Composting is a great way to boost the health of your allotment. It’s a win-win situation – you dispose of your garden and allotment waste (old plants, leaves, trimmings, windfall fruits, annual weeds and grasses, crushed eggshells, teabags, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit peelings, shredded cardboard/newspapers) and, after six months or so, you are left with a nutritious ‘black gold’ which will give a fantastic feed to your plants, as well as improving the soil texture. So a compost bin is an essential for any keen gardener.
But it doesn’t just have to be in the compost bin, you can also ‘trench compost’, by digging a trench, filling it with your compostable material and covering it again with soil. The compostable items will rot down in their own good time, creating a healthy base for your next crops (this method is especially recommended for crops grown in rows eg. beans). For a useful article giving guidance on methods of composting, click here.
Having problems with your compost heap? Click here to find a solution.
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PS: And if you find one of these chunky fellas while digging out your compost, don't worry. It's the larva of a rose chafer beetle and it is great at making compost. So put it to work again and toss it back into your compost bin!