December & compost corner

Some of you may remember the young Lenny Henry doing his David Bellamy impersonation in the kid's programme 'Tiswas', complete with beard in a sketch called 'Compost Corner'. 

To this day I have never been able to get that image out of my mind. When I wrote about compost heaps in a horticultural exam all I could see was a false-bearded, mealy-mouthed Henry saying; "weally, weally lovewelly sweet smellie compothst wif wormths and full off goodneth".

There you have it......

Smells, worms, goodness.

Smells; your compost needs to be slightly damp, well aerated and not too compacted so the decomposing micro-organisms can do their work. You will get a slightly sweet odour off a good one rather than the unpleasant, stale one from a soaking, compressed heap. I put an old carpet on my heaps but better gardeners than me leave them only slightly covered but loosely filled.

Worms; these are a sign of a healthy heap! The worms ingest and process the decaying organic matter and soil and so enrich the levels of nutrients and humus. They naturally aerate the heap and will do the same to the soil when you use the compost in the garden.

Goodness; if you want to accelerate the process you can add lime and nitrogen by buying purpose-made products. However, as I work mostly on chalky soil I add a 75mm layer of chalky soil every 200mm. This introduces worms, microbes and nitrogen from the soil, and reduces the pH level ( it makes it more alkaline). 

Try to get all the leaves off your lawn and patio and into the compost before they start to ruin the lawn and making the paving slippery. I have several compost heaps on the go, rotating them. A section filled now can be used not this coming spring but in the next autumn or the following spring.

You should end up with a dark, humus rich, crumbly material which is easy to dig out and easy to spread.

Avoid using cooked materials and meat unless you want to attract four-legged furry things. A great way to get rid of these materials is a brilliant newcomer - a "Green Cone Food Waste Digester". It looks like an ordinary composter but is set a few feet into the ground and has a rat-proof mesh at the base. The cheese, meat and unspeakable debris is broken down naturally and disappears into the ground. Strangely, it doesn't smell too bad either.


In summary;

• Finish getting the fruit trees and bushes planted; prune your free-standing ones. ( Leave your vines until mid-December otherwise they will 'weep').
• Likewise finish cutting back messy herbaceous plants unless you want to leave a layer of foliage for frost-protection for the more tender species
• The soil is still warm enough to lay turf but avoid doing this in the frost
• Enjoy a bonfire where you can to get rid of rubbish and diseased green debris.
• Start thinking about which foliage and berries you can use for Christmas decorations - Holly, Yew, Ivy, Pittisporum, Dogwoods, Conifers, Pine cones and even Crab apples are good. Be bold!

Wishing you a very, very Happy Compost Corner!