Compost is not garbage you forgot to throw out – it’s a balanced mix of organic materials that benefits your garden. Compost is a fundamental plant food which copies and assists the natural processes of enriching soil from which all your plants draw their nutrients. After each season of providing us with fruit, flowers and veges, our soil is often tired and needs revitalising. Compost is important at this time. It is a biochemical process, like digestion.

Your garden is living digestive system that needs a balanced diet, just like people, to perform at its best. So a balanced diet really is the key to good compost.

What are the benefits of composting?

• Composting can use almost all of your organic waste in some way
• It is more productive and efficient than allowing your waste to go into landfill
• It returns natural products back to the soil, stimulating plant growth and health
• It replicates the continuum of nature, resulting in more productive soil

Great organic waste for making good compost includes:

• Most kitchen scraps, such as vege and fruit peelings
• Tea leaves and coffee grounds
• Eggshells and seaweed
• Fire and wood ash and charcoal
• Broken down manure, lawn and garden clippings and leaves
• Garden weeds, after broken down
• Human and animal hair + human urine
• Vacuum cleaner dust and hair

Do not add the following to your compost:

• Tea/coffee bags and fruit stickers
• Citrus peels and other acidic materials
• Fresh animal, pet or human manure – it must be broken down first
• Meat or fish scraps – dairy is OK
• Glossy magazines
• All plastics and glass
• Sawdust from treated timbers
• Artificial fertilisers, chemicals and sprays
• Carpets, underlays and tarps
• All metals

The key thing to remember is, if you’re making compost to use in your edible gardens – what goes into compost eventually goes into you!