Green fingered gardeners can start creating their own supply of top-quality compost by following a few simple steps during Compost Week (11 – 17 March).
Compost Week UK is an annual campaign aimed at raising awareness of the environmental benefits of composting. It offers useful information about how we can convert kitchen and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost, which not only reduces waste in landfill, but also promotes soil health.
Why compost?
Composting is not only an environmentally safe fertiliser, it also helps you save water, energy, fuel, and money! The use of a natural fertiliser made from compost will help your garden grow lush and promote healthy growth in seedlings and plants.
It will also make your garden much more welcoming and hospitable to wildlife helpers like honeybees, butterflies and of course, worms!
Compost can be made from kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, newspapers, leaves, wood chips, coffee grinds — almost any food products except for processed and meat or fish products.
Whether you’re new to composting or passionate about being sustainable and want to try your hand at having a ‘green thumb’, here are some helpful hints to get you started.
- Start Composting: Set up a compost bin in your garden or backyard and begin adding appropriate waste. How to compost your waste | The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside (lancswt.org.uk) Take steps to ‘pest proof’ your compost bin to keep rodents away, such as putting wire mesh under the bin.
- No Garden? – Even if you don’t have garden, you can use compost in outdoor planters.
- Attend local workshops: Many communities host workshops or events during this week, offering guidance on effective composting techniques.
- Spread the Word: Educate friends, family, and neighbours about the benefits of composting.
- Support Green Initiatives: Consider supporting local organisations or projects that champion composting and other sustainable practices, such as your local allotment group.
- Schools – Schools can start by introducing composting programs into their classrooms, dining areas and staff rooms and by teaching students and staff about the environmental benefits of composting food waste. Composting for schools / RHS Campaign for School Gardening
- The council’s Ecology Team has come up with some tips to help you make your garden a haven for local wildlife. Find out more
Community composting at Eco Therapy Garden
A new community compost initiative has been set up at Kirkby’s Eco Therapy Garden in Towerhill.
The compost project gives Kirkby residents an environmentally friendly way to dispose of their household food waste. The scheme is free to join, and residents will be supplied with a kitchen caddy for collecting food waste at home.
Those joining the scheme can have some compost when it’s ready and any surplus will be used to improve the Eco Therapy Garden.
The compost project is delivered by Compost Works in partnership with Eco Therapy Garden, and funded by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority. To find out more about services offered by the Eco Therapy Garden visit the Eco Therapy Garden website, or contact Compost Works at info@compostworks.co.uk. Pictured are Minna Alanko-Falola, Chief Executive and Founder, Compost Works and Angela Davies, Founder / Project Manager, The Eco Therapy Garden.