Compost

One of the many large strides in knowledge I've made in the couple of years since moving here is in the field of compost. It sounds simple and rather dull, I know, but there's a lot more to compost and composting than meets the eye (or the nose).

Of course, well-managed compost should not assail the nose at all, and most of the time mine doesn't. Occasionally, though, one of my piles might get a little waterlogged and that leads to anaerobic decomposition. This can be a bit smelly, to say the least. But most of the time I have bacteria working away aerobically, turning our food waste, weeds and other garden materials into wonderfully fertile soil. Earlier this year, I started making a set of bins for the compost and for storing materials that I accumulate prior to composting.

I ran out of old planks, so stopped after two bins -- but in the end I hope to have six. Plenty of capacity for a future in which we may start composting, um, 'humanure'... (Since we don't keep any animals at the moment -- bar a cat -- we have a real shortage of nitrogen-rich materials in the compost. The best source I can see at present is ourselves...)