Compost System

Probably the single most important intervention I made in the garden was instituting a compost system in the very back section early on. When I moved in to the house, this area was badly organised and overgrown, with piles of grass clippings, weeds, general household junk, and garden waste with logs, branches and twigs intertwined.

I took the time to work through this waste, because I believe the compost system to be the ‘engine’ of the garden. Without recycling of waste materials and energy, there can be no good crops, no adequate disposal, and the system becomes clogged up and broken. Building the structure and fertility of the clay soils of the garden is also a major priority in terms of food production. Making energy and materials flow smoothly in this part of the garden is about closing the loop.

I also discovered a large rusted brazier which came in handy for burning off the excess woody and other combustible material. As mentioned in the Natural Energy Survey, I sorted the woody material into ‘large, medium and small’ wood ranging from larger logs to twigs suitable for kindling. Most of this was recovered from the pile and stored/ cured under the large Leylandii trees at the back of the garden for about a year to become used on the log fire, or if still too wet (and likely to spit) it was earmarked for the chimnea. Tidying the rear part of the garden up also permitted me to make the back fences stock proof, using only materials I had come across as part of the tidying process.

The brazier was not the only find during this process. As I excavated the pile, it became clear there was a chest high, 6ft x 3ft ‘U’ shaped brick structure which seemed to have been an outbuilding at one point. Although it had concrete as its base, it served as an ideal location for the compost pile, and permitted me to operate two different piles of garden waste simultaneously. This allowed me to institute an alternating system; one year building up a compost pile, whilst using the other.

There was a very large mound of (mostly) grass clippings which lay under the trees and had been kept in a reasonably dry state. Because of its size and location, it had not rotted down in the conventional slightly anaerobic slimy way, but had instead turned to a type of leaf mould. This would make for excellent compost, and so I felt like I had unlocked a time capsule of useful material which could be fed into the compost system but over a period of time to aid its decomposition. My approximate ‘golden’ ratio was

1 part fresh grass clippings
1 part green waste, clippings, etc
1 part leaf mould from the pile

That is, until the chickens came along, when ‘1 part of chicken manure’ was added to the mix. This served as a kind of ‘turbo power’ for the compost mix, and I have never really looked back. Taking the time to reorganise this area has proved very beneficial, and rewarded the effort I have put in, but the best part is that it will now continue to reward that initial effort because of the sustainable nature of the design. Whether it is building a green school, a water purification system, or a humble composting system, such sustainable design gives features a self sustaining energy of their own, which is typical of Permaculture projects, and which elevates overall function of the whole.