Yes In My Back Yard

It is a nice idea that we might be able to look up the details of a particular compost ingredient and find out exactly what its carbon to nitrogen ratio might be, or what its density is. But nature is varied and complex. Each batch of every ingredient we use will be different depending on…

Adding bones or shells to our compost pile is fine – if we have good rodent control in place – but we will notice that these ingredients will still be present when the compost is finished, pretty much intact, just stripped of any meat and residue. Bones and shells are actually high in nitrogen, with…

This week’s compost conversation is a follow on from last week’s article looking at the need for ‘secondary’ rodent management approaches to complement our good compost management. As we said last week, this can be a tricky subject. Everyone will have their own ethical and personal boundaries around taking the life of another creature, so…

It’s a tricky subject, but one we can’t avoid, particularly as we head further into autumn and the harvest season: how do we deal with rats and mice in our compost, gardens and houses? Every person will have their own ethical and personal boundaries around taking the life of another creature or being, so let’s…

I was putting a finished compost pile out on the garden recently, but as I was forking it into the barrow, I realised, with disappointment, it was the worst compost I had made in quite a few years! The ‘finished’ compost was dry, woody and full of fine root filaments, not the rich, moist, greasy,…

Over the warmer months it is not uncommon, when turning our compost piles, to uncover a particular fly’s larvae (or maggots) in our compost. They are long, segmented grub-like creatures, ranging in colour (white – dark brown) and length (5mm – 20mm), depending on where they are at in their life cycle when we discover…

Wood chips can contribute to making some of the best and also some of the worst composts, it has a lot to do with how much goes into the compost. Wood chips are the mulched-up branches and trunks of trees. Most of this woody material is made up of lignin, the hardest, longest-lasting carbon form…