Clearing away the dead wood and new beginnings

Top tips: Keep an area overgrown (a perfect excuse to be a bit messy), collect up your kitchen waste and avoid chemical sprays if you can (do you really want to be eating that?)

With Prince Charles hosting his eco-friendly garden parties, we are all being encouraged to live greener lives. As part of that gardening has a huge part to play. Not only do we reduce food miles by literally having your plot stock your larder (or 3 freezers as is our case - does anyone actually have larders any more?), but also by growing heritage plants and encouraging wildlife into our gardens we reduce the use of chemicals and keep a diversity of plants.  The subject is so huge it can be a bit overwhelming but there are lots of little things we can all do to help. On the most basic level, grow your own salad - it reduces the need for the huge polytunnels and you don't have to pay over the odds for a plumped up pillow of a bag with a few sad, soggy leaves in.

It is official and experts have confirmed what we in the UK knew all along, August has just experienced the coldest August in 23 years with a total absence of 'hot days' (where the temperature rises above 27 degrees). Rainfall was almost one and a half times the average amount for August.  No wonder that my thoughts to clearing away the tired and collapsing plants on the plot.  To that end I have been researching compost (oh the glamour!).  To compost is the ultimate in green and also in tune with greed. Refuse to relinquish your kitchen scraps and turn it into something useful that will feed your plants later on. Perfect.

When we first got the allotment I knew we needed a double compost bin - one for collecting and one for rotting down.  I have had mixed successes at home with composting. I tried the tardis bins the council subsidies (and am due a delivery of another one, now free, which I ordered before the government cuts touch that) but found it slow to rot down and access was hard. I have a wormery but I killed the worms (indoors they tried to escape and the cat started playing with them while outdoors they caught a chill in the winter). I also had a couple of Bokashi bins which have been successful in breaking down the start of the kitchen waste and produce a liquid that, when diluted, becomes a good fertiliser. The only problem is that, despite many hints no one has bought me any replacement Bokashi granules which contain the organisms that break down the food and reduce the smells. I finally went for a rotating composter that works when it is spun round and you introduce air into the mix thus avoiding the tiring, smelly and boring job of turning your pile.  This all works very well unless you are lazy like me and forget to traipse down the garden path to spin it occasionally.

At the allotment though home made rules. In the same way that you don't turn up with new wellies, to buy in a shiny new composter would be frowned upon. Which is a shame as these easy build ones from Crocus (nursery supplier to many Chelsea gardens) look great.  I experimented in dumpster diving (well actually it was just dumped on the street) by rescuing some parts of an old bed and designing a double bins. Ably assisted by the elusive sous-gardener, Tom, we built a suitably home made structure which I have been filling ever since.  Now that both bays are almost full (and covered (mainly) by plastic to keep the heat in), it is time to see the results of my labours. 

Creating compost is supposed to be easy as long as you get the recipe right.  According to the BBC Gardeners World website, it will take about 6 months to create perfect compost if you turn it regularly. I am slightly concerned about this last part as I haven't turned it at all (has the rotating composter not taught me anything?).  Avoid putting animal products on the compost as it will attract nasty beasts - wildlife is all well and good but I draw the line at rats. 

Apparently it's all about getting the balance of carbon and nitrogen right. Most piles have too much nitrogen, especially if the main source is from grass cuttings and kitchen waste - the result is an evil-smelling sludge. Equally, an excess of carbon will significantly slow down the composting process.  Nitrogen typically comes from lush green material and carbon from woody stems. For every barrow load of cut grass, you should mix in the same volume of straw, sawdust or cardboard. Ensure any woody material is broken into small pieces or shredded.

Maybe I'll delay turning the pile until another day when sous-gardener Tom is around to help.