COMPOSTS AND FERTILIZERS - Vegetable, Fruit and Herb Growing in Small Spaces - page 22

Fig. 11. Plastic barrel type compost bin.
You may have heard about making worm compost, which is an excellent material, but here
again it does take up some space and while, in theory, you can have a worm composter in the
house, I wouldn't advise it.
In a small garden the easiest and most cost effective way to make your compost is in one
of the purpose made bins. They look like a black or green plastic barrel and don't take up
much space. You can buy bins designed to look like old fashioned beehives if you don't want
a plastic barrel in the garden or do what we do and hide it behind some climbing plants and
bushes.
Now the plastic barrel styles come with a little door at the base, which is designed for re-
moving the finished product. It's a great idea but my experience is that they don't work. The
compacted compost is just too difficult to excavate from the small doorway. So you need a
good couple of square metres by your bin as I'll explain later.
What goes into Compost?
There is a little bit of an art to making compost. It's a matter of balance. Too much of any one
material and you can end up with a smelly, soggy mess. But with plenty of variety you end
up with a marvellous growing material.
You can add nearly any green garden waste. There are a few things to be careful of though.
Avoid diseased material like blighted potato foliage. In a general, large garden compost I
wouldn't worry about it but in this tight eco-system we're creating you need to be more care-
ful.