When looking back at many early recipes for compost making, I often see soil recommended as an important compost ingredient. Yet, many modern composting resources don’t even mention soil as an ingredient at all, or some even recommend against using it.

Between the chopping board and the compost pile there sits another piece of composting ‘equipment’ that often gets overlooked, but is a critical link in our composting chain.

It used to be pretty standard advice to add sprinklings of garden lime to our compost as we built them, it’s how I was taught to compost and a rule I followed for years without questioning, but is adding lime essential for a healthy compost?

One year on, Lisa has achieved incredible results in her garden, spread passion for composting to the wider community, and innovated a new composting technique we now call the ‘William’s Manoeuvre’.

Learn how to make hot compost over these chilly months in our upcoming Continuous Hot Composting workshop, Sunday 23rd June from 1 - 4pm.

I’m sure you have come across the claim that you can’t or shouldn’t compost meat scraps and dairy products. Given how often it is repeated, it must be true…. mustn’t it?

Have you been told that you can’t, or shouldn’t compost a particular thing? Perhaps it is onion skins or citrus peel. Meat and dairy are on the exclusion list for lots of folk, or perhaps it’s waste oil or fats?

The bodies of all living things, from the largest trees to the smallest microorganisms are mostly made of carbon, organised in microscopic chains called ‘polymers’.

We have talked before about the importance of getting the moisture content of our compost piles right. Our favourite image for the ideal level is a wrung out, wet sponge…

Dry leaves are a fantastic addition to our compost pile and most leaf types break down quicker than other carbon-rich ingredients in our compost.