Compost fertilizer

Compost is free, to hand, and full of nutrients and micro-organisms. It is also a fantastic way of disposing of what would otherwise be seen as waste.

Compost fertilizer is my own preferred method of producing the best crops from my organic vegetable garden.

Compost bins/containers can be bought from any garden centre. You can also make your own. A tried and tested way to make a compost heap is by using palettes. Here's how you can do it –

You need:

• 4 wooden container palettes. The sort that goods/items are stacked on to be moved around on forklift trucks (see image at top of page)
• 8 (or 2) metal or strong wooden stakes 4' - 4'6" long

Stand one of your palettes on an edge, making sure that the top side of it (where all the slats are) is facing towards what will be the inside of your compost heap.

Drive a stake down through the centre of the palette about 6” from one end, and into the ground. Do the same with a second stake at the other end of the palette. This palette is now secure

NB: Many garden centres sell a tough lightweight plastic coated steel tube with tapered end. I recently bought a pair at £2.29 each (4'6").

At a right angle stand another palette against one upright edge of the already secured palette and secure it in the same way. Do the same with the two remaining palettes to form a box.

You now have a good container for your compost materials. When the time comes to transfer compost to your soil just lift one of the palettes up and over the stakes, giving you easy access. Just slide it back over the stakes when done.

You can of course just use stakes for one palette, and nail the others together. Personally I prefer the flexibility of being able to move the palettes around easily should I need to.

I built one recently using two palettes and some old fencing. I added a lid, also built from old fencing - recommended for keeping the rain off your compost and for keeping heat in. The fencing had already been organically weather-proofed. That saved me some work. Here it is:

What you can use for your compost manure

• Grass, leaves, and clippings
• Tea bags/leaves
• Straw, hay etc
• Cut flowers
• Vegetable waste e.g. skins and stalks
• Fruit waste e.g. cores and skins
• Crushed eggshells
• Shredded paper
• Sawdust
• Wood ashes (high in alkaline so don’t go overboard with it)
• Seaweed
• Animal manure (organic as mentioned above). Do not add fresh manure to your compost. Let it age a few days as fresh manure is so high in nutrients it will kill off organisms such as bacteria and worms

Please note that your compost fertilizer will take a few months to decompose sufficiently to be added to your soil. An activator can speed up the process though.

If you have not prepared your compost then good organic compost manure can be bought from garden centres and online suppliers. Type ‘buy compost’ into your search engine.

One little miracle worker that is essential for healthy soil can also produce quality compost for you by recycling your food waste. Discover worms.

Return from compost fertilizer to organic vegetable gardening overview

Home