
Late autumn/pre-winter is a good time of year to either start or keep composting as there’s a great deal of material collected from your garden clean up which could be thrown into the compost bin and left to compost throughout the colder months, ready for the spring bloom.
Falling autumn leaves can become a nuisance, especially if you're constantly raking them off the lawn and picking them up. Leaves, prunings, dead plants and flowers are great additions to the compost bin, producing a rich compost ideal for spring planting. If you've ever thought of making compost, autumn is the perfect time for it, and come spring you'll have some wonderfully rich and nutrient-filled topsoil, all made for free.
Throughout autumn, the Surrey Waste Partnership is continuing to offer home composting bins at great prices, starting from £14.00 (RRP £39.00).
Composting is a natural process that transforms both your garden and kitchen waste into valuable and nutrient rich food for your garden, for free. For example, autumn leaves are a great source of "brown," high-carbon material for the compost. Simply alternate layers of leaves with the regular “green” materials you'd add to your compost bin (such as vegetable and fruit scraps, weeds, grass clippings, and plants that you pull out in your autumn garden clean-up) and let it sit over the winter. Turn the pile when you think of it, and by planting time you'll have finished compost. If you have lots of leaves to put into your compost bin, put the excess into a bin bag, make a few holes in it and leave in a corner of the garden or shed where they will rot down and make great mulch.
Making compost is simple; family waste such as empty cereal packets and egg boxes; fruit scraps and vegetable peelings; tea bags and coffee grounds, are in fact great ingredients to make compost. Mix this in with garden waste and you have the perfect recipe.
Home composting is the most environmentally friendly method of dealing with organic waste. Separating and composting household waste, not only reduces the amount waste that you put out for collection, but also saves you money. Use it on your flowerbeds and vegetable plots, patio planters, hanging baskets and even window boxes. Compost keeps your plants growing healthily, by improving soil structure and fertility, maintaining moisture levels and PH balance.
To buy a bin or to dig up more advice on how to turn your garden waste and table scraps into compost, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk/getcomposting or call 0844 571 4444.
*The Surrey Waste Partnership is made up of Surrey County Council and the 11 district and borough councils in the county to manage Surrey’s waste in the most efficient, economic and sustainable way possible.