Getting perfect compost isn’t as difficult as it sounds and a new book shows how to go about it.
When it came to lockdown it wasn’t loo rolls that gardeners were fretting about, it was compost. Sales have rocketed over recent months and companies that could deliver have seen huge demand.
I was very glad of my homemade compost which, although nowhere near enough, went some way to filling pots and covering the vegetable plot.
Surprisingly, I’m in the minority. As Simon Akeroyd reveals in Perfect Compost, a 2014 survey showed 97% of the UK population have never made it.
“This is a great shame, particularly as we are a nation of gardeners,” he says.
He believes it’s due to an idea that compost-making is something that’s time-consuming, needs a lot of space and is beyond the capability of the average gardener. It’s these myths that he pulls apart in the book.
Perfect Compost opens with why we should turn our green waste into food for plants. These range from being better for the environment to saving money.
It’s a skill that can also be inspirational: “A gorgeous front garden, packed full of healthy plants because they are growing in lovely homemade compost, is a wonderful advertisement to encourage others to grow plants . . .”.
The book argues that rather than being hidden away like a dirty secret, the compost bin should be built into garden design and made into a feature.
It goes on to explain about mulching, how to make leaf mould and gives ‘recipes’ for specialist compost mixes, such as those suitable for sowing seeds.
Where to compost is dealt with in a thorough run-through of the alternatives from converting a wheelie bin to buying a kit to making your own out of old pallets.
Alternative methods include keyhole gardening, a method that originates from Africa where plants grow in a raised bed around a compost heap that “leaches out and into the raised bed”.
There’s also advice on making your own compost loo, setting up a wormery and even a snailery.
The book ends with detailed instructions on how to manage a compost heap, what to add, what to avoid and how you know when the compost is ready.
Easy to read and small enough to fit into a pocket, Perfect Compost should be enough to encourage even the most reluctant gardener to have a go.
Perfect Compost by Simon Akeroyd is published by National Trust Books, with an RRP of £6.99. You can buy it here (If you buy via this link, I get a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.) Illustrations by Abi Read.
Enjoyed this? You can read more of my gardening and garden-related book reviews here. Follow my blog to get an email alert about new posts.