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Compost help from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
From: call Kate on 01594 564773
Autumn evokes picturesque woodland scenes of red, yellow, orange and brown. Most leaves, which in the end carpet the ground, have to be gathered up. With burning causing pollution and bothering neighbours the best way to deal with leaves is to collect them up and store them in a container and allow the leaves to rot down to create ‘Leaf mould’. Leaves can be contained in plastic bags or by a simple wire mesh container. Leaves will rot down faster if wet so collect when it has been raining or water them well as the container is filled. Large quantities are best dealt with separately. Small amounts of leaves can be added to a compost and provides carbon and air for the heap which when mixed with kitchen waste and green garden waste helps to balance the carbon and nitrogen levels which is vital for a good quality compost. Leaves can take a year or two to break down, although they don’t have to be completely broken down to be useful. To speed up the process of making leaf mould mix in grass cuttings with the leaves or pick up the leaves by mowing the lawn with the leaves still on top of the lawn. This will cut the leaves up and make them into smaller pieces that the fungas can then more easily break down and it mixes up the grass and the leaves to make that perfect mixture of greens (nitrogen and water) and browns (carbon and air). Leaf mould can be used all over the garden. It can increase the soils fertility as it improves its structure. As a mulch it has weed suppressing and moisture retaining quality, it can be dug in, spread over a lawn, sprinkled over seeds or used with compost in pots.

Building a hot heap from scratch
From: info@theworkslocal.com
It’s hot composting season! Turn kitchen scraps, garden trimmings, cardboard, manure etc. into rich, valuable compost within 6-8 weeks. Hot composting breaks these down quickly, generating warmth and killing most weeds, seeds and diseases. Hot composting needs your input as well as the four essential ingredients ~ air, moisture, nitrogen and carbon. Summer heat will speed the process, so take advantage and position your heap in a sunny spot. Start by mixing 2 ample piles; one of ‘browns’ (carbon-based ingredients), and the other, the ‘greens’ (or nitrogenous-based materials). Chopping up the materials also helps speed up the process. Mix well on a 1:1 ratio. The pile should be at least 1 metre cubed so the outside of the heap insulates the insides. Mixing it all up adds essential oxygen. Cover the heap. Within a week, internal temperatures should rise to 45 – 55 oC. Remember to put weed seeds etc, at the centre of the pile. To be sure kill these off, temperatures should remain at 60oC for 3 days. Check the temperature every few days by plunging a thermometer attached to a stick into the centre. When the temperature drops, turn again, adding more air and turning the heap inside out. If not damp enough, add water while turning. Adding manure, particularly chicken and horse manure, will also speed the process; as long as it’s balanced with enough carbon, eg straw or sawdust. When the temperature pile won't rise above 43oC no matter how often you turn it, the compost needs to be left so that worms can mature it before use. CONTAMINATED MANURE: gardeners have experienced problems with manure, if the animals’ feed was sprayed with the herbicide aminopyralid – the herbicide persists and can harm crops. Be sure to check that your manure supplier – and their feed and straw suppliers -- have not used this chemical. For compost help from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust call Kate on 01594 564773

Getting Growing the No Dig way
From: info@theworkslocal.com
The easiest and most wildlife friendly way of growing vegetables is the no-dig method, whereby you let the worms do all the hard work. Worms hate light, frosts and spades and will dig over your soil nicely if given a lovely mulch of compost to work on. Other micro-organisms vital for soil health are equally sensitive to light, and are killed off by excess oxidisation, physical disturbance, and chemicals. In particular the important ‘mycorrhiza’ fungi vital for plant root health are very sensitive to tilling. With no dig systems you let the eco-system in the soil do its work and in turn feed your plants. With the sheetmulch technique described below you can make a start this spring on a new patch of weedy ground or lawn without killing off your friendly soil creatures or exposing any dormant weed seed lying there. o In March or April lay thick cardboard over the weeds/lawn in the shape of the no-dig bed you want to make, overlapping by at least 20cm to keep out the light (this will encourage the worms). o Cut slits in the card and poke a seed potato through each hole. o Cover with 15-20cm of home made compost or well rotted manure. o Top with a thick mulch of straw or lawn mowings to stop weeds establishing and keep topped up over the growing season to stop the spuds going green o Watch as the compost, cardboard and weeds rot down over the summer to a lovely mulched bed – the ground will be loosened by the potatoes, the worms will have done your digging and your soil life will still be intact. o Now lift the potatoes and you’re all ready for normal sowing – overwintering broad beans for instance, then in the spring you can follow on with peas, runner beans, squash or tomato plants – the sky’s the limit! o You needn’t repeat this process, just mulch your bed with a good layer of compost in the spring and in the autumn and avoid long periods of bare soil. To get a free Composting Information pack and advice on no-dig growing call Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust on 01452 313761 or email compost@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk

CREATURES OF THE COMPOST PILE
From: info@theworkslocal.com
The creatures that inhabit a home compost bin make an important contribution to the decomposition process and form a complex food web feeding the entire eco-system. Some common creatures and their part in the compost process are shown in the pyramid below. The base of the pyramid (the energy source) is made up of organic matter including plant and animal residues and this is where your adding compost to the soil makes you a vital part in the whole process too. When the finished compost is used in the garden the food web continues by feeding ever larger creatures like frogs, toads, hedgehogs and birds (and humans if you grow vegetables with it) so garden compost really is the building block of life in your garden! If you haven’t got a garden we can still help you make compost and think of where it can be used to benefit wildlife and people. For a FREE Composting pack phone 01452 313761 or email compost@gloucestershirewilldifetrust.co.uk

Grow a community around the compost heap
From: info@theworkslocal.com
Community composting is becoming more popular in Gloucestershire and beyond. Local communities are getting together to compost their garden waste and create wonderful locally made compost. The benefits of community composting include: -
Garden waste is dealt with locally, reducing the environmental impact of transporting it. Local gardens will have fertile and healthy soils as the compost is returned to members.
Community compost groups can normally deal with woody waste and weeds, as they often have use of a shredder and have large compost heaps that heat up to considerable temperatures.
Creates a sense of community and a great outdoor activity, which will help keep you fit and healthy. All members of the community can be involved.
Community compost groups can claim recycling credits for every tonne of garden waste they compost - a useful income.
The need to buy compost is greatly reduced, thus preventing further damage to our precious peat bogs. The Wildlife Trust offers support and guidance to groups wanting to set up a scheme. There are several groups already up and running in the county, including Bisley, Lower Slaughter and Alderton, which opened in April, and Hidcote Gardens, whose scheme began in May. There are several others under development. Community composts are most often sited on allotments and are run by volunteers. Groups will need to find suitable site (may need planning permission), a license from the Environment Agency and usually some start up funding, for initial costs. However with a Compost officer in each district of Gloucestershire there will be someone local who can advise and support your group. Would you like to see community compost near you? To find out more call the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Compost Hotline on 01452 313761 or compost@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk

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