kitchen material.

Paper: (and soft cardboard such as egg trays can be added in small amounts but ideally should be shredded).

Vacuum dust: The contents of a vacuum cleaner sack compost excellently particularly if you have woollen carpets. Do not try and compost if you have primarily synthetic carpets - synthetic threads will not.

Animal manure: Vegetarian pets only, such as guinea pig or rabbit. Best mixed with straw. All are good activators.

Disposable nappies, used paper hankies (in case the pathogens which carry out disease aren't all destroyed by the composting process).

The micro-organisms in your composter will work at their best when the material is kept warm, moist and oxygenated.

Activators: Natural activators include: Grass, nettles, pond weed, seaweed, urine, horse, cow, sheep, pig and pigeon manure and rabbit or guinea pig droppings. Activators or accelerators, although not absolutely necessary, heat up and speed up the composting process. Particularly useful during the colder winter months. You can buy a range of activators from your Garden Centre, which give your compost a heavy dose of nitrogen. These include blood and bone meal, nitro-chalk and sulphate of ammonia. Contact your local Garden Centre for further information.

Warmth and moisture: Always keep the lid on your compost bin; it retains heat and moisture when the weather us dry and protects it when it rains. Because you need a fairly high temperature inside your composter site it out of the wind. Site your composter in sunlight if possible. The plastic will absorb the UV rays and heat up the compost. Do not let the compost dry out. Add water when necessary in very dry hot weather. Remember to keep the lid on. You could insulate your composter using old carpet on top or by bubble wrapping.

Aeration: Plastic composters are designed so that sufficient air gets to the composting
micro-organisms. Regular turning of the material will ensure that air gets to the centre of the bin and will speed up decomposition. To help aerate your heap you can add scrunched up newspaper, which creates air pockets. The paper will decompose. Avoid using too must grass alone.

The compost is ready when it doesn't look like any of the things that you put in it. It should be brown and crumbly with no unpleasant odours.

Dig it into the soil in early spring or late autumn to improve the soil structure and act as a slow release fertiliser.

Compost will open up clay soil, making it lighter to work and allow better drainage and aeration.

Compost will stick sandy soil together, making it heaver and so holding on to essential moisture.

Use as a mulch. A 3" depth of compost spread around the garden helps retain moisture and prevent weeds from growing. In addition, it releases nutrients into the soil and improves texture.

Worms pull down the mulch into their burrows, pass it through their gut, breaking it down even more and mixing it into the soil at the same time.

Composting it not just about gardening - it helps our environment. Every year thousands of tonnes of kitchen and garden waste are thrown into our Wheelie-Bins. It usually ends up in expensive, unsightly and environmentally damaging landfill sites. So, lets put this valuable resource to use, help your garden and the environment and get composting!

To keep in touch with all Carrickfergus in Bloom activities, join our mailing list: Click Here. To contact Carrickfergus in Bloom by e-mail: Click Here or telephone 028 9335 8039.

The Carrickfergus in Bloom initiative is organised by Carrickfergus Borough Council.

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Carrickfergus Borough Council developed the Carrickfergus in Bloom initiative to brighten up the Borough, to become a Borough of Flowers. Our objective is to make a Brighter Borough for the benefit of all citizens and visitors. The Carrickfergus in Bloom initiative includes the towns of Carrickfergus, Whitehead, Eden and Greenisland.