A Step By Step Guide to Composting

Step by step

You can compost at home by just heaping your garden rubbish in a corner of your garden or by using a compost bin.

Once you have your bin, composting couldn`t be simpler. Here`s a step-by-step guide to help you make the perfect compost.

1. Find the right site
Ideally site your compost bin in the garden on bare soil. If you have to put your compost bin on concrete, tarmac or patio slabs ensure there is a layer of soil or existing compost on the bottom so the worms can colonise.

2. Add the right ingredients
Fill your kitchen caddy with everything from vegetable and fruit peelings to teabags, paper towels and egg shells. Take care not to compost cooked food, meat or fish.

3. Fill it up
Empty your kitchen caddy along with your garden waste into your compost bin, a 50/50 mix of greens and browns is the perfect recipe for good compost.

4. Sit back and relax
It takes between 12 - 18 months for your compost to become ready to use, but it can be faster if you put it in a sunny warmer spot in your garden. Just sit back and wait while the heat and the compost critters do their work.

5. Ready for use
Once your compost has turned into a crumbly, dark material, resembling thick, moist soil and gives off an earthy, fresh aroma, you know it`s ready to use.

6. Collect the compost
Lift the bin slightly or open the hatch at the bottom and scoop out the fresh compost with a garden fork or spade.

7. Use it
Don`t worry if your compost looks a little lumpy with twigs and bits of eggshells - this is perfectly normal. Use it to enrich borders and vegetable patches, plant up patio containers or feed the lawn.

Click here for a full list of what you can and can`t compost

If you have a question about resources or recycling please call one of the following numbers
Cumberland Council: 0300 373 3730
Westmorland & Furness Council: 0300 373 3300
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