Kitchen Garden

The importance of compost

Compost is at the heart of a no-dig garden, used both to create new beds and maintain the fertility of existing beds. You can make it yourself but will almost certainly need to buy some to supplement your home-made supply, especially when you establish new beds. There are many types of compost to choose from and although some are described as ‘organic’, this simply means they are organic matter, not that they are free from chemical residues.

WHAT IS COMPOST?

Compost refers to any carbon-based material that is well decomposed. It may have started as garden waste, chipped wood, cereal straw, tree leaves, digester waste, or animal manure – all decompose eventually. Compost is described according to the principal material it was created from – the starting point. For example, when gardeners talk about using manure on their plot, what they mean is compost made

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