Get gardening with Gillie: How to and the benefits of compost
On her weekly column Gillie Wilkinson teaches how and explains the benefits of compost.
How many of you make compost? It really is very easy.
In a big garden or on an allotment you can use four pallets tied into a square, but in a small garden plastic dalek type ones are much easier. I have had my daleks for years and they are still going strong.
James is a dab hand at making compost. We eat a lot of vegetables, some home grown, some from the supermarket and some off the Friday market.
I have a bucket lined with several sheets of newspaper that all the peelings go into, as well as my tea leaves (I always use loose tea).
When the bucket is full James scrunches up more newspaper into the dalek and then tips in the bucket full of peelings. I do tend to cut or chop everything up quite small as this speeds up the composting process.
Garden pruning’s and weeds along with the bedding out of the chicken coup all get tipped in. If you add lawn mowing mix them well with torn up cardboard or newspaper so they don’t go slimy.
Every two or three weeks James gives everything a good stir. When the dale is full the lid is put on and, apart from the odd stir, it is left for two to six months – depending on the time of year – to turn into “black gold”.
More and more people are going No Dig on their allotments and in their gardens.
There is plenty of information on several websites as to how to start, but basically you cut down or strim the area you want to grow in. Dig out any brambles and perennial weeds like docks and cover the area with cardboard.
On top of this put a layer of compost or well-rotted manure if you can get it. At least two inches, more if you have it. The cardboard should be wet before adding the compost so that the roots of whatever you plant into it can get through easily.
If you’ve grown your seeds in modules they can then be planted straight into the new bed.
You still have to weed but it is very easy to hoe them off or just gently ease them out.
Every year just put another layer of compost on the top, one or two inches is enough. The black gold feeds the plants and there should be no need to add anything else.
The whole point of Grow Your Own is, in my opinion, to grow without any chemicals or artificial fertilisers at all. So much tastier and better for you.
The seed sowing really gets going this month. Potatoes that have been chitting can be planted out from mid-March, and hardy perennials sown now to go out next month after being hardened off.
My polytunnel has survived the winter and will soon be full of early cabbages, kale and spinach on one side, and the other side prepared for tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers.